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Some of the Chiefs of the other bands of the Nez Perce' signed the treaty and then Govenor Stevens gave them presents of blankets.  My father cautioned his people to take no presents. For after a while he said "They will claim you have accepted pay for your country".  Since that time four bands of the Nez prece' have recieved annuities from The United States. My father was invited to many councils and they tried hard to make him sign the treaty but he was firm as a rock and would not sign away his home.  His refusal caused a diffrence among the Nez Perce'.  Eight years later ,Eighteen sixty- three was the next treaty council.  A Chief called lawyer because he was a great talker took the lead in this council and sold nearly all the Nez Perce' country.  My father was not there.  He said to me " When you go to council with the white man always remember your country.  Do not give it away.  The white man will cheat you out of your home.  I have taken no pay from the Unites States.  I have never sold our land.  In this treaty lawyer acted without authority from our band.  He had no right to sell the Wallowa-winding Water country that had belong to my fathers own people and other bands had never disputed our right to it.  No other Indian ever claimed Wallowa. "In order to have all people understand how much land we owned my father planted poles around it and said "Inside is the home of my people. the white man may take the land outside, Inside this boundry all our people were born, it circles around the graves of our fathers and we will never give up these graves to any man.  The unites States claimed they had bought all the Nez perce' country outside Lapwai Reservation from lawyer and all other chiefs but we continue to live on this land in peace until eighteen years ago when white men began to come inside the bounds of my fathers head set.  We warned them agaist this great wrong but they would not leave our land and some bad blood was raised.  The white man represented that we were going upon the warpath.  They reported things that were false.  The Unites States Government asked for a treaty council. My father had become blind and feeble.  He could no longer speak for his people.  It was then that I took my fathers place as Chief in this council.  I made my first speach to white men I said to the agent who held the council  "I did not want to come to this council but I came hoping that we could save blood.  The white man had no right to come here and take away our country.  We have never accepted any presents from the Government.  Neither lawyer or any other Chiefs had authority to sell this land.  It has alway belonged to my people.  It came unclouded to them from our fathers and we will defend this land as long as a drop of Indian blood warm the hearts of our men. The agent said he had orders from the Great White Chief of Washington for us to go upon the Lapwai Reservation and that if we obeyed he would help us in many way.  You must move to the agency he said.  I answered him."I will not, I do not need your help, we have plenty and we are contented and happy if the white man would leave us alone.  The reservation is to small for so many people with all their stock, you can keep your presents we can go to your towns and pay for all we  need We have plenty of horses and cattle to sell and we won't have any help from you, we are free now, we can go where we please.  Our fathers were born here they lived  here they died, here are their graves.  We will never leave them.  The agent went away and we had peace for a little while soon after this my father sent for me, I saw that he was dying.  I took his hand in mine, he said" My son, my body is returning to my mother-earth and my spirit is going very soon to see the Great-Spirit-Chief.  When I am gone think of your country, you are Chief of these people, they look to you to guide them, always remember that your father never sold this country.  You must step your ears whenever you are asked to sign a treaty selling your home.  A few years more and white men will be all around you.  They have their eyes on this land my son, never forget my dying words.  This country holds your fathers body, never sell the bones of your father and mother.  I pressed my fathers hand and told him I would protect his grave with my life, my father smiled and passed away to the Spirit land. I buried him in the valley of Winding Waters.  I Love that land more than all of the rest of the world.  A man who would not love his fathers grave is worse than a wild animal.  For a short time we lived quietly.  But this could not last, white men found gold in the mountains around the land of Winding Water.They stole many horses from us and we could not get them back because we were Indians.  The white man told lies for each other.  They drove off many of our cattle.  Some white men branded our young cattle so they could claim them, we had no friends who plead our cause before the law councils.  It seemed to me some of the white men in Wallowa were doing these things on purpose to get up a war.  They knew we were not strong enough to fight them.  I laboured hard to avoid trouble and bloodshed.  We gave up some of our country to the white man thinking we could have peace.  We were mistaken, the whiteman would not let us alone, we could of avenged our wrongs many times but we did not.  Whenever the Government has asked us to help them against other Indians we never refused.  When the white men were few and we were strong, we could of killed them all off.  But the Nez Perce' wished to live at peace if we had not done so we have not been the blame.  I believe the old treaty has not been correctly reported if we ever owned the land we own it still for we never sold it.  In the treaty councils the comissioners have claimed that our country has been sold to the Government.