THE GEORGE CATLIN INDIAN GALLERY. 95 



Mr. Catliu did not visit the Nez Percys until 1854-'55, on bis second 

 journey through the West. 



Numbers 145 and 146 are young men of the Nez Perce" tribe. 



These two men, when I painted them, were in beautiful Sioux dresses, which had 

 been presented to them in a talk with the Sioux, who treated them very kindly, 

 while passing through the Sioux country. These two men were part of a delegation 

 that came across the Rocky Mountains to Saint Louis, a few years since, to inquire 

 for the truth of a representation which they said some white man had made among 

 them, " that our religion was better than theirs, and that they would all be lost if they 

 did not embrace it." 



Two old and venerable men of this party died in Saint Louis, and I traveled two 

 thousand miles, companions with these two young fellows, toward their own country, 

 and became much pleased with their manners and dispositions. 



The last mentioned of the two died near the mouth of the Yellowstone River, on 

 his way home, with disease which ho had contracted in the civilized district; and 

 the other one I have since learned arrived safely among his friends, conveying to 

 them the melancholy intelligence of the deaths of all the rest of his party ; but as- 

 surances at the same time from General Clarke and many reverend gentlemen, that 

 the report which they had heard was well founded; and that missionaries, good and 

 religious men, would soon come among them to teach this religion, so that they 

 could all understand and have the benefits of it. 



When I first heard the report of the object of this extraordinary mission across the 

 mountains, I could scarcely believe it ; but, on conversing with General Clarke, on a 

 future occasion, I was fully convinced of the fact; and I, like thousands of others, 

 have had the satisfaction of witnessing the complete success that has crowned the 

 bold and daring exertions of Mr. Lee and Mr. Spalding, two reverend gentlemen 

 who have answered in a Christian manner to this unprecedented call ; and with their 

 wives have crossed the most rugged wilds and wildernesses of the Rocky Mountains, 

 and triumphantly proved to the world that the Indians, in their native wilds, are a 

 kind and friendly people, and susceptible of mental improvement. 



I had long been of the opinion, that to insure success, the exertions of pious men 

 should be carried into the heart of the wilderness, beyond the reach and influence 

 of civilized vices; and I so expressed my opinion to the Rev. Mr. Spalding and his 

 lady, in Pittsburgh, when on their way, in their first tour to that distant country. 

 I have seen the Rev. Mr. Lee and several others of the mission, several years since 

 the formation of their school, as well as several gentlemen who have visited their 

 settlement, and from all I am fully convinced of the complete success of these ex- 

 cellent and persevering gentlemen in proving to the world the absurdity of the 

 assertion that has often been made "that the Indian can never be civilized or Chris- 

 tianized." Their uninterrupted transit over such a vast and wild journey, also, with 

 their wives on horseback, who were everywhere on their way, as well as among the 

 tribes where they have located, treated with the utmost kindness and respect, bears 

 strong testimony to the assertions so often made by travelers in those countries that 

 these are. in their native state, a kind and excellent people. — G. C. 



The story is that four Flathead Indians of the Nez Perce* tribe in 

 1832, having heard from a trapper of the white man's God and of the 

 book that told of the Great Spirit, resolved to cross to the white men 

 and find its truth and the book. Two of these were old men, and had 

 seen and met William Clarke, of Lewis & Clarke, on the famous expe- 

 dition of exploration of the Louisiana purchase. They heard that he 

 was in Saint Louis; so across the mountains and plains they traveled, 

 until in May or June, 1832, they reached him. Governor Clarke was 



