THE GEORGE CATLIN INDIAN GALLERY. 287 



These horses are so trained that the Indian has little use for the rein, which hangs 

 on the neck, whilst the horse approaches the animal on the right side (Plate 107, No. 

 408), giving his rider the chance to throw his arrow to the left, which he does at the 

 instant when the horse is passing, bringing him opposite to the heart, which, receives 

 the deadly weapon " to the feather." When pursuing a large herd the Indian gener- 

 ally rides close in the rear until he selects the animal he wishes to kill, which he sep- 

 arates from the throng as soon as he can by dashing his horse between it and the 

 herd and forcing it off by itself, where he can approach it without the danger of 

 being trampled to death, to which he is often liable by too closely escorting the mul- 

 titude. 



In No. 408 I have fairly represented the mode of approaching, at the instant the ar- 

 row is to be thrown, and the striking disparity between the size of a large bull of 

 two thousand pounds' weight and the Indian horse, which, it will be borne in mind, 

 is but a pony. 



No bridle whatever is used in this country by the Indians, as they have no knowl- 

 edge of a bit. A short halter, however, which answers in place of a bridle, is in gen- 

 eral use, of which they usually form a noose around the under jaw of the horse, by 

 which they get great power over the animal, and which they generally use to stop 

 rather than guide the horse. This halter is called by the French traders in the coun- 

 try Varret, the stop, and has great power in arresting the speed of a horse, though it 

 is extremely dangerous to use too freely as a guide, interfering too much with the 

 freedom of his limbs for the certainty of his feet and security of his rider. 



When the Indian, then, has directed the course of his steed to the animal which he 

 has selected, the training of the horse is such that it knows the object of its rider's 

 selection and exerts every muscle to give it close company, while the halter lies loose 

 and untouched upon his neck and the rider leans quite forward and off from the side 

 of his horse, with his bow drawn and ready for the deadly shot, which is given at 

 the instant ho is opposite to the animal's body. The horse being instinctively afraid 

 of the animal (though he generally brings his rider within the reach of the end of his 

 bow), keeps his eye strained upon the furious enemy he is so closely encountering, 

 and the moment he has approached to the nearest distance required and has passed 

 the animal, whether the shot is given or not, he gradually sheers off to prevent 

 coming on to the horns of the infuriated beast, which often are instantly turned and 

 presented for the fatal reception of its too familiar attendant. These frightful col- 

 lisions often take place, notwithstanding the sagacity of the horse and the caution of 

 its rider, for in these extraordinary (and inexpressible) exhilarations of chase, which 

 seem to drown the prudence alike of instinct and reason, both horse and rider often 

 seem rushing on to destruction as if it were mere pastime and amusement. 



I have always counted myself a prudent man, yet I have often waked (as it were) 

 out of the delirium of the chase, into which I had fallen as into an agitated sleep, 

 and through which I had passed as through a delightful dream, where to have died 

 would have been but to have remained riding on without a struggle or a pang. In 

 some of these, too, I have arisen from the prairie, covered with dirt and blood, having 

 severed company with gun and horse, the one lying some twenty or thirty feet from 

 me with a broken stock and the other coolly browsing on the grass at a half mile dis- 

 tance, without man and without other beasts remaining in sight. — Pages 21-23, vol. 1, 

 Catlin's Eight Years. 



For the novice in these scenes there is much danger of his limbs and his life, and 

 he finds it a hard and desperate struggle that brings him in at the death of these 

 huge monsters, except where it has been produced by hands that have acquired more 

 sleight and tact than his own. With the Indian, who has made this the every-day 

 sport and amusement of his life, there is less difficulty and less danger; he rides with- 

 out "losing his breath," and his nnagitated hand deals certainty in its deadly blows. 

 409. Buffalo chase ; surround, where I saw three hundred killed in a few minutes 

 by the Minataiees with arrows and lances only. Painted in 1832. 

 (Plate No. 79, page 200, vol. 1, Catlin's Eight Years.) 



