602 REPORT OF NATIONAL MUSEUM, 1890, 



safe eastern situation in winter, aud common cattle toiling through the 

 snow from which he could imagine the pose of the bison under similar 

 circumstances. But this winter hunt, or any like winter hunt, he never 

 saw. A careful perusal of his writing will be sufficient to satisfy any 

 one that he never visited the northern buffalo ranges in the winter, and 

 therefore could not have witnessed such scenes. He made his itinera- 

 ries in the Indian country in summer and worked up his notes and 

 sketches in some eastern city in winter. 



But the chief wealth of this gallery is in its portraits of Indians, 

 many of whom are historic characters. He publishes many certificates 

 of the authenticity and correctness of his portraits. To the world at 

 large these may be of value; but, for my own part, I desire no better 

 witnesses than the tears I have seen shed over some of them by the 

 children and the grandchildren of the subjects. 



Singularly enough Catlin's works seem not to have circulated in 

 early days in the lands in which the scenes of his labor were laid. 

 My first acquaintance with the Mandans was made in 1865. At that 

 time all recollection of Catlin's visit was lost, both by the Indians an I 

 the whites who lived among them. White men who had traded for 

 years among the Indians knew nothing of him. About 4 years after 

 my first arrival on the Upper Missouri I succeeded in getting a copy of his 

 " Illustrations," etc., " of the North American Indians," in two volumes. 

 This was before the days not only of railroads and express offices, but 

 of even regular post-offices and post-roads in North Dakota, and the 

 introduction of rare books was no easy matter. The work created the 

 liveliest interest amongst the Indians. I lived then at Fort Steven- 

 son (now an Indian school), some 16 miles distant from the village where 

 the remains of the three tribes, called by Catliu the Mandans, Biccar- 

 rees, and Minnetarees, were living together. The news soon spread 

 among these Indians that I had a book containing the "faces of their 

 fathers," and ere many days my quarters at Fort Stevenson were 

 thronged with eager visitors. The portraits, although appearing in 

 Catlin's plates only as light, unshaded etchings, were generally readily 

 recognized by the children and the grandchildren of the departed 

 heroes represented. The women rarely restrained their tears at the 

 sight of these ancestral pictures. The men seemed to have less feeling 

 and interest, but I soon had evidence that their indifference was af- 

 fected. 



Those who have read Catlin's works are aware that his most honored 

 Indian hero was Four Bears, a chief of the Mandans, PI. cxl. He 

 devoted one full-page plate to Four Bears' portrait, another to his 

 hospitality, four to his buffalo robe, an entire chapter to his personality 

 and history, and he often refers to him elsewhere in his various works. 

 Among those who came to see my books was a son of this Four Bears, 

 named Rushing Fagle, PI. cxli, or (as he was more familiarly called 

 by the whites) Bad Grun. Bushing Eagle was the second chief of the 



