466 



THE GEORGE CATLIN INDIAN GALLERY. 



a striking similarity, and quite sufficient to excite surprise in the minds of the atten- 

 tive reader, if it could be proved that those resemblances were but the results of 

 accident between two foreign and distinct idioms : 



English. 



I. 



You. 

 He. 



She. 



We. 



They. 



Those ones. 



No, or there is not. 



No. 



Head. 



The Great Spirit, 



Mandan. 



Me. 



Ne. 



E. 



Ea. 



Ount. 



Noo. 



Eonah. 

 Mesrosh. 



Pan. 



Maho peneta. 



* To act as a great chief, head or principal, sovereign or snpremo. t The Great Spirit. 



With the Minataeees. 



After witnessing the Mandan religious ceremonies, Mr. Catlin (see 

 data following) went to the village of the Minatarees (Gros Ventres), 8 

 miles above the upper Mandan village, on the west bank of the Mis- 

 souri, at or near the mouth of Knife Eiver (now a station on the North- 

 ern Pacific Eailroad). Here he remained several days. 



The series of portraits from iSTo. 171 to l^o. 175, and the scenes Nos. 383 

 409, and No. 446 were the results of this visit. 



He writes of these Indians : 



On my way down the river in my canoe, from Fort Union to upj)er Mandan village, 

 I passed this village without attending to their earnest and clamorous invitations for 

 me to come ashore, and it will thus be seen that I am retrograding a little to see all 

 that is to be seen in this singular country. 



The principal village of the Minatarees ( there were three clustered together), which 

 is built upon the bank of the Knife River, contains forty or fifty earth-covered wig- 

 wams, from 40 to 50 feet in diameter, and, being elevated, overlooks the other two, 

 which are on lower ground and almost lost amidst their numerous corn-fields and other 

 profuse vegetation which cover the earth with their luxuriant growth. 



The scenery along the banks of this little river, from village to village, is quite pe- 

 culiar and curious, rendered extremely so by the continual wild and garrulous groups 

 of men, women, and children who are wending their way along its winding shores, or 

 dashing and plunging through its blue waves, enjoying the luxury of swimming, of 

 which both sexes seem to be passionately fond. Others are paddling about in their 

 tublike canoes, made of the skins of buffaloes ; and every now and then are to be seen 

 their sudatories, or vapor baths, where steam is raised by throwing water on to heated 

 stones, and the patient jumps from his sweating horse and leaps into the river, in the 

 highest state of perspiration — as I have more fully described whilst speaking of the 

 bathing of the Mandans Cpage 186, vol. 1, Catlin's Eight Y"ears]. 



Mr. Oatlin painted a visiting band of Crows in this village. (See Nos. 

 162-170, and Plates 70, 77, Vol. 1, Catlin's Eight Tears.) 



