The Sahaptin family inhabit the country south of the Salish, between the Cascade and Bitter Root Mountains, reaching southward, in general terms, to the forty-fifth parallel, but very irregularly bounded by the Shoshone tribes of the California group. Of its nations, the Nez Percé, or Sahaptin proper, dwell on the Clearwater and its branches, and on the Snake about the forks. The Palouse occupy the region north of the Snake, about the mouth of the Palouse; the south banks of the Columbia and Snake, near their confluence, and the banks of the Lower Walla Walla, are occupied by the Walla Walla. The Yakima and Klikelat inhabit the region north of the Dalles, between the Cascade Range and the Columbia. The natives of Oregon, east of the Cascade Range, who have not usually been included in the Sahaptin family, are divided somewhat arbitrarily into the Wasco, extending from the mountains east ward to John Day River, and the Cayuses from this river across the Blue Mountains to the Grande Ronde.
