246 THE GEORGE CATLIN INDIAN GALLERY. 



Te-o-Tcun-hJco (the Swift Man) first rose and said : 



" My friends, I am not a chief, but the son of a chief. I am the son of my father, 

 he is a chief, and when he is gone away it is my duty to speak for him ; he is not here ; 

 hut what I say is the talk of bis mouth. We have been told that you are going to 

 the pipestone quarry. We come now to ask for what purpose you are going, and 

 what business yon have to go there." ( ' ' How ! how ! " vociferated all of them, thereby 

 approving what was said, giving assent by the word " how," which is their word for 

 yes.) 



' ' Brothers, I am a brave, but not a chief. My arrow stands in the top of the leaping- 

 rock ; all can see it, and all know that Te-o-kun-hko's foot has been there. (How ! 

 how!) 



"Brothers, we look at you and we see that you are Che-mo-ke-mon captains (white 

 men officers) ; we know that you have been sent by your Government to see what that 

 place is worth, and we think that the white people want to buy it, (How ! how !) 



" Brothers, we have seen always that the white people, when they see anything in 

 our country that they want, send officers to value it, and then, if they can't buy it 

 they will get it some other way. (How ! how!) 



"Brothers, I speak strong; my heart is strong, and I speak fast; this red pipe was 

 given to the red men by the Great Spirit; it, is a part of our flesh, and therefore is 

 great medicine. (How! how!) 



"Brothers, we know that the whites are like a great cloud that rises in the east, 

 and will cover the whole country. We know that they will have all our lands, but if 

 ever they get our red pipe quarry they will have to pay very dear for it. (How! 

 how ! how !) 



" Brothers, we know that no white man has ever been to the pipestone quarry, and 

 our chiefs have often decided in council that no white man shall ever go to it. 

 (How! how!) 



"Brothers, you have heard what I have to say, and you can go no farther, but you 

 must turn about and go back. (How! how! how!) 



"Brothers, you see that the sweat runs from my face, for I am troubled." 



Then I commenced to reply in the following manner: 



" My friends, I am -sorry that you have mistaken us so much and the object of our 

 visit to your country. We are not officers; we are not sent by any one; we are two 

 poor men traveling to see the Sioux and shake hands with them, and examine what 

 is curious or interesting in their country. This man who is with me is my friend; he 

 is a Sa-ga-nosli (an Englishman). (How! how ! how !) " 



(All rising and shaking hands with him, and a number of them taking out and 

 showing British medals which were carried in their bosoms.) 



" We have heard that the red pipe quarry was a, great curiosity, and we have started 

 to go to it, and we will not be stopped." (Here I was interrupted by a grim and 

 black-visaged fellow, who shook his long shaggy locks as he rose, with his sullen eyes 

 fixed in direct hatred on me, and his fist, brandished within* an inch of my face.) 



"Pale faces, you cannot speak till we have all done; you are our prisoners; our 

 young men (our soldiers) are about the house, and you must listen to what we have 

 to say. What has been said to you is true; you must go back. (How! how!) 



"We heard the word Sa-f/a-nosli, and it makes our hearts glad; we shook hands 

 with our brother. His father is our father ; he is our Great Father; he lives across 

 the big lake ; his son is here, and we are glad ; we wear our Great Father, the Sag-a- 

 nosh, on our bosoms, and we keep his face bright;* we shake hands; but no while 

 man has been to the red pipe and none shall go. (How !) 



* Many and strong are the recollections of the Sionx and other tribes of their alliance with the British 

 iii the last and revolutionary wars, of which I have met many curious instances, one of which was cor- 

 rectly reported in the London Globe, from my lectures, and I here insert it, viz, in 1840. 



THE GLOBE AND TRAVELER. 



"Indian knowledge of English affairs. — Mr. Catlin, in one of his lectures on the manner sand customs 

 of the North American Indians, during the last week, related a very curious occurrence, which excited 



