102 THE GEORGE CATLIN INDIAN GALLERY. 



The scalp of which I spoke is procured by cutting out a piece of the skin of the head, 

 the size of the palm of the hand or less, containing the very center or crown of the 

 head, the place where the hair radiates from a point, and exactly over what the 

 phrenologists call self-esteem. This patch then is kept and dried with great care, as 

 proof positive of the death of an enemy, and evidence of a man's claims as a warrior; 

 and after having been formally " danced," as the saying is (i. e., after it has been 

 stuck up upon a pole or held up by an "old woman," and the warriors have danced 

 around it for two or three weeks at intervals), it is fastened to the handle of a lance, 

 or the end of a war-club, or divided into a great many small locks and used to fringe 

 and ornament the victor's dress. When these dresses are seen bearing such trophies, 

 it is of course a difficult matter to purchase them of the Indian, for they often hold 

 them above all price. I shall hereafter take occasion to speak of the scalp-dance, 

 describing it in all its parts, and giving a long letter at the same time on scalps and 

 scalping, an interesting and general custom amongst all the North American Indians. 

 (See plate and description.) 



In the chief's dress, which I am describing, there are his moccasins, made also of 

 buckskin, and ornamented in a corresponding manner. And over all, his robe, made 

 of the skin of a young buffalo bull, with the hair remaining on ; and on the inner or 

 flesh side, beautifully garnished with porcupine quills, and the battles of his life very 

 ingeniously, though rudely, portrayed in pictorial representations. In his hand he 

 holds a very beautiful pipe, the stem of which is four or five feet long and two inches 

 wide, curiously wound with braids of the porcupine quills of various colors, and the 

 bowl of the pipe ingeniously carved by himself from a piece of red steatite of an in- 

 teresting character, and which they all tell me is procured somewhere between this 

 place and the Falls of St. Anthony, on the headwaters of the Mississippi. 



This curious stone has many peculiar qualities, and has, undoubtedly, but one 

 origin in this country, and perhaps in the world. It is found but in the hands of the 

 savage, and every tribe, and nearly every individual in the tribe has his pipe made 

 of it. I consider this stone a subject of great interest and curiosity to the world ; 

 and I shall most assuredly make it a point, during my Indian rambles, to visit the 

 place from whence it is brought. I have already got a number of most remarkable 

 traditions and stories relating to the " sacred quarry," of pilgrimages performed there 

 to procure the stone, and of curious transactions that have taken place on that 

 ground. It seems, from all I can learn, that all the tribes in these regions, and also 

 of the Mississippi and the Lakes, have been in the habit of going to that place, and 

 meeting their enemies there, whom they are obliged to treat as friends, under an in- 

 junction of the Great Spirit. 



So, then, is this sachem (the Buffalo's Back Fat) dressed ; and in a very similar 

 manner, and almost the same, is each of the others named, viz, 151, 152, 153, 154, 

 155, following Blackfeet, and all are armed with bow and quiver, lance and shield. — 

 G. C, 1832. 



150. Eeh-nfs-kim, the Crystal Stone, wife of the chief. (No. 149.) 

 (Plate No. 13, page 30, vol. 1, Catlin's Eight Years.) 

 Her countenance is rather pleasing, which is an uncommon thing .amongst the 

 Blackfeet. Her dress is made of skins, and being the youngest of a bevy of six or 

 eight, and the last one taken under his guardianship, was smiled upon with great 

 satisfaction, whilst he exempted her from the drudgeries of the camp, and keeping 

 her continually in the halo of his own person, watched and guarded her as the apple 

 of* his eye.— G. C, 1832. 



150£. ( ), boy. [No number in book or catalogue.] 



(Plate No. 12, page 30, vol. 1, Catlin's Eight Years.) 

 The grandson, also, of this sachem (No. 149), a boy of 6ix years of age, and too 

 young as yet to have acquired a name, has stood forth like a tried warrior; and I 



