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LETTERS AND NOTES ON THE
MANNERS, CUSTOMS, AND CONDITIONS OF
NORTH AMERICAN INDIANS

by George Catlin

(First published in London in 1844)


CONTENTS

LETTER-NO. 1.
Wyoming, birth-place of the Author - His former Profession - First cause of his Travels to the Indian Country -Delegation of Indians in Philadelphia - First start to the Far West, in 1832 -Probable extinction of the Indians - Former and present numbers of - proper mode of approaching them, and estimating their character

LETTER-NO. 2. MOUTH OF YELLOW STONE, UPPER MISSOURI, 1832.
Mouth of Yellow Stone - Distance from St. Louis - Difficulties of the Missouri-Politeness of Mr. Chouteau and Major Sanford-Fur Company's Fort-Indian Epicures-New and true School for the Arts-Beautiful Models

LETTER-NO, 3. MOUTH OF YELLOW STONE, UPPER MISSOURI.
Character of Missouri River - Beautiful prairie shores - Picturesque clay bluffs - First appearance of a steamer at the Yellow Stone, and curious conjectures of the Indians about it - Fur Company's Establishment at the mouth of Yellow Stone - M'Kenzie - His table and politeness - Indian tribes in this vicinity

LETTER-NO. 4. MOUTH OF YELLOW STONE, UPPER MISSOURI.
Upper Missouri Indians - General character - Buffaloes - Description of - Modes of killing them - Buffalo-hunt

LETTER-NO. 5. MOUTH OF YELLOW STONE, UPPER MISSOURI.
Author's painting-room, and characters in it - Blackfoot chief - Other Blackfoot chiefs, and their costumes - Blackfoot woman and child - Scalps, and objects for which taken - Blackfoot bows, shields, arrows and lances - Several distinguished Blackfeet

LETTER-NO. 6. MOUTH OF YELLOW STONE, UPPER MISSOURI.
Medicines or mysteries-medicine-bag---origin of the word medicine - Mode of forming the medicine-bag - Value of the medicine-bag to the Indian, and materials for their construction - Blackfoot doctor or medicine-man-his mode of curing the sick - Different offices and importance of medicine-men

LETTER-NO. 7. MOUTH OF YELLOW STONE, UPPER MISSOURI.
Crows and Blackfeet---General character and appearance - Crow lodge or wigwam - Striking their tents and encampment moving - Mode of dressing and smoking skins - Crows - Beauty of their dresses - Horse-stealing or capturing

LETTER-NO. 8. MOUTH OF YELLOW STONE, UPPER MISSOURI.
Further remarks on the Crows-Extraordinary length of hair - Crow and Blackfeet women -Their modes of dressing and painting - Differences between the Crow and Blackfoot languages - Different bands-Different languages, and numbers of the Blackfeet Knisteneaux-Assinneboins, and Ojibbeways - Ojibbeways - Chief and wife - Assinneboins a part of the Sioux - Wi-jun-jon (a chief) and wife - His visit to Washington

LETTER-NO. 9. MOUTH OF YELLOW STONE, UPPER MISSOURI.
Contemplations of the Great Far West and its customs - March and effects of civilization

LETTER-NO. 10. MANDAN VILLAGE, UPPER MISSOURI.
Voyage from Mouth of Yellow Stone down the river to Mandans - Commencement - Leave M'Kenzie's Fort - Assinneboins encamped on the river - Wi jun-jon lecturing on the customs of white people - Mountain-sheep - War-eagles--Grizzly bears - Clay bluffs - Grizzly bear and cubs - Courageous attack - Canoe robbed - Voluptuous scene of wild flowers, buffalo bush and berries - Adventure after an elk - War-party discovered - Magnificent scenery in the "Grand Detour," - Antelope shooting - "Grand Dome," - Prairie dogs - Village

LETTER-NO. 11. MANDAN VILLAGE, UPPER MISSOURI.
Location-Village - Former locations, fortification of their village - Description of village and mode of constructing their wigwams - Description of interior - Beds - Weapons - Family groups - Indian garrulity - Jokes - Fire-side fun and story-telling - Causes of Indian taciturnity in civilized society

LETTER-NO. 12. MANDAN VILLAGE, UPPER MISSOURI.
Bird's-eye view of the village - The "big canoe" - Medicine-lodge - A strange medley - Mode of depositing the dead on scaffold - Respect to the dead - Visiting the dead - Feeding the dead - Converse with the dead - Bones of the dead

LETTER-NO. 13. MANDAN VILLAGE, UPPER MISSOURI.
The wolf-chief - Head-chief of the tribe - Mandans' personal appearance - Pecubarities - Complexion - "Cheveux gris," - Hair of the men - Hair of the women - Bathing and swimming - Mode of swimming - Sudatories or vapour baths

LETTER-NO. 14. MANDAN VILLAGE, UPPER MISSOURI.
Costumes of the Mandans - High value set upon them - Made of war-eagles' quills and ermine - Head-dresses with horns - A Jewish custom - Portrait of Mah-to-toh-pa

LETTER-NO. 15. MANDAN VILLAGE, UPPER MISSOURI.
Astonishment of the Mandans at the operation of the Author's brush - The Author installed medicine or medicine-man - Crowds around the Author - Curiosity to see and to touch him - Superstitious fears for those who were painted - Objections raised to being painted - The Author's operations opposed by a Mandan doctor, or medicine- man, and how brought over

LETTER-NO. 16. MANDAN VILLAGE, UPPER MISSOURI.
An Indian beau or dandy - A fruitless endeavour to paint one - Mah-to-toh-pa (the four bears), second chief of the tribe - The Author feasted in his wigwam - Viands of the feast - Pemican and marrow-fat - Mandan pottery - Robe presented - Mah-to-toh-pa's exploits in battle

LETTER-NO. 17. MANDAN VILLAGE, UPPER MISSOURI.
Polygamy - Reasons and excuses for it - Marriages, how contracted - Wives bought and sold - Paternal and filial affection-Virtue and modesty of women - Early marriages - Slavish lives and occupations of the Indian women - Pomme blanche - Dried meat - Caches - Modes of cooking, and times of eating - Attitudes in eating - Separation of males and females in eating - the Indians moderate eaters - Some exceptions - Curing meat in the sun, without smoke or salt - The wild Indians eat no salt

LETTER-NO. 18. MANDAN VILLAGE, UPPER MISSOURI.
Indian dancing - "Buffalo dance," - Discovery of buffaloes - Preparations for the chase - Start - A decoy - A retreat - Death and scalping

LETTER-NO. 19. MANDAN VILLAGE, UPPER MISSOURI.
Game of Tchung-kee - Feasting - Fasting and sacrificing - White buffalo robe - Its value - Rain making - 'The thunder boat' - The big double medicine

LETTER-NO. 20. MANDAN VILLAGE, UPPER MISSOURI.
Mandan archery - "Game of the arrow," - Wild horses - Horseracing - Foot war-party in council

LETTERS-NO. 21, & NO. 22. MANDAN VILLAGE, UPPER MISSOURI.
Mandan religious ceremonies - Mandan religious creed - Three objects of the ceremony - Place of holding the ceremony - Big canoe - Season of commencing --- and manner - Opening the medicine lodge - Sacrifices to the water - Fasting scene for four days and nights - "Great Medicine," - Bel-lohck-nah-pick (the bull dance) - Pohk-hong (the cutting or torturing scene) - Eh-ke-nah-ka-nah-pick (the last race) - Extraordinary instances of cruelty in self-torture - Sacrificing of the water - Tradition of 0-kee-hee-de (the Evil Spirit) - Mandans can be civilized - Origins of Mandans

LETTER_N0. 23. MINATAREE VILLAGE, UPPER MISSOURI.
Location and numbers - Origin - Principal village - Vapour baths - Old chief, Black Moccasin - Two portraits, man and woman - Green corn dance

LETTER-No. 24. MINATAREE VILLAGE, UPPER MISSOURI.
Crows, in the Minataree village - Crossing Knife River in "bull boat" - Swimming of Minataree girls - Grand buffalo surround - Cutting up and carrying in meat

LETTER-NO. 26. MOUTH OF TETON RIVER, UPPER MISSOURI.
Sioux (or Dah-co-ta) - Fort Pierre - Mississippi and Missouri Sioux - Ha-wan-je-tah (chief) - Shoo-de-ga-cha (chief) and wife - Four wives taken at once - Early marriages - Causes of

LETTER-No. 27. MOUTH OF TETON RIVER, UPPER MISSOURI.
Custom of exposing the aged - A tedious march on foot - Level prairies - "Out of sight of land" - Mirage - Looming of the prairies - Turning the toes in - Bijou hills - Salt meadows

LETTER-No. 28. MOUTH OF TETON RIVER, UPPER MISSOURI.
Difficulty of painting Indian women - Indian vanity - Watching their portraits - Arrival of the first steamer amongst the Sioux - Dog-feast

LETTER-NO. 29. MOUTH OF TETON RIVER, UPPER MISSOURI.
Voluntary torture - "looking at the sun" - Religious ceremony_- Smoking "k'nick-k'neck" - Tomahawks and scalping knives - Scalps - Mode of taking, and object - Modes of carrying and using the scalps

LETTER-NO. 30. MOUTH OF TETON RIVER, UPPER MISSOURI
Smoking the shield - Bear dance - Beggars dance - Scalp dance - Story of Little Bear and the Dog

LETTER-NO. 31. MOUTH OF TETON RIVER, UPPER MISSOURI.
Bisons (or buffaloes), description of - Habits of - Bulls' fighting - Buffalo wallows - Running the buffaloes, and throwing the arrow - Buffalo chase - Use of the laso - Hunting under masque of white wolf skins - Horses destroyed in buffalo hunting - Buffalo calf - Mode of catching and bringing in - Immense and wanton destruction of buffaloes - 1,400 killed - White wolves attacking buffaloes - Contemplations on the probable extinction of buffaloes and Indians

LETTER-NO. 32. FORT LEAVENWORTH, LOWER MISSOURI.
Floyd's Grave - Black Bird's Grave - Beautiful grassy bluffs - Mandan remains - Mouth of Platte - Buffaloes crossing

LETTER-NO. 33. FORT LEAVENWORTH, LOWER MISSOURI.
Grouse shooting before the burning prairies - Prairie bluffs burning - Prairie meadows burning

LETTER-NO. 34. FORT LEAVENWORTH, LOWER MISSOURI.
Ioways - Konzas - Mode of shaving the head - Pawnees - Small-pox amongst Pawnees - Major Dougherty's opinion of the Fur Trade - Ottoes, Omahas

LETTER-NO. 35. ST. LOUIS, MISSOURI.
St. Louis - Loss of Indian curiosities, &c.-Governor Clark

LETTER-NO. 36. PENSACOLA, WEST FLORIDA
Pensacola, Florida - Santa Rosa Island - Start for Camanchee country

LETTER-NO. 37. FORT GIBSON, ARKANSAS TERRITORY.
Transit up the Arkansas river - Fort Gibson, 1st regiment United States dragoons reviewed - Equipping and starting of Dragoons for the Camanchee country

LETTER-NO. 38. FORT GIBSON, ARKANSAS.
Fort Gibson - Osages - Portraits of Osages - Former and present condition of

LETTER-NO. 39. MOUTH OF FALSE WASHITA, RED RIVER.
Mouth of the False Washita and Red River - Beautiful prairie country - Arkansas grapes - Plums - Wild roses, currants, gooseberries, prickly pears - Buffalo chase - Murder of Judge Martin and family

LETTER-NO. 40. MOUTH OF FALSE WASHITA.
Sickness at the Mouth of False Washita - one-half of the regiment start for the Camanchees, under command of Col. Dodge - Sickness of General Leavenworth, and cause of

LETTER-NO. 41. GREAT CAMANCHEE VILLAGE.
Great Camanchee village, Texas - A stampedo - Meeting a Carrianchee war party, and mode of approaching them - They turn about and escort the Dragoons to their village - Immense herds of buffaloes - Buffaloes breaking through the ranks of the Dragoons regiment - Wild horses - sagacity of - Taking the wild horse with laso, and "breaking down," - Chain of the Rocky Mountain - Approach to the Camanchee village - Camanchee horses - prices of

LETTER-NO. 42. GREAT CAMANCHEE VILLAGE.
Description of the Camanchee village, and view of - Wonderful feats of riding - Portraits of Camanchee chiefs - Estimates of the Camanchees - Pawnee Picts, Kiowas, and Wicos

LETTER-NO. 43. GREAT CAMANCHEE VILLAGE.
The regiment advance towards the Pawnee village - Description and view of the Pawnee village - Council in the Pawnee village - Recovery of the son of Judge Martin, and the presentation of the three Pawnee and Kiowa women to their own people - Return of the regiment to the Camanchee village - Pawnee Picts , portraits of

LETTER-NO. 44. CAMP CANADIAN, TEXAS.
Camp Canadian - Immense herds of buffaloes - Great slaughter of them - Extraordinary sickness of the command - Suffering from impure water-sickness of the men - Death of General Leavenworth and Lieutenant M'Clure

LETTER-NO. 45. FORT GIBSON, ARKANSAS.
Return to Fort Gibson - Severe and fatal sickness at that place - Death of Lieutenant West - Death of the Prussian Botanist and his servant - Indian Council at Fort Gibson - Outfits of trading-parties to the Camanchees - Probable consequences of - Curious minerals and fossil shells collected and thrown away - Mountain ridges of fossil shells, of iron and gypsum - Saltpetre, and salt

LETTER-NO. 46. ALTON, ILLINOIS.
The Author starting alone for St. Louis, a distance of 500 miles across the prairies - His outfit - The Author and his horse "Charley" encamped on a level prairie - Riqua's village of Osages - Crossing the Osage - Boonville on the Missouri - Author reaches Alton, and starts for Florida

LETTER-NO. 47. SAINT LOUIS.
Kickapoos, portraits of - Weahs, portraits of - Potowatomics - Kaskaslas - Peorias Piankeshaws - Delawares - Moheconneuhs, or Mohegans - Oneidas -Tuskaroras - Senecas - Iroquois

LETTER-NO. 48. ST. LOUIS.
Flatheads, Nez Perces - Flathead mission across the Rocky Mountains to St. Louis.- Mission of the Reverends Messrs. Lee and Spalding beyond the Rocky Mountains - Chinooks, portraits - Process of flattening the head - Similar custom of Choctaws - Choctaw tradition - Character and disposition of the Indians on the Columbia

LETTER-NO. 49. ST. LOUIS.
Shawanos - Shawnee prophet and his transactions - Cherokees - Creeks - Choctaws - Ball-play - A distinguished ball-player - Eagle dance - Tradition of the Deluge - Of a future state - Orion of the Crawfish band

LETTER-No. 50. FORT SNELLING, FALL OF ST. ANTHONY.
Fort Snelling, near the Fall of St. Anthony - Description of the Upper Mississippi - "Dubuque's Grave" - Fall of St. Anthony - Fort Snelling - The Sioux

LETTER-NO. 51. FORT SNELLING, FALL OF ST. ANTHONY.
Fourth of July at the Fall of St. Anthony, and amusements - Dog dance of the Sioux - Chippeways making the portage around the Fall of St. Anthony - Chippeway bark canoes - Mandan canoes of skins - Sioux and Chippeway snow-shoes - Snow-shoe dances

LETTER-NO. 52. CAMP DES MOINES.
Prairie du Chien - Winnebagoes - Menomonies - Dubuque - Camp des Moines, and visit to Keokuck's village

LETTERS-NO. 54 & NO. 55. RED PIPE STONE QUARRY, COTEAU DES PRAIRES
Coteau des Prairies - Ravages of small-pox - Mackinaw and Sault de St. Marys - Catching white fish - Canoe race - Voyage up the Fox river and down the Ouisconsin in bark canoe - Red Pipe Stone Quarry, on the Coteau des Prairies - Indian traditions relative to the Red Pipe Stone - The Author and his companion stopped by the Sioux, on their way, and objections raised by the Sioux

LETTER-NO. 56. ROCK ISLAND, UPPER MISSISSIPPI.
The Author and his companion embark in a log canoe at "Traverse de Sioux" - Ke-o- kuk - Slave-dance - "Smoking horses" - Begging-dance - Sailing in canoes - Discovery- dance - Dance to the Berdashe - Dance to the medicine of the brave - Treaty with Sacs and Foxes - Stipulations of

LETTER-NO. 57. FORT MOULTRIE, SOUTH CAROLINA.
Fort Moultrie - Seminolees - Florida war - Prisoners of war - Osceola - Mickenopah - Death of Osceola

LETTER-NO. 58. NORTH WESTERN FRONTIER.
North Western Frontier - General appearance and habits of the North American Indians - Jewish customs and Jewish resemblances - Probable origin of the Indians - Languages - Government - Cruelties of punishments - Indian queries on white man's modes - Modes of war and peace - Pipe of peace dance - Religion - Picture writing and totems - Policy of removing the Indians - Trade and small-pox, the principal destroyers of the Indian tribes - Murder of the Root-Diggers and Riccarees - Concluding remarks