TiEE GEORGE CATLIN INDIAN GALLERY. 249 



pipe, which has hlowu its fumes of i^uace aud war to the remotest comers of the con- 

 tinent, which has visited every warrior and passed through its reddened stem the ir- 

 revocable oath of wax aud desolation. And here, also, the peace-breathiug'calumet 

 was horn and fringed with the eagle's quills, which has shed its thrilling fumes over 

 the land aud soothed the fury of the relentless savage. 



"The Great Spirit at an ancient period here called the ludian nations together, aud 

 standing on the precipice of the red pipestone rock, broke from its wall a piece, and 

 made a huge pipe by turning it in his hand, which he smoked over them, aud to the 

 north, the south, the east, aud the west, and told them that this stouewas red — that 

 it was their flesh — that they must use it for their pipes of peace — that it belonged to 

 theui all, and tljat the war-club and scalpiug-knife must not be raised on its ground. 

 At the last whilf of his pipe his head went into a great cloud, and the whole surface 

 of the rock for several miles was melted aud glazed ; two great ovens were opened 

 beueath and two womeu (guardian spirits of the jjlace) entered them in a blaze of 

 tire ; and they are heard there yet (Tso-mec-cos-tee and Tso-me-coa-te-won-dee), answer- 

 ing to the invocations of the high priests or medicine men, who consult them when 

 they are visitors to this sacred j^lace." 



Near this spot, also, on a high mound, is the " Thunder's Nest" (Nid-du-Tonnere), 

 where " a very small bird sits upon her eggs during fair weather and the skies are 

 rent with bolts of thunder at the apjiroach of a storm, which is occasioned by the 

 hatching of her brood ! 



"This bird is eternal and incapable of reproducing her own species ; she has often 

 been seen by the medicine men, and is about as large as the end of the little finger ! 

 Her mate is a serpeut, Avhose fiery tongue destroys the young ones as soon as they are 

 hatched, and the fiery noise darts through the skies." 



Such are a few of the stories of this famed land, which of itself, in its beauty and 

 loveliness, without the aid of traditionary fame, would be appropriately denominated 

 a paradise. Whether it has been an ludian Eden or not, or whether the thunderbolts 

 of an Indian Jupiter are actually forged here, it is nevertheless a i)lace renowned in 

 Indian heraldry and tradition, which I hope I may be able to fathom and chronicle, as 

 explanatory of many of my anecdotes and traditionary superstitious of Indian his- 

 tory which I have giA^en and am giviug to the world. 



With my excellent companion I am encamped on aud writing from the very rock 

 where "the Great Spirit stood when he consecrated the X'ipe of peace by molding it 

 from the rock and smoking it over the eougregated nations that were assembled about 

 him." 



Lifted up on this stately mound^ whose toiJ is fanned with air as light to breathe 

 as nitrous gas, aud bivouacked on its very ridge (where nought on earth is seen in 

 distance save the thousand treeless, bushless, weedless hills of grass and vivid greeu, 

 Avhich all arouud me vanish into an infinity of blue and azure), stretched on our 

 bears' skins, my fellow-traveler, Mr. Wood, and myself, have laid aud contemplated 

 the splendid orrery of the heavens. With sad delight that shook me with a terror 

 have I watched the swollen s.un shoving down, too fast for time, upon the mystic hor- 

 izon, whoso line was lost, except as it was marked in blue across his blood-red disk. 

 Thus have we laid night after night (two congenial spirits who could draw pleasure 

 from sublime contemplation) aud descanted on our own insiguificance ; we have 

 closely drawn our buflfalo robes about, talked of the iUs of Ufe, of friends we had 

 lost, of projects that had failed, and of the jsaiuful steps we had to retrace to reach 

 our own dear native lands again. We have sighed iu the melancholy of twilight, 

 when the busj' winds were breathing their last, the chill of sable night was hovering 

 around us, and naught of noise was heard but the silvery tones of the howling wolf 

 and the subterraneous whistle of the busy gofdiers that were plowing and vaulting 

 the earth beneath us. Thus Ijave we seen wheeled down in the west the glories of 

 day, aud at the next moment, iu the east, beheld her silver majesty jutting up above 

 the horizon, with splendor in her face that seemed again to fill the world with joy 



