THE GEORGE CATLIN INDIAN GALLERY. 15 



spoke through an interpreter. Antoine Le Claire and Frank Labashure 

 were the two he preferred ; neither, however, possessed a sufficient ele- 

 mentary English education to translate Keokuk's ideas or speech with 

 vigor or clearness. He knew this, and frequently while they were trans- 

 lating him (owing to his knowledge of English) he would express his 

 dissent and compel them to correct their false translation. Autoine 

 Le Claire, as hereinafter noted, was made rich by Keokuk and the Sac 

 and Fox. Labashure died young. 



Mr. Catlin, while on his last visit to the Sac and Foxes, observed 

 Keokuk very carefully. The Sac and Fox nation was assembled — mak- 

 ing a treaty in September, 1836, with Governor Dodge — at Eock Island, 

 where he says that — 



He saw the parades and forms of a savage community transferring the rights and 

 immunities of their natural soil to the insatiable grasp of pale-faced voracity. 



This treaty * * * was for the purchase of a tract of land of 256,000 acres, lying 

 in the loway [Iowa] River, and west of the Mississippi, a reserve which was made 

 [or reserved] in the tract of land conveyed to the Government by treaty after the 

 Sac war, and known as the " Black Hawk purchase." After this the Sac and Foxes 

 removed to Kansas. 



Mr. Catlin witnessed the signing of the treaty, and writes of it : 



The treaty itself, in all its forms, was a scene of interest, and Kee-o-kuk [Keokuk] 

 was the principal speaker on this occasion, being recognized as the head chief of the 

 tribe. He is a very subtle and dignified man, and well fitted to wield the destinies of 

 his nation. 



In 1846 Colonel McKinney visited Keokuk on the Kansas Eiver, 

 within the present limits of Kansas, where he and his people were 

 temporarily residing after their removal from the Des Moines Eiver. 

 Writing of Keokuk he says : 



The entire absence of records by which the chronology of events might be ascer- 

 tained renders it impossible to trace, in the order of their date, the steps by which 

 this remarkable man rose to the chief place of his nation, and acquired a commanding 

 and permanent influence over his people. 



Keokuk is in all respects a magnificent savage. Bold, enterjirisiug, and impulsive, 

 he is also politic, and possesses an intimate knowledge of human nature, and a tact 

 which enables him to bring the resources of his mind into prompt operation. His 

 talents as a military chief and civil ruler are evident from the discipline which exists 

 among his people. ^ 



In Stanley's catalogue (Smithsonian Institution, 1852, ]S"o. 53), pages 

 35, 36, 37, can be found interesting data as to Keokuk. 



Mr. Stanley painted a portrait of him in May, 1846. It is No. 52 of his 

 catalogue, but was destroyed in the Smithsonian fire of February, 1865. 



In Hayden's Catalogue of Indian Photographs, page 17, can be found 

 the following: 



677. Eeokuk (Watchful Fox). A chief of the Kiscoquah band of Sacs or Sauks, and 

 head chief of the combined Sacs and Foxes. 



This picture is copied from a daguerreotype taken in 1847, the year 

 before Keokuk died. It was copied by A. Zeno Shindler in 1868, and is 

 No. 158 of the Catalogue of Photographic Portraits of North American 



