Page:The Early Indian Wars of Oregon.djvu/438



420 INDIAN WARS OF ORE GO ft.

Thus ended the Indian wars in this quarter of Oregon. They were unavoidable. They laid waste the homes of white and red men alike; but the white race was com pelled to make good its own and its enemy s losses, and while it ploughed and planted and built, the Indians were fed, nursed, and taught, so far as they would be. When a large proportion had died off, who were unfit to live, the remainder began a new growth and increase in numbers. The children born on the reservation know no other home, and even their elders are at length content, living a half civilized life, which, compared with their former nomadic existence, is one of indolent ease.