PROCEEDINGS OF THE REGENTS. 83 



gallery would interfere with the present plan of operations, and that 

 it would not so directly tend to the increase and diffusion of know- 

 ledge, they would earnestly express the opinion that, in a national 

 point of view, the value of these portraits can hardly be over- 

 estimated. 



They represent forty-three different tribes, and are taken from the 

 leading personages in them. The artist has studied carefully the 

 peculiarities of the tribes, the characteristic expressions of the in- 

 dividuals, their natural attitudes and actions, their several styles of 

 costume and ornament, and has reproduced, with artistic skill, all these 

 particulars. To this interesting enterprise he has given ten of the 

 best years of his life, having traversed, with great labor and incon- 

 venience, the principal regions inhabited by the subjects of his pencil. 

 The number of portraits, including that of the artist, enumerated in 

 the catalogue, is one hundred and fifty-two. The price for which 

 they are offered is much below their real value, being less than $80 

 a piece. At the proposed rate the artist will receive no compensation 

 for his time and labor, and barely enough to defray the cost of material, 

 transportation, travelling expenses and insurance. 



The number of the tribes represented so faithfully in this gallery, 

 and the prominence of the individuals, render the collection very 

 complete and satisfactory, as presenting a general view of the charac- 

 teristic features of the red man. These circumstances make it important 

 that the gallery should be preserved entire. Its peculiar value con- 

 sists in its comprehensive character no less than in the fidelity of the 

 individual details. Centuries hence, when most all of the tribes here 

 represented shall have disappeared, as the New England tribes, for 

 example, have nearly disappeared, this gallery will be an object of 

 .the profoundest interest to the student of man, the historian, the 

 philosopher, and the statesman. 



The relations between the government o* the United States and the 

 Indian tribes form one of the most delicate and important subjects of 

 national legislation. The government has not only endeavored to 

 deal with the red men in a liberal and paternal spirit, but has done 

 much towards illustrating their character and condition by the pub- 

 lication of costly works embodying the observations and researches of 

 investigators who have devoted themselves to Indian studies. It 

 appears to your committee that to purchase this collection, and to 

 place it in some secure situation easy of access to visitors at the 

 capital, would be an act worthy of the enlightened liberality of Con- 



