742 THE GEORGE CATLIN INDIAN GALLERY. 



The plains are silent; neither structure nor monument tells their past 

 glory. The streams run as of old, but sing no song of the olden time. 

 The nodding pines bend a welcome to the new-comer, but tell not of 

 the past. The caiion and hidden recess shelter as of yore, but speak 

 not. The painter's art, the museum, and the art preservative alone can 

 tell the story. 



Crooning squaws and tottering old men on reservations retell the sto- 

 ries of the fierce battles of the past — each tale an epic, every one men- 

 tioned a hero. What wonder, then, that younger men, with quickened 

 blood and heightened color, think of wars, alarms, and of honors to be 

 won. All is now mere reflection and retrospection. Herds of cattle 

 now usurp the buffalo range. Shorthorns have given way to broad- 

 horns. The fierce Sioux, Comanche, and Pawnee follow the plow, herd 

 cattle, or lie idle and listless on reservations. A few scattered, almost 

 homeless, bands of wanderers remain. The white man has conquered. 

 An outbreak or Indian raid is now a matter of a few days as to results, 

 and the " long swords" conquer and destroy. Surely the glory of Egypt 

 hath departed ! 



YALUE OF MR. CATLIN'S INDIAN GALLERY AND HIS WORKS, WITH 

 OPINIONS OF ARTISTS, STATESMEN, AND SCIENTISTS. 



. One great merit of Mr. Catlin's " North American Indians " is that he 

 writes of the Indians in their everyday and domestic life. He does not 

 constantly prate about his heroic acts. He chronicles their eating, sleep- 

 ing, hunting, fishing, birth, death ; details as to dress, religious belief, 

 and the other things which make up the economies of the Indian. He 

 considered the several tribes different in type, and carefully noted their 

 several languages and marked characteristics. He found that the habits 

 and customs of the tribes were probably formed through a series of pre- 

 ceding events running back through centuries ; that climate and sur- 

 roundings, game, wood, and water had much to do with the habits and 

 ways of life of tribes. He found the flesh-eater and fish-eater, and 

 made distinction between the Indian of the forest, plain, and stream ; 

 little escaped his eye, aided as it was by his love of art and nature. His 

 details as to dress and ornament in his portraits are most exact. The 

 markings upon the faces of his subjects and the colors show his close 

 observation. 



The Indian built no temple, reared no monuments of stone, iron, or 

 bronze. His wars, prior to the advent of the whites, were with the 

 stone ax, knife, bow and arrow, tomahawk, spear, or club. A raid upon 

 the horses of a neighboring tribe, a theft of women ; a quarrel over a 

 hunting or fishing ground were the usual cause of Indian wars. The 

 feats of a tribe or individual members of it were carried along in tradi- 

 tion and in story. The squaw painted her lord's robe with the story of 

 his prowess, and thus it was preserved. The most insignificant actions- 

 were noted. Mr. Catlin was generally with roaming bands, those liv- 



