stranger, will bring many a back and bone ache, and produce from him unlimited profanity if he is not prepared for it; that is "bucking"; if he takes the whim, one of these beasts will spring suddenly from the ground, and come down stiff-legged, communicating to the unwary rider a shock which is anything but pleasant, and which, if often repeated, will give him a most thorough shaking in spite of his horsemanship; unless the tyro is prepared to be nearly split in two, or "sun his moccasins," as the facetious miner terms a "throw," he had better keep off of a cayuse horse.

An Indian always mounts his horse from the right side, and guides him with a horse-hair rope passed in a loop about the lower jaw; bits and bridles are almost unknown among them; men and women ride in the same manner, and are unsurpassed by any people in the world for their skill in horsemanship; many times I have seen them dash down a rough, rugged hill, wheeling their animals in all directions, leaping from their backs at full speed, and indeed doing as many daring and fastastic tricks as any circus-rider; they are very skillful in using the lasso, which they will throw over the head of an animal at considerable distance from them, and at full speed.

It has been said that the Indian is the laziest human being to be found in our country, and while this may be true of the majority, the Indians of this tribe can be considered in a measure an exception, as many of them cultivate the ground quite extensively; it is true, their farming operations are done in a truly primitive style, but each year they are gaining knowledge on the subject from the white men, and becoming more and more proficient in the use of farming implements. At the present day, some member of each band devotes himself to superintending the farming operations for the benefit of the rest, and he succeeds remarkably well, considering the short time his attention has been drawn to this industry. Many are supplied by the Government with plows and a few other farm tools, and the soil being rich, they are not disheartened by too hard work in reaping its products; a little light plowing and

scattering of seed yields them a good crop of wheat, corn, or oats; and in the neighborhood of the settlements a few thrifty ones are to be found who raise melons and some vegetables, but they have not yet been sufficiently civilized to pay much attention to the seed after it is once planted, and on that account their crops are somewhat uncertain.

The labor is mainly done by squaws, although very many of the men work in the plowing season. Their method of separating the grain from the sheaf is simple; the stalks are cut with a common sheath-knife by the squaws, and piled in huge piles to be trampled out by horses, and afterwards winnowed by hands; they are an improvident race, and except in the matter of wheat and potatoes, and the camas root, never think of laying by a stock, either for themselves or for their animals for Winter use; in consequence should a severe Winter overtake them, they suffer very much for want of food, and lose large numbers of their animals by starvation.

Their government is of the patriarchal form, each head of a family being considered a chief, and regulating the movements and discipline of his band, enforcing the latter when occasion requires by his "strong right hand and mighty arm." Before they came under the protection of the Government there was no recognized chief of the tribe, and dissensions between the now called sub-chiefs were settled either by arbitration on the part of disinterested persons or by the argument of force.

Hunting and war parties are, however, always commanded by one who has especially distinguished himself in those arts, and to whom a name is given suggestive of his ability, as "Red Heart," the chief warrior, and "Eagle of the Light," the chief hunter.

They have no well-defined form of religion, and their ideas of a future state are based upon superstitious legends, which, by the way, make very interesting stories; they believe that in some way or other there is another life beyond this, but whether it is "happy hunting ground," presided over by a "Great Spirit," I have never been able to ascertain. Many of the tribe

in a

have become Christians during the past few years through the labors of Presbyterian and Catholic missionaries, who have been living among them, and I believe their example has had a marked influence on the remainder, and that many will become

converts.

The domestic ties are strong with them, and they are affec tionate and kind to each other to an extent scarcely conceivable in a savage, the only exception to this rule being their treatment of the very aged, whom they often neglect; many a time I have been deeply moved at the extravagant grief of some poor mother over the loss of a child, who, like Rachel of old, refused to be comforted, notwithstanding all the sympathetic condolences of family and friends, and would pass days at the grave of her child, filling the air with her lamentations.

The marriage state is, as a general rule, kept with great care, and the punishment for incontinence is severely and rigidly administered; polygamy is strictly forbidden; the bride is purchased by her lover from the parents; no wedding ceremony is performed, and the contracting parties go off to their own lodge as soon as the consent of the parents has been obtained and the stipulated price paid.

About funerals they are more particular, and make them the occasion of a liberal feast, in which all the relatives and friends are expected to join; the feast is supposed to be given by the deceased party, and each guest must touch the corpse before eating. At the funeral of a child of one of the most influential sub-chiefs the feast consisted of an ox cut into strips and roasted before the fire; a barrel of flour manufactured into a kind of cracker, and baked in an earthen oven; a quantity of camas root, and some dried berries. Runners were sent out far and near to summon the young men of the tribe, a large number of whom responded promptly, and were present. After a "powwow" over the corpse, an old chief opened the ball by laying his hand upon the hand of the deceased, and then passing straight to the point at which the feast was prepared, and helping himself; his example being followed by all present, no

one presuming to neglect the formalities of the occasion. The dead are buried by this tribe, graves being always dug on the points of the hills, and marked by a heap of stones; in this respect they differ from nearly all their neighbors, who elevate their dead on stagings of poles, or on high rocks. Until recently it was the custom to bury with the deceased his bow and arrows, and a little food, and to kill at his grave a few of his best horses, suspending them afterwards on poles over the grave, and to this day one need travel but a few miles to see the hides of horses swinging in the air, over the grave of some departed Indian.

As a rule these Indians are not very healthy, and it is not to be wondered at when one sees them indulging so frequently in their favorite sweat-bath. Within a few feet of a stream a hollow place, about eight feet in diameter and three feet deep, is scooped in the ground and lined with smooth stones; over this a hut of reeds is built, and a thick covering of mud put over that; an aperture only large enough to admit the body of a man, by tight squeezing, being left in the side nearest the

stream.

When a bath is taken, a brisk fire is built on the stones in the hut, and when they are quite hot the fire is drawn out; four or five Indians then strip themselves and crawl inside the hut, where they remain until dripping with perspiration, when they come out and walk leisurely to the stream, into which they plunge and stay by the hour, with the water up to their chin; I have seen them taking this sweat-bath in the depth of Winter, when they had to break the ice to get at the water.

The principal diseases from which they suffer are scrofula, exanthems, phthisis pulmonalis, rheumatism, conjunctivitis; the infantile eruptive diseases are also quite prevalent among them. Venereal diseases are rare, and only found on the persons of those who frequent the settlements, and are in constant intercourse with white people; they are much neglected, however, owing to their ignorance of the subject, and they are not brought to the notice of the physician until well advanced; they are conse

quently somewhat more stubborn in treatment than if taken in hand at an early stage. Chancres are apt to assume a phagædenic character, and the secondary and tertiary results are in some cases frightful; the mucus membrane of the urethra seems, however, less prone to violent inflammatory action than in the white man; gonorrhoeal cases are exceedingly mild, and yield readily to treatment. I have never seen a case of stricture or gleet yet. Scrofula manifests itself principally in swellings and ulcerations of the cervical glandular system, and as in the case of chancre, from long neglect extensive destruction of tissue follows. I have now under my care a patient in whom I daily expect a hæmorrhage from the carotid from ulceration of all the tissues on the right side of the neck.

The most prevalent affection, however, is conjunctivitis, caused, I believe, from constant exposure to the smoke from green wood burned in their wigwams; it yields readily to douches of a weak solution of permanganate of potash, and so thoroughly are they impressed with the efficacy of this agent, that I am constantly besieged by them for bottles of the "red medicine water," as they call it; innumerable cases of pterygium, opacities of the cornea, cataract, etc., are to be met with, and a specialist might consider himself in the seventh heaven if he could get among them with his needles and knives; they are, however, exceedingly averse to any surgical procedures, and I have never yet been able to induce one of them to let me operate, even in the simplest of cases; when it is indispensably necessary to operate, they bear the pain with great fortitude, as I have several times witnessed in cases of minor surgery, not an evidence of pain being traceable even on the faces of young children.

For obstetricians they have no use; parturition seems to be attended with no bad results, nor indeed are the women subject to the manifold diseases of the sexual organs with which their more unfortunate white sisters are afflicted.

I have never had a case of difficult labor among them, and they are generally up and about on the second or third day after labor. The infant, or "pappoose" as it is called, is, directly