They Were Of The Remnants Of A
Party Of Iroquois Hunters That Came From Canada Into These
Mountain Regions Many Years Previously, In The Employ Of The
Hudson's Bay Company.
They were led by a brave chieftain, named
Pierre, who fell by the hands of the Blackfeet, and gave his name
to the fated valley of Pierre's Hole.
This branch of the Iroquois
tribe has ever since remained among these mountains, at mortal
enmity with the Blackfeet, and have lost many of their prime
hunters in their feuds with that ferocious race. Some of them
fell in with General Ashley, in the course of one of his gallant
excursions into the wilderness, and have continued ever since in
the employ of the company.
Among the motley Visitors to the winter quarters of Captain
Bonneville was a party of Pends Oreilles (or Hanging-ears) and
their chief. These Indians have a strong resemblance, in
character and customs, to the Nez Perces. They amount to about
three hundred lodges, are well armed, and possess great numbers
of horses. During the spring, summer, and autumn, they hunt the
buffalo about the head-waters of the Missouri, Henry's Fork of
the Snake River, and the northern branches of Salmon River. Their
winter quarters are upon the Racine Amere, where they subsist
upon roots and dried buffalo meat. Upon this river the Hudson's
Bay Company have established a trading post, where the Pends
Oreilles and the Flatheads bring their peltries to exchange for
arms, clothing and trinkets.
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