784 THE GEORGE CATLIN INDIAN GALLERY. 



by liis remarkable intelligence on every subject connected with the Nortb American 

 Indians ; but of its extent, as well as of his extraordinary enthusiasm and thirst for 

 adventure, we had formed no idea until we had perused these volumes. In the pres- 

 ent Maze condition of English literature^ in which hardly any work is published that 

 is not founded more or less on other volumes which have preceded it, until author- 

 ship has dwindled to little more than the art of emptying one vessel into another, it 

 is refreshing to come across a book which, like the one before us, is equally novel m 

 subject, manner, and execution, and which may be pronounced, without hyperbole, 

 one of the most original productions which has issued from the press for many years. 

 It is wholly impossible in the compass of a newspaper notice either to analyze or af- 

 ford even a tolerable idea of the contents of such a book ; and for the present, at least, 

 we must limit ourselves altogether to the first volume."^ 



[Caledonian Mercury, Edinburgh.] 



"Mr. Catlin's Lectures on the North American Indians. — "We have much pleasure in 

 publishing the following testimonial from a gentleman well qualified to pronounce 

 an opinion, on the remarkable fidelity and effect of Mr. Catlin's interesting and in- 

 structive exhibition : 



' Cottage, Haddington, April 15, 1843. 



' Dear Sir : I have enjoyed much pleasure in attending your lectures at the Water- 

 loo rooms in Edinburgh. Your delineations of the Indian character, the display of 

 beautiful costumes, and the native Indian manners, true to the life, realized to my mind 

 and views scenes I had so often witnessed in the parts of the Indian countries where 

 I had been ; and for twenty years' peregrinations in those parts, from Montreal to the 

 Great Slave River north, and from the shores of the Atlantic, crossing the Rocky 

 Mountains, to the mouth of the Columbia River, on the Pacific Ocean, west, I had 

 opportunities of seeing much. Your lectures and exhibition have afforded me great 

 pleasure and satisfaction, and I shall wish you all that success which you so eminently 

 deserve, for the rich treat which you have afforded in our enlightened, literary, and 

 scientific metropolis. 



' I remain, dear sir, yours, very truly, 



' Jo6n Haldane, 



'To George Catlin, Esq.'" 



" The following is an extract of a letter received some days since by a gentleman 

 in Edinburgh, from Mr. James Hargrave, of the Hudson's Bay Company, dated York 

 Factory, Hudson's Bay, December 10, 1842 : 



' Should you happen to fall in with Catlin's Letters on the North American Indians, 

 I would strongly recommend a perusal of them for the purpose of acquiring a knowl- 

 edge of the habits and customs of those tribes among whom he was placed. Catlin's 

 sketches are true to life, and are powerfully descriptive of their appearance and char- 



[The World of Fashion, London.] 



"We venture to afQrm of Mr. Catlin's book, which can be said of very few others, 

 that it is impossible to open it at any page, and not continue its perusal with un- 

 mingled satisfaction. It has, too, the rare quality of being written by a man who 

 says nothing but that which he knows, who describes nothing bnt that which he has 

 seen. We feel Avhile reading the book as in the society of a man of extraordinary 

 observation, of great talent, of wonderful accomplishments; and most cordially and 

 earnestly do we recommend this invaluable book to the patronage of the public gen- 

 erally, and to the perusal of our readers in particular." 



[Weekly Dispatch, London.] 



"A person might well be startled and frightened at the appearance of two such 

 large volumes as these on only the manners, customs, and condition of the North Amer- 



