THE GEORGE CATLIN INDIAN GALLERY. 497 



extreme tops, with a carpet of grass, with spots and clusters of timber of a deeper 

 green, and apparently in many places arranged in orchards and pleasure-grounds by 

 the hands of art. 



A TOUR FOK TKAVELERS. 



The scenes that are passed between Prairie du Chieu and Saint Peters, including 

 Lake Pepin, between whose magnificently turreted shores one passes for twenty-two 

 miles, will amply reward the tourist for the time and expense of a visit to them. And 

 to him or her of too little relish for nature's rude works to profit as they pass, there 

 will be found a redeeming pleasure at the mouth of Saint Peters and the Fall of 

 Saint Anthony. This scene has often been described, and I leave it for the world to 

 come and gaze upon for themselves, recommending to them at the same time to de- 

 nominate the nest fashionable tour a t:ip to Saint Louis ; thence by steamer to Rock 

 Island, Galena, Dubuque, Prairie du Chieu, Lake Pepiu, Saint Peters, Fall of Saint 

 Anthony, back to Prairie du Chien, from thence to Fort Winnebago, Green Bay, 

 Mackinaw, Sault de Saint Marie, Detroit, Buffalo, Niagara, and home. This tour 

 would comprehend but a small part of the great Far West, but it will furnish to the 

 traveler a fair sample, and being a part of it which is now made so easily accessible 

 to the world, and the only part of it to which ladies can have access, I would recom- 

 mend to all who have time and inclination to devote to the enjoyment of so splendid 

 a tour, to wait not, but make it while the subject is new and capable of producing 

 the greatest degree of pleasure. To the world at large this trip is one of surpassing in- 

 terest ; to the artist it has a double relish ; and to me still further inducements, inas- 

 much as many of the tribes of Indians which I have met with furnish manners and 

 customs which have awakened my enthusiasm, and aft'orded me interesting materials 

 for my gallery. — Pages 129, 130, vol. 1, Catlin's Eight Years. 



During this tour, in 1835, Mr. Catlin painted the Sioux portraits (Nos. 

 70-80) and games (Nos. 86-90). 



His studies made with Wabesha's band of Sioux, at Prairie du Chien, 

 are exceedingly valuable. The Winnebago portraits (i^os. 199-217) 

 were obtained during this journey, and are historically of great interest. 

 The Menomonies (Nos. 218-23G) were also painted at or near Prairie du 

 Chien during this year. On leaving Fort Snelling for Prairie du Chien, 

 Wisconsin, and Camp Des Moines, Iowa, in 1835, Mr. Catlin writes : 



About this lovely spot I have whiled away a few months with great pleasure, and 

 having visited all the curiosities and all the different villages of Indians in this vi- 

 cinity, I close my note-book and start in a few days for Prairie du Chien, which is 

 three hundred miles below this, where I shall have new subjects for my brush and 

 new themes for my pen, when I may continue my epistles. — Page 140, vol. 2, Catlin'a 

 Eight Years. 



CAMP DES MOINES. 



Mr. Catlin writes from Camp Des Moines, Iowa, near the present city 

 of Des Moines, of his journey to Fort Snelling : 



Soon after the date of my last letter, written at Saint Peters, having placed my wife on 

 board of the steamer, with aparfcy of ladies, for Prairie du Chien, I embarked in a light 

 bark canoe, on my homeward course, with only one companion, Corporal Allen, from 

 the garrison ; a young man of considerable taste, who thought he could relish the 

 transient scenes of a voyage in company with a painter, having gained the indul- 

 gence of Major Bliss, the commanding officer, with permission to accompany me. 



ADVENTURE WITH SIOUX. 



With stores laid in for a ten days' voyage, and armed for any emergency, with 

 sketch-book and colors prepared, we shoved off and swiftly glided away, with paddles 

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