SAMUEL SEYMOUR McDERMOTT 505 



greatest men of the Dacota nation." He was then only 28 and his son 

 about 8. The real interest of Seymour's poorly engraved picture is 

 made clear by Keating's written description of this Sioux chief : 



The uext day Wanotan came to pay us a formal visit; he was dressed in the 

 full habit of au Indian chief; we have never seen a more dignified looking 

 person, or a more becoming dress. The most prominent part of his apparel was 

 a splendid cloak or mantle of buffalo skins, dressed so as to be of a fine white 

 colour ; it was decorated with small tufts of owl's feathers, and others of various 

 hues. ... A splendid necklace, formed of about sixty claws of the grizzly 

 bear, imparted a manly character to his whole appearance. His leggings, jacket, 

 and moccassins were in the real Dacota fashion, being made of white skins, 

 profusely decorated with human hair ; his moccassins were variegated with 

 the plumage of several birds. In his hair, he wore nine sticks neatly cut and 

 smoothed, and painted with vermilion ; these designated the number of gun-shot 

 wounds which he had received, they were secured by a strip of red cloth ; two 

 plaited tresses of his hair were allowed to hang forward ; his face was taste- 

 fully painted with vermilion; in his hand he wore a large fan of feathers of 

 the turkey ; this he frequently used. 



. . , the most singailar dress was that of Wanotan's son, who, for the first time 

 in his life, wore the distinguished national garb, in which he is represented in 

 the Frontispiece plate to this volume. The dresses were evidently made for 

 his father, and too large for him, so that they gave to his figure a stiff and 

 clumsy appearance, which strongly I'eniinded us of the awkward gait of those 

 children who, among civilized nations, are allowed, at too early an age, to assume 

 the dress of liper years, by which they lose their infantine grace and ease. . . . 

 This lad wore a very large head-dress, consisting of feathers made of the war- 

 eagle. . . . His dress was made of many ermine skins, variously disposed upon 

 a white leather cloak. [Ibid., vol. 1, pp. 436-438.] 



Wanotan had been sketched while the explorers were staying at 

 Lake Travers. Before leaving that neighborhood, Seymour took 

 a view of the lake showing the Columbia Fur Co.'s "fort, the Indian 

 lodges near it, and also a scaffold, upon which the remains of a Sioux 

 had been deposited. The horizon is bounded by a distant view of the 

 Coteau des Prairies" (ibid., vol 2, p. 5). This picture Keating used 

 as frontispiece for his second volume. At this point the expedition 

 had passed from the headwaters of the St. Peter's (Minnesota) River 

 to those of the Red River of the North. 



The next scene we have from the pencil of the artist, made 2 days 

 later (July 28), reports possibly the most curious buffalo hunt in the 

 history of the frontier. Keating wrote that a bull buffalo "seemed 

 to challenge a combat with our party; he traveled for about 2 miles 

 abreast of us, and almost within gunshot; his eyes were intently bent 

 upon us." Driven off by the dog, he woidd immediately return to 

 watch the travelers. "This fearless character, so unlike that of buffa- 

 loes in general, excited our surprize and admiration; and accordingly 

 we determined to spare him, and see how long he would continue to 



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