720 THE GEORGE CATLIN INDIAN GALLERY. 



pose of procuring portraits of distinguislied Indians, of both sexes in each tribe, 

 painted in their native costume, accompanied with pictures of their villages, do- 

 mestic habits, games, mysteries, religious ceremonies, &c., with anecdotes, traditions, 

 and history of their respective nations. 



If I should live to accomplish my design the result of my labors will doubtless be 

 interesting to future ages, who will have little else left from which to judge of the 

 original inhabitants of this simple race of beings, who require but a few years more 

 of the march of civilization and death to deprive them of all their native customs 

 and character. 



In the "Eemarks" to his Catalogues, 1837 to 1848, Mr. Catlin writes: 



I wish to inform the visitors to my collection that, having some years since be- 

 come fully convinced of the rapid decline and certain extinction of the numerous 

 tribes of the North American Indians * * * i gat out alone, unaided and unad- 

 vised, resolved (if my life should be spared), by the aid of my brush and pen, to rescue 

 from oblivion so much of their primitive looks and customs as the industry and 

 ardent enthusiasm of one lifetime cuuld accomplish, and set them up in a (jallery, unique 

 and imperishaile, for the use and benefit of future ages. 



LIFE ON THE FRONTIER, 1829-'38. 



For eight years Mr. Catlin, in pursuit of bis ambition, lived among 

 the Indians, traders, trappers, and hunters of the West. The life and 

 habits of the hunter and trapper of the Western frontier in ISIS-'IQ, to 

 the west and south of Saint Louis and about the head- waters and along 

 the Arkansas and Canadian Elvers, he thus describes : 



The only inhabitants on the upper parts of White River, so far as inhabitants have 

 penetrated, are hunters, who live in camps and log cabins, and sujiport themselves by 

 hunting the bear, deer, buffalo, elk, beaver, racoon, and other animals which are 

 found in great plenty in that region. They (the hunters) also raise some corn for 

 bread and for feeding their horses. * * * They seldom, however, cultivate more 

 than an acre or two, subsisting chiefly on animal food and wild honey. * « » 

 When the season of hunting arrives, the ordinary labors of a man about the house and 

 corn-fields devolve upon the women, whose condition in such a state of society may 

 readily be imagined. They in fact pursue a similar course of life with the savages ; 

 having embraced their love of ease and their contempt for agricultural pursuits, with 

 their sagacity in the chase, their mode of dressing in skins, their manners, and their 

 hospitality to strangers. 



The furs and peltries, which are collected during repeated exfirsions in the woods, 

 are taken down the river at certain seasons in canoes and disposed of to traders, who 

 visit the lower parts of this river for that purpose. Here they receive, in exchange 

 for their furs, woolen cloths, rifles, knives, and hatchets, salt, powder, lead, iron for 

 horse-shoes, blankets, iron pots, shoes, and other articles of primary importance in 

 their way of life. 



Those living near the cultivated parts of Lawrence county, in Arkansas Territory, 

 also bring down in exchange for such articles, buffalo beef, pork, bear's meat, bees- 

 wax, and honey, which are again sold by the traders along the banks of the Missis- 

 sippi or at New Orleans. Very little cash is paid, and that in hard (coin) money 

 only, no bank bills of any kind being taken in that quarter. 



I happened to be present, on my return from the head-waters of White River, at 

 one of these exchanges, where a further opportunity was offered of observing the 

 manners and character of these savage Europeans. Bear's meat was sold at $10 per 

 cwt., buffalo beef at $4, cow's beef at $3, pork in the hog at $3.50, venison hams at 

 2b cents each, wild turkeys the same, wild honey at |1 per gallon, beaver fur $2 

 per pound, bear skins $1.50 each, otter skins $2 a piece, racoon 25 cents each, deer 

 skins 25 cents per pound. These prices were considered high by the purchaser, but 



