THE GEORGE CATLIN INDIAN GALLERY. 115 



lands in making necessary permanent improvements, in helping the Indians to estab- 

 lish themselves upon their homesteads, and in the purchase of stock for them. All 

 other questions concerning the management of the affairs of the Indians are details, 

 I think, more or less important when considered by themselves, but very much in- 

 ferior to the two things mentioned." 



GROS-VENTRES. 



[Gros- Ventres : Laws of the United States. Gros-Ventres : Indian Bureau, June,1885. ] 

 MIN-A-TAR-REES (PEOPLE OF THE WILLOWS). 



A small tribe, near neighbors and friends of the Mandans, speaking the Crow lan- 

 guage, and probably have, at a former period, strayed away from them ; numbering 

 about L100. 



Mr. Catlin was with the Gros-Yentres in 1832. Following Lewis & 

 Clark, he called them Minatarees. Pages 135 to 190, vol. 1, Oatlin's 

 Eight Years. 



171. Eh-toh'k-pah-she-pee-shah, the Black Moccasin; chief; over a hundred years 



old, sits in his lodge, smoking a handsome pipe, his arms and ornaments 

 . hanging on a post by the side of his bed. Since dead. Painted in 1832. 

 (Plate No. 72, page 186, vol. 1, Catlin's Eight Years.) 



The chief sachem of this tribe is a very aucient and patriarchal looking man, 

 by the name of Eeh-tohk-pah-shee-pee-shah (the Black Moccasin), and counts, un- 

 doubtedly, more than a hundred snoivs. I have been for some days an inmate of his 

 hospitable lodge, where he sits tottering with age, and silently reigns sole monarch 

 of his little community around him, who are continually dropping in to cheer his 

 sinking energies and render him their homage. His voice and his sight are nearly 

 gone; but the gestures of his band are yet energetic and youthful, and freely speak 

 the language of his kind heart. 



I have been treated in the kindest manner by this old chief; and have painted his 

 portrait (Plate 72, No. 171) as he was seated on the floor of his wigwam, smoking his 

 pipe, whilst he was recounting over to me some of the extraordinary feats of his life, 

 with a beautiful Crow robe wrapped around him, and his hair wound up in a conical 

 form upon his head, and fastened with a small wooden pin, to keep it in its place. 



This man has many distinct recollections of Lewis and Clarke, who were the first ex- 

 plorers of this country, and who crossed the Rocky Mountains thirty years ago. It will 

 be seen by reference to their very interesting history of their tour that they were treated 

 with great kindness by this man ; and that they in consequence constituted him chief 

 of the tribe, with the consent of his people, and he has remained their chief ever since. 

 He inquired, very earnestly for " Red Hair" and " Long Knife " (as he had ever since 

 termed Lewis and Clarke), from the fact that one had red hair (an unexampled thing 

 in his country), and the other wore a broad sword which gained for him the appella- 

 tion of "Long Knife." 



I have told him that "Long Knife" has been many years dead, and that "Red 

 Hair" is yet living in Saint Louis, and no doubt would be glad to hear of him; at 

 which he seemed much pleased, and has signified to me that he will make me bearer 

 of some peculiar dispatches to him.* — G. C. 



172. E'e-a-chin-che-a, the Red Thunder; the son of the Black Moccasin (No. 171), 



represented in the costume of a warrior. Painted in 1832. 

 (Plate No. 73, page 187, vol. 1, Catlin's Eight Years.) 



*About a year after writing the above, and whilst I was in Saint Louis, I had the pleasure of pre- 

 senting the compliments of this old veteran to General Clarke ; and also of showing to him the por- 

 trait, which he instantly recognized amongst hundreds of others, saying that "they had considered 

 the Black Moccasin quite an old man when they appointed him chief thirty- two years ago." — GK C. 



