THE GEOEGE CATLIN INDIAN GALLEEY. 115 



lands in muking necessary permanent improvements, in helping the Indians to estab- 

 lish themselves upon their homesteadSj and in the iiurchase of stock for them. All 

 other questions concerning the management of the affairs of the Indians are details, 

 I think, more or less important when considered by themselves, but very much in- 

 ferior to the two things mentioned." 



GROS -VENTRES. 



[Gros-Veutres: Laws of the United States. Gros-Ventres: Indian Bureau, June, 1885.] 

 MIN-A-TAE-EEES (PEOPLE OF THE WILLOWS). 



A small tribe, near neighbors and friends of the Mandaus, speaking the Crow lan- 

 guage, and probably have, at a former period, strayed away from them ; numbering 

 about 1,100. 



Mr. Catlin was with the Gros-Yeutres in 1832. Following Lewis & 

 Clark, be called them Minatarees. Pages 185 to 190, vol. 1, Catlin's 

 Eight Years. 



171. Eh-toh'k-pah-she-pee-sliah, the Black Moccasin ; chief; over a hundred years 



old, sits in his lodge, smoking a handsome i>ipe, his arms and ornaments 

 hanging on a post by the side of his bed. Since dead. Painted in 1832. 

 (Plate No. 72, page 186, vol. 1, Catlin's Eight Years.) 



The chief sachem of this tribe is a very ancient and patriarchal looking man, 

 by the name of Eeh-tohk-pah-shee-pee-shah (the Black Moccasin), and counts, un- 

 doubtedly, more than a hundred snotvs. I have been for some days an inmate of his 

 hospitable lodge, where he sits tottering with age, and silently reigns sole monarch 

 of his little community around him, who are continually dropping in to cheer bis 

 sinking energies and render him their homage. His voice and his sight are nearly 

 gone; but the gestures of his hand are yet energetic and youthful, and freely speak 

 the language of his kind heart. 



I have been treated in the kindest manner by this old chief; and have painted his 

 portrait (Plate 72, No. 171) as he was seated on the floor of his wigwam, smoking his 

 pipe, whilst he was recounting over to me some of the extraordinary feats of his life, 

 with a beautiful Crow robe wrapped around him, and his hair wound up in a conical 

 form upon his head, and fastened with a small wooden pin, to keep it in its place. 



This man has many distinct recollections of Lewis and Clarke, who were the first ex- 

 plorers of this country, and who crossed the Eocky Mountains thirty years ago. It will 

 be seen by reference to their very interesting history of their tour that they were treated 

 with great kindness by this man ; and that they in consequence constituted him chief 

 of the tribe, with the consent of his people, and he has remained their chief ever since. 

 He inquired very earnestly for " Eed Hair" and " Long Knife " (as he had ever since 

 termed Lewis and Clarke), from the fact that one had red hair (an unexampled thing 

 in his country), and the other wore a broad sword which gained for him the appella- 

 tion of " Long Knife." 



I have told him that "Long Knife" has been many years dead, and that "Eed 

 Hair" is yet living in Saint Louis, and no doubt would be glad to hear of him; at 

 which he seemed much pleased, and has signified to me that he will make me bearer 

 of some peculiar dispatches to him.* — G. C. 



172. E'e-a-chin-che-a, the Eed Thunder; the sou of the Black Moccasin (No. 171), 



represented iu the costume of a warrior. Painted in 1832. 

 ' (Plate No. 73, page 187, vol. 1, Catlin's Eight Years.) 



*Aboat a year after writing tbo above, and whilat I was in Saint Louis, I had tlie pleasure of pre- 

 senting tbe compliments of this old veteran to General Clarke ; and also of showing to him the por- 

 trait, which he instantly recognized amongst hundreds of others, saying that " they had considered 

 the Black Moccasin quite an old man when they appointed him chief thirty-two years ago." — G. C 



