Enterprise and Adventure/Mr. Catlin among the Indians
MR. CATLIN AMONG THE INDIANS.
Mr. Catlin, the painter of life and scenery in the country of the North American Indians, was originally a barrister in the United States. Having little practice, and a strong passion for art, he abandoned his profession, sold his law library, and started as a painter in Philadelphia. A deputation of Indian chiefs having arrived in that city, Catlin was struck by their picturesque appearance and dignified manners, and was led to study the history of those interesting people, who appear to be doomed to fade out on the great northern American continent, which was once their own, Catlin was born and had spent his early days in his father's home in the beautiful valley of Wyoming, on the Susquehannah, the scene of Campbell's poem of
"Gertrude of Wyoming;" and the striking legends of Indian life connected with that romantic spot, which had long been familiar to him, contributed to increase his interest in these people. To preserve by pictorial illustration their manners and customs appeared to him an object worthy of a lifetime's toil, and this idea acquired over his mind so powerful a fascination, that he finally resolved to sacrifice everything to its accomplishment. Accordingly, in the year 1832, having fully equipped himself for his expedition, he took leave of friends and home, and started for the far west.
The steam-boat in which he ascended the Missouri, was three months toiling against the current of that rapid stream. The poor Indians on the banks of the river, for the distance of two thousand miles, had never before seen or heard of a steam-boat, and in some places they seemed at a loss to know what to do. They had no name for it, so it was like everything else with them which is mysterious and unaccountable, called medicine (mystery). The voyagers had on board one twelve-pound cannon, and three or four eight-pound swivels, which they were taking up to arm the Fur Company's Fort at the mouth of the Yellow Stone River; and at the approach to every village they were all discharged several times in rapid succession, which threw the inhabitants into confusion and amazement. Some of them threw their faces to the ground and cried to the Great Spirit—some shot their horses and dogs, and sacrificed them to appease the Great Spirit, whom they conceived was offended—some deserted their villages and ran to the tops of the hills some miles distant; and others in some places, as the boat landed in front of their villages, came with great caution and peeped over the bank of the river to see the fate of their chiefs, whose duty it was to approach the strange visitors. Sometimes in this plight they were instantly thrown neck and heels over each other's heads and shoulders—men, women and children, and dogs—sage, sachem, old and young—all in a mass, at the frightful discharge of the steam from the escape-pipe. There were many curious conjectures amongst their wise men, with regard to the nature and powers of the steam-boat. Some called it the "big thunder canoe;" for when in the distance below the village they saw the lightning flash from its sides, and heard the thunder come from it; others called it the "big medicine canoe with eyes." "It was medicine or mystery," says Catlin, "because they could not understand it;" "and it must have eyes, for," said they, "it sees its own way, and takes the deep water in the middle of the channel." They had no idea of the boat being steered by the man at the wheel.
Mr. Catlin and his two companions now arrived at one of the trading forts of the American Fur Company, at about three thousand five hundred miles' distance from his home; and the Indian tribes, who from time to time visited the fort to sell the skins of animals, afforded him many opportunities of acquiring a knowledge of their habits. Journeying still further westward, he joined the singular tribe of the Mandans, with whom he resided some time, and became intimately acquainted — sketching, meanwhile, all that was picturesque in their manners, customs, and ceremonies. He next entered the country of the Sioux, a tribe remarkable for their high stature, and who, it was believed, could assemble eight or ten thousand warriors. Much of his time was spent in his canoe, in which he travelled on rivers many hundreds of miles. The country of the Cherokees and the Choctaws was the next point in his wanderings, which were not always free from dangers, some of the tribes being very suspicious of his objects. At a place called Traverse des Sioux, on the St. Peter's River, about a hundred and fifty armed Indians surrounded the hut in which Catlin and his companions were sheltered, and informed the white men that they were prisoners. They had taken them to be officers sent by the Government to see the value of the country; and it was with great difficulty that Catlin persuaded them of the harmlessness of his intentions, and obtained permission to depart.
In this way, sometimes on horseback, sometimes in his favourite canoe, and frequently sojourning with some tribe until he became almost as one of themselves, Mr. Catlin spent about eight years. It was in the year 1841 that he bent his steps once more eastward, and came again within civilized parts. He brought with him portraits of the principal men and women in each tribe, pictures of their villages, their pastimes, their religious ceremonies, and a collection of their costumes, manufactures, and weapons of war. During this time he had visited forty-eight tribes, mostly speaking different languages. His portraits numbered upwards of three hundred, besides two hundred paintings of their villages, huts, religious ceremonies, dances, races, and other scenes illustrative of Indian life and manners. No artist had ever before started on such a labour; nor would it be possible now to repeat it: for disease, and the advance of the white settler, have already carried away many of the tribes. The whole of the curious tribe of the Mandans perished by the ravages of Asiatic cholera, which swept over the greater part of the western country and the Indian frontier, soon after his departure. Mr. Catling's wonderful panorama of Indian life was for some time exhibited in London, and was afterwards conveyed again to the United States.