Page:Oregon Historical Quarterly vol. 2.djvu/315

Rh but the Nez Perces were "indeed selfish and avaricious/ but their intelligence and integrity were beyond question, and they "proved perfectly reliable. * * * They were healthy, except for scrofula, for which they practiced both hot and cold bathing."

These descriptions are so exact that even if the locality and the name was not known, the Nez Perces would be indicated. In business affairs they are disposed to be grasping, and in politics, crafty; but they are the most industrious and honest of any, absolutely reliable. The men are still portly and well-looking; the women still small and handsome; and they are still ruddy and healthy, except for scrofula, leading too many to death from consumption.

From a very brief glance at the subject in a Nez Perces dictionary compiled by a missionary of the Society of Jesus in the Lapwai Valley, the language seems to be what might be called pre-ideographic. It is said that there. is a picture writing which, however, is not peculiar to the Nez Perces. The ability of this tribe to make charts is referred to above in Lewis and Clark's journal. This was also recently very strikingly shown by an old Indian familiarly called Billy Williams. (His Indian name was Ku-ku-lu-yah, signifying a pelican or other sea bird, and illustrating, perhaps, the wide wanderings of the tribe.) At the request of Miss Fletcher of Harvard University a few years ago, he made a chart of the ancient territory of the Nez Perces, which extended from the Blue Mountains to the Bitter Root Mountains, and located seventy-five streams and the band of Indians originally occupying the valley of each, with the original name.

There is also a very complete sign language, known