434 THE GEORGE CATLIN INDIAN GALLERY. 



recognized iu this country of strange metamorpliose. The former shed everywhere 

 his familiar rays, and Monsr. Ratapon was hailed as an old acquaintance which it 

 gave me pleasure to meet, though he had grown a little more savage in his look. 



In traversing the immense regions of the classic West the mind of a philanthropist 

 is filled to the brim with feelings of admiration ; but to reach this country one is 

 obliged to descend from the light and glow of civilized atmosphere, through the differ- 

 ent grades of civilization, which gradually sink to the most deplorable condition along 

 the extreme frontier; thence through the most pitiable misery and wretchedness of 

 savage degradation, where the genius of natural liberty and independence have been 

 blasted and destroyed by the contaminating vices and dissipations introduced by the 

 immoral jjart of civilized society. Through this dark and sunken vale of wretched- 

 ness one hurries, as through a pestilence, until he graduallyrises again into the proud 

 and chivalrous j)ale of sav ige society, iu its state of original nature, beyond the reach 

 of civilized contamination; here he finds much to fix his enthusiasm upon and much 

 to admire. Even here the predominant passions of the savage breast, of ferocity and 

 cruelty, are often found, yet restrained, and frequently subdued, by the noblest traits 

 of honor and magnanimity — a race of men who live and enjoy, life and its luxuries, 

 and practice its virtues very far beyond the usual estimation of the world, who are 

 apt to judge the savage and his virtues from the poor, degraded, and humble speci- 

 mens which alone can be seen along our frontiers. From the first settlements of our 

 Atlantic coast to the present day the bane of this blasting frontier has regularly 

 crowded upon them from the northern to the southern extremities of our country, 

 and, like the fire in a prairie, which destroys everything where it passes, it has blasted 

 and sunk them, and all but their names, into oblivion wherever it has traveled. ^It 

 is to this tainted class alone that the epithet of "poor, naked, and drunken savage" 

 can be with propriety applied, for all those numerous tribes which I have visited, 

 and are yet uncorrupted by the vices of civilized acquaintance, are well clad, in many 

 instances cleanly, and in the full enjoyment of life and its luxuries. It is for the char- 

 acter and preservation of these noble fellows that I am an enthusiast, and it is for 

 these uneontaminated people that I would be willing to devote the energies of my 

 life. It is a sad and melancholy truth to contemplate that all the numerous tribes 

 who inhabited our vast Atlantic States have not "fled to the West" ; that they are 

 not to be found here ; that they have been blasted by the fire which has passed over 

 them, have sunk into their graves, and everything but their names traveled into 

 oblivion. 



The distinctive character of all these Western Indians, as well as their traditions rel- 

 ative to their ancient locations, prove beyond a doubt that they have been for a very 

 long time located on the soil which they now possess ; and, in most respects, distinct 

 and unlike those nations who formerly inhabited the Atlantic coast, and who (ac- 

 cording to the erroneous opinion of a great part of the world) have fled to the West. 



It is for these inoffen:sive and unoffending people, yet unvisited by the vices of civ- 

 ilized society, that I would proclaim to the world that it is time, for the honor of our 

 country, for the honor of every citizen of the Republic, and for the sake of humanity, 

 that our Government should raise her strong arm to save the remainder of them from 

 the pestilence which is rapidly advancing upon them. We have gotten from them 

 territory enough, and the country which they now inhabit is most of it too barren of 

 timber for the use of civilized man. It affords them, however, the means and lux- 

 uries of savage life, and it is to be hoped that our Government will not acquiesce in 

 the continued willful destruction of these happy people. 



My heart has sometimes almost bled with pity for them, while among them and 

 witnessing their innocent amusements, as I have contemplated the inevitable bane 

 that was rapidly advancing upon them, without that check from the protecting arm 

 of Government, and which alone could shield them from destruction. 



What degree of happiness these sons of nature may attain to in the world in their 

 own way, or in what proporuion they may relish the pleasures of life, compared to the 



