THE GEORGE CATLIN INDIAN GALLERY. 245 



all kuowu 8j)ecimens of lava, is a new variety of steatite, and will be found to be a 

 subject of ureat interest, and one worthy of a careful analysis.* 



DETAINED BY SIOUX AT TKADING-POST. , 



On our way to this place (red pipestone quarry) my English companion and my- 

 self were arrested by a rascally band of the Sioux and held in durance vile for having 

 dared to approach the sacred fountain of the pipe. While we had halted at the trad- 

 ing-hut of Le Blanc, at a place called Traverse des Sioux, on the Saint Peter's River and 

 about one hundred and fifty miles from the red pipe, a murky cloud of dark-visaged 

 warriors and braves commenced gathering around the house, closing and cramming 

 all its avenues, when one began his agitated and insulting harangue to us, announcing 

 to us in the preamble that we were prisoners, and could not go ahead. About tvrenty 

 of them spoke in turn, and we were doomed to sit nearly the whole afternoon, without 

 beiug allowed to speak a word in our behalf, until they had all got through. We were 

 compelled to keep our seats like culprits and hold our tongues till all had brandished 

 their fists in our faces, and vented all the threats and invective which could flow from 

 Indian malice, grounded on the presumption that we had come to trespass on their 

 dearest privilege — their religion. 



There was some allowance to be made and some excuse, surely, for the rashness 

 of these poor fellows, and we felt disposed to pity, rather than resent, though their 

 unpardonable stubborness excited us almost to desperation. Their superstition was 

 sensibly touched, forwe were persisting in the most peremptory terms inthedetermina- 

 tion to visit this their greatest medicine (mystery) jdace; where, it seems, they had often 

 resolved no white man should ever be allowed to go. They took us to be " officers sent 

 by Government to see what this place was worth," &c. As " this red stone was a part 

 of their flesh," it would be sacrilegious for white man to touch or take it away — "a hole 

 would be made in their flesh, and the blood could never be made to stop running." 

 My comjianion and myself were in a fix, one that demanded the use of every energy 

 we had about us. Astounded at so unexpected a rebufl:', and more than ever excited 

 to go ahead and see what was to be seen at this strange i^lace, in this emergency v.e 

 mutually agreed to go forward, even if it should be at the hazard of our lives. We 

 heard all they had to say and then made our own sijeeches, and at length had our 

 horses brought, which we mounted, and rode off without further molestation ; and 

 having arrived upon this interesting ground, have found it quite equal in interes't and 

 beauty to our sanguine expectations, abundantly repaying us for all our trouble in 

 traveling to it. 



Mr. Catlin subsequently details the speeches made by the Sioux at 

 the time of his detention on his way to the red pipestone quarry: 



* In Silliman's American Journal of Science, vol. xxvii, p. 394, will be seen the following analysis 

 of this mineral, made by Dr. Jackson, of Boston, one of our best mineralogists and chemists, to -whom 

 I sent some specimens for the purpose, and who pronounced it " a new Tnineral compound, not steatite; 

 in harder than gypsum, and softer than carbonate of lime," 



Ohernicul analysis of the red pipestone brought by George CatUn from the Cdtean des Prairies in 

 1836: 



Water 8.4 



Silicia 48.2 



Alumina ..i ; 28.2 



Magnesia 6.0 



Carbonate of lime 2. 6 



Peroxide of iron ..........._.................. 5.0 



Oxide of manganese _ 0. 6 



99.0 

 Loss (probably magnesia) '. . 1.0 



100.0 



