s had surrendered the ponies to the Spaniards, and now asked
their protection from the vengeance of the Snakes. The Spaniards
granted their request, and warned our party off. As soon as the news
arrived at the Snake village, there was a general excitement, and all
who were able to bear arms at once took the war path. The Diggers
fled, but were tracked to the coast, where they were supported by
several Spaniards. We attacked their camp at daybreak, and a desperate
fight ensued. The Diggers are generally lazy and cowardly, but their
numbers far exceeded ours, and they were assisted by white men. In the
end we were victors, and our party mercilessly tomahawked and scalped
all within their reach. Nearly a hundred and fifty scalps were borne
off in triumph by the Snakes, and among the trophies were the scalps
of some white men.

The result of this fight was a general movement of the whites on the
one hand and the California tribes on the other, to drive us out of
the country. For a time our tribe stood its ground, but at length it
became evident that we could not remain peaceably in that region, so
we once more turned our faces eastward and re-crossed the mountains to
Utah.

During our stay in this Territory, which did not exceed six or seven
moons, our principal encampment was on the banks of the Great Salt
Lake, near the present site of Salt Lake City. At that time not a
white man lived in that vast wilderness, though not many years
afterwards a large city sprang up where our wigwams had formerly
stood.

Once more our tribe became restless and dissatisfied with their
location, and we changed our hunting ground to Oregon, remaining there
about two years. Here we came into collision with the Blackfeet
Indians, one of the most ferocious and cruel tribes in existence. They
are always at war with the tribes around them and make long journeys
for the purpose of attacking some other nation. Several skirmishes
took place between our bands and those of the Blackfeet, in which
sometimes one and sometimes the other would be successful. In order to
defend ourselves from the attacks of the Blackfeet, our tribe made an
alliance with the Flat Heads. These are a very singular race who strap
boards on the heads of their children so as to change their shape.
There are two kinds of Flat Heads, those who have the head flattened
from the forehead back, making the head look like a wedge with the
sharp edge in front, whilst the others have t