THE GEORGE CATLIN INDIAN GALLERY. 383 



institutions of the New and the Old World. In this work I find that Mr. Schoolcraft 

 denies the truth of Mr. Catlin's description of the Mandan religious ceremonies, the 

 truth of his assertion that the Mandan youths suspended the weight of their bodies 

 by splints run through the flesh on the breast and shoulders, &c. ; and asserts, also, 

 that his whole account of the Mandan religion is all wrong. It is a great pity that 

 Mr. Schoolcraft, who never visited the Mandans, should have put forth such false and 

 unfounded assertions as these on a subject so important to science, and so well estab- 

 lished by proved i'a< 



I had the sole control of the American Fur Company's business with the Mandans, 

 and lived in their village, for the space of thirteen years, from 1S22 to 1835, and was 

 doubtless the first white man who ever learned to speak their language. In the sum- 

 mer of 1632 Mr. George Catlin was a guest in my fort at the Mandan village, observ- 

 ing and learning the customs of those interesting and peculiar people, and painting 

 the portraits of their celebrated men, of which he made many and with great exact- 

 ness. It was during that summer that Mr. Catliu witnessed the Mandan religious 

 ceremonies, the O-hat-pa described in his notes of travels among the Xorth American 

 Indians, and to which Mr. Schoolcraft has applied the insulting epithet of falsity in 

 his great work. By the certificate published by Mr. Catlin, signed by my chief clerk 

 and myself, on the 23d day of July, 1632 (see page 36S, herein), in the Mandan village, 

 certifying that we witnessed, in company with Mr. Catlin, the whole of those four days' 

 ceremonies, and that he has represented in his four paintings, then and there made 

 of them, exactly what we saw, and without addition or exaggeration, it will be seen 

 that I witnessed those scenes with Mr. Catlin and interpreted their whole meaning 

 for him as they are described in his work. Since the almost extinction of this friendly 

 tribe, and the end of this peculiar and unaccountable custom, and in the eighty-fifth 

 year of my own age, from a sense of duty to my ancient friend, Mr. Catlin, and a wish 

 for the truthfulness of history, I have taken the liberty of committing to your care 

 and for your use, as you may be disposed, the foregoing statements. 

 Yours, trulv, 



JAMES Kirr. 



Professor Henry, 



Smithsonian Institution. 



Until Ms dying day Mr. Catliu felt sorely the attempt to discredit the 

 truth of his work amongst the Mandans. 



Mr. Lewis H. Morgan was with the Maudaus about 1857, and traveled 

 over much of the ground where Mr. Catlin had been twenty-five years 

 before. 



In speaking of George Catlin as an observer of Indian life, and of his 

 being with the Mandans at their village on the Upper Missouri, Mr. Mor- 

 gan writes : 



He was an accurate and intelligent observer, audhis work on the " Manners and Cus- 

 toms of the Xorth American Indians" is a valuable contribution to American Ethnog- 

 raphv.* 



LEWIS H. MORGAN. 



♦Houses and Home Life of the American Aborigines, 18S1, page 50. 



