Page:The Columbia river , or, Scenes and adventures during a residence of six years on the western side of the Rocky Mountains among various tribes of Indians hitherto unknown (Volume 1).djvu/337

 and reached Spokan on the 31st of August. The trading goods had been exhausted long before, and the Indians had been upwards of two months without ammunition. Our arrival therefore was hailed with great joy.

The whole tribe assembled round the fort, and viewed with delight the kegs of podwer and the bales of tobacco as they were unloaded from the horses. A large circle was formed in the court-yard, into the centre of which we entered; and having lit the friendly calumet, smoked a few rounds to celebrate the meeting. A quantity of tobacco was then presented to each of the men, and the chief delivered a long oration; part of which, addressing us, ran as follows:—

"My heart is glad to see you: my heart is glad to see you. We were a long time very hungry for tobacco; and some of our young men said you would never come back. They were angry, and said to me, 'The white men made us love tobacco almost as much as we love our children, and now we are starving for it. They brought us their wonderful guns, which we traded from them; we threw by our arrows as useless, because we knew they were not so strong to kill the deer as the guns; and now we