this place. He wishes you to inform the Indians of this, and that they are now solely under his orders.
I send you a package of books, which I pray you, my dear Father, to accept for the benefit of your red children of the mountains. With the best wishes and prayers of your sincere and humble friend.
A. PLEASONTON.
Father DE SMET.
Headquarters, Department of Oregon. Fort Vancouver, W. T., June I, 1859.
Sir:
I have the honor to report, for the information of the general-in-chief, the arrival at this place, on the 28th ultimo, of a deputation of Indian chiefs from the upper Pend d'Oreilles, lower Pend d'Oreilles, Flatheads, Spokans, Colville, and Cceur d'Alene Indians, on a visit, suggested by myself through the kind offices of the Reverend Father De Smet, who has been with these tribes the past winter, and has counseled them, both as an agent of the Government and in his clerical capacity, as to the advantages accruing to them by preserving peaceable and friendly relations with the whites at all times.
These chiefs have all declared to me the friendly desires which now animate them toward our people, and they assure me that their own several tribes are all anxiously awaiting their return, to confirm the peace and good will they are hereafter determined to preserve and maintain. Two of these chiefs,- one of the upper Pend d'Oreilles and the other of the Flatheads,- report that the proudest boast of their respective tribes, is the fact that no white man's blood has ever been shed by any one of either nation. This state ment is substantiated by Father De Smet. The chiefs of