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Rh an interview with Owhi, who returned with him to camp, and declared his wish for peace. On the following day, Owhi's father came to Wright's camp, and talked in the same strain. He promised to see Teies, who, he said, was the head of the Yakima nation, though Owhi had the most numerous following, and consequently the most influence. Teies himself appeared on the afternoon of the seventeenth, and said the Yakimas would abide by his word; but no council was held and no negotiations concluded with the several chiefs. The salmon not yet having begun to run up the rivers, the Indians were compelled to go to the mountains for food, where it was thought impracticable to follow them, and the troops remained in camp.

On the twenty-seventh of May, Colonel Steptoe joined Wright's command, making the force in the field about five hundred, exclusive of detachments with pack trains. Earthworks were thrown up on the Nachess river of dimensions sufficient to contain the stores, and a company or two. A bridge was thrown across the stream to enable the troops to pass over to the fisheries, where it was expected the Indians would congregate when the fish should begin to run. In order to weaken the influence of Kamiakin, the friendly Klickitats were sent to the reservation, and Palmer, who was still superintendent, was advised to remove the Cascade Indians also. Wright expected by these means to get affairs in a shape to crush the Indians who remained hostile at a blow.

But the policy of the Indians in this case, as in other wars, was to affect to have two parties, and to play off one against the other. The chiefs vascillated. One day there were only two who were hostile; the next, only two who were for peace, and these differences prevented the holding of a treaty council. Yet in order to prevent Wright from going to war with them, and punishing them for their crimes, small parties continued to visit him, bringing such accounts as, whether they were true, as they