Page:The History of Oregon Bancroft 1888.djvu/382

364 The commissioners exhausted their store of logic in convincing their savage hearers that they needed the benefits of the culture which the white race could impart to them. Over and over again, the motives of the treaties and the treaties themselves were explained in the most painstaking manner. The fact was patent that the Indians meant to resist the invasion of their lands by the people of the United States. The Cayuses were against any sale. Owhi, chief of the Umatillas, and brother-in-law of Kamiakin, was opposed to it. Peupeumoxmox, usually so crafty and non-committal, in this matter was decided; Kamiakin would have nothing to do with it; Joseph and Looking Glass were unfriendly; and only Lawyer continued firm in keeping his word already pledged to Stevens. But for him, and the numerical strength of the Nez Percés, equal, to that of all the other tribes present, no treaty could have been concluded with any of the tribes. His adherence to his determination greatly incensed the Cayuses against him, and some of his own nation almost equally, especially Joseph, who refused to sign the treaty unless it secured to him the valley which he claimed as the home of himself and his people. Looking Glass, war chief