THE GEOEGE CATLIN INDIAN GALLERY. 171 



Once wbeu they were diuiug iu this primitive fashion, her mother looked up and 

 exclaimed, in Seneca, "See, two carriages are approaching, filled with white i^eople!" 

 At the same time she arose to withdraw from their too curious gaze. Red Jacket re- 

 plied, "Stay, do not go. The white people are obliged to eat as well as we. There 

 is no cause for shame or fear." The mother, however, insisted on retiring. The 

 strangers, among whom were several ladies, alighted from the carriage, came uj) and 

 saluted Red Jacket, who, although attired simply in his blouse and moccasins, arose 

 with great dignity, bowed, and shook hands with each, and with the grace of a 

 courtier. 



A few days afterward Red Jacket walked to the village of Buffalo, and at sundown 

 his wife and the children descried him in the near distance bearing on his back a 

 large cherry dining-table, which he soon placed before his wife, saying, "Now, mother, 

 we can eat like white folks." After this aU their meals were spread on this table, 

 which Ruth still keeps and which she exhibited to me. 



Red Jacket, she said, was quite fair, lighter in complexion than most Indians. Her 

 smother would sometimes playfully taunt him with being half-white, saying he was 

 of too light a hue for a pure Indian. This invariably caused him to exhibit a mild 

 irritation. 



Red Jacket would say that he was the last of his family, having survived all his 

 children, his brothers and sisters. Nevertheless, after his death a considerable num- 

 ber of Indians participated in the ten days' funeral feast customary among the Iro- 

 quois when a leading chief dies, and claimed a share in the distribution of his effects. 



He had no ornaments, save the Washington medal, but the medal and his wardrobe 

 were claimed by members of his clan who are accounted relatives among the Iroquois. 

 The late chief, Jemmy Johnson, was heir to the medal presented to the old chief by 

 General Washington ; by hiiu it was transmitted to General Ely S. Parker, the present 

 owner of this precious relic. The cross, set with precious stones, and which history 

 affirms Red Jacket desired to be buried with him, Ruth had never seen, and it is 

 probably apocryphal. 



His forehead was high and expansive ; it retreated but little, if at all. — B. Extract 

 from a diary. 



A GLIMPSE OF RED JACKET'S FAMILY AND TRIBESMEN IN 1794, AT 

 THE COUNCIL AT CANANDAIGUA.* 



Fifth day, October 30, 1794. — After dinner, John Parish and myself rode to view the 

 Farmer's Brother encampment, which contained about 500 Indians. They are located 

 by the side of a brook, iu the woods ; having built about seventy or eighty huts, by 

 far the most commodious and ingeniously made of any that I have seen. The prin- 

 cipal materials are bark and boughs of trees, so nicely put together as to keep the 

 family dry and warm. The women as well as the men appeared to be mostly em- 

 ployed. In this camp there are a large number of pretty children, who, iu all the 

 activity and buoyancy of health, were diverting themselves according to their fancy. 

 The vast number of deer they have killed since coming here, which they cut up and 

 hang round their huts, inside and out, to dry, together with therationsof beef which 

 they draw daily, give the appearance of plenty to supply the few wants to which 

 they are subjected. t 



The ease and cheerfulness of every countenance, and the delightfulness of the after- 

 noon, which these inhabitants of the woods seemed to enjoy with a relish farsui^erior 

 to those who are pent up in crowded and populous cities, all combined to make this 

 the most pleasant visit I have yet made to the Indians, and induced me to believe 

 that before they became acquainted with white j^eople, avd were infected uith their vices, they 



*Diary of "Willinin Savaiy, Fiieiids' Library, vol. 1, piiRes 370-382. 



tOn another page of tbis jomn.Tl Mr. S;iviiry say.s tbey soiiiftinns killed luoro tliaii n- buudrcd duer 

 in !t. day. 



