THE GEORGE CATLIN INDIAN GALLERY. 73 



asserted that no one of his nation had over stained his hands with the blood <>!' a 



white man. 



He is a man of good sense and sound judgment, and is said to bo unsurpassed as a 

 public speaker. He bears an excellent reputation for probity ; and is spoken of by 

 those who know him well as one of the best men of the native tribes. He is one of 

 the few Indians who can tell his own ago with accuracy. He is sixty-six years old. — 

 McKenny & Hall, vol. 1, pages 130, 138. 1838. 



On the night of July 14, 1811, Black Buffalo, chief of the Tetons 

 (Sioux), died at Portage des Sioux. 



He was present with his band at a treaty being held with the United 

 States authorities. The next day Black Buffalo was buried. Bobert 

 Walsh, secretary of the Commission, made a note of the oration deliv- 

 ered over Black Buffalo at the grave after the firing, by Om-pah-ton-ga, 

 Big Elk (No. 114). Big Elk and his band of Omahas (Mahas) were also 

 present. Black Buffalo was buried with the honors of war, Col. James 

 Miller, afterwards the hero of Lundy's Lane, commanding the escort and 

 funeral party. 



Big Elk's address was as follows : 



Do not grieve. Misfortunes will happen to the wisest and best of men. Death will 

 come, and always comes out of season. It is the command of the Great Spirit, and 

 all nations and people must obey. What is passed and cannot be prevented should 

 not be grieved for. Be not discouraged or displeased, then, that in visiting your 

 Fathers here [the Commissioners] you have lost your chief. A misfortune of this kind 

 may never again befall you, but this would have attended you perhaps at your own 

 village. Five times have I visited this land, and never returned with sorrow or pain. 

 Misfortunes do not flourish particularly in our path. They grow everywhere, and 

 [speaking to Governor Edwards and Colonel Miller] what a misfortune for me that 

 I could not have died this day, instead of the chief that lies before us. The trifling 

 loss my nation would have sustained in my death would have been doubly paid for 

 by the honors of my burial. They would have wiped off everything like regret. 

 Instead of being covered with a cloud of sorrow, my warriors would have felt the 

 snnshiDe of joy in their hearts. 



To me it would have been a most glorious occurrence. Hereafter, when I die at 

 home (at the Omaha village on the Missouri), instead of a noble grave and a grand 

 procession, the rolling music and the thundering cannon, with a flag waving at my 

 head, I shall bo wrapped in a robe (an old robe, perhaps), and hoisted on a slender 

 scaffold to the whistling winds, soon to be blown down to the earth — my flesh to be 

 devoured by the wolves, and my bones rattled on the plain by the wild beasts. 

 [Speaking to Colonel Miller.] Chief of the soldiers: Your labors have not been in 

 vain. Your attention shall not be forgotten. My nation shall know the respect that 

 is paid over the dead. When I return I will echo the sound of your guns. 



As an Indian orator Big Elk had few equals. 



Big Elk became chief of the Omahas in 1800, succeeding Black Bird. 

 He is said to have died in 1846. 



115. Skaw-da-xnon-nee, There ho Goes; a brave. 



(1833. No plate.) 



116. N6m-ba-mon-nee, the Double Walker ; a brave. 



(1833. No plate.) 



Mr. Catlin visited them in 1833 and found them living on the Platte 

 Kiver, in what is now Nebraska, they were then with their allies the 

 Otoes and near the Pawnees. 



