Chapter 34

34.

Fort Wallah-Wallah Its commander Indians in its

neighborhood Exertions of Mr. Pambrune for their

improvement Religion Code of laws Range of the Lower Nez

Perces Camash, and other roots Nez Perce horses Preparations for

departure Refusal of supplies Departure A laggard and glutton

FORT WALLAH - WALLAH is a trading post of the Hudson's Bay

Company, situated just above the mouth of the river by the same

name, and on the left bank of the Columbia. It is built of

drift-wood, and calculated merely for defence against any attack

of the natives. At the time of Captain Bonneville's arrival, the

whole garrison mustered but six or eight men; and the post was

under the superintendence of Mr. Pambrune, an agent of the

Hudson's Bay Company.

The great post and fort of the company, forming the emporium of

its trade on the Pacific, is Fort Vancouver; situated on the

right bank of the Columbia, about sixty miles from the sea, and

just above the mouth of the Wallamut. To this point, the company

removed its establishment from Astoria, in 1821, after its

coalition with the Northwest Company.

Captain Bonneville and his comrades experienced a polite

reception from Mr. Pambrune, the superintendent: for, however

hostile the members of the British Company may be to the

enterprises of American traders, they have always manifested

great courtesy and hospitality to the traders themselves.

Fort Wallah-Wallah is surrounded by the tribe of the same name,

as well as by the Skynses and the Nez Perces; who bring to it the

furs and peltries collected in their hunting expeditions. The

Wallah-Wallahs are a degenerate, worn-out tribe. The Nez Perces

are the most numerous and tractable of the three tribes just

mentioned. Mr. Pambrune informed Captain Bonneville that he had

been at some pains to introduce the Christian religion, in the

Roman Catholic form, among them, where it had evidently taken

root; but had become altered and modified, to suit their peculiar

habits of thought, and motives of action; retaining, however, the

principal points of faith, and its entire precepts of morality.

The same gentleman had given them a code of laws, to which they

conformed with scrupulous fidelity. Polygamy, which once

prevailed among them to a great extent, was now rarely indulged.

All the crimes denounced by the Christian faith met with severe

punishment among them. Even theft, so venial a crime among the

Indians, had recently been punished with hanging, by sentence of

a chief.

There certainly appears to be a peculiar