Polygamy, Which Once
Prevailed Among Them To A Great Extent, Was Now Rarely Indulged.
All The Crimes Denounced By The Christian Faith Met With Severe
Punishment Among Them.
Even theft, so venial a crime among the
Indians, had recently been punished with hanging, by sentence of
a chief.
There certainly appears to be a peculiar susceptibility of moral
and religious improvement among this tribe, and they would seem
to be one of the very, very few that have benefited in morals and
manners by an intercourse with white men. The parties which
visited them about twenty years previously, in the expedition
fitted out by Mr. Astor, complained of their selfishness, their
extortion, and their thievish propensities. The very reverse of
those qualities prevailed among them during the prolonged
sojourns of Captain Bonneville.
The Lower Nez Perces range upon the Way-lee-way, Immahah,
Yenghies, and other of the streams west of the mountains. They
hunt the beaver, elk, deer, white bear, and mountain sheep.
Besides the flesh of these animals, they use a number of roots
for food; some of which would be well worth transplanting and
cultivating in the Atlantic States. Among these is the camash, a
sweet root, about the form and size of an onion, and said to be
really delicious. The cowish, also, or biscuit root, about the
size of a walnut, which they reduce to a very palatable flour;
together with the jackap, aisish, quako, and others; which they
cook by steaming them in the ground.
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