392 THE GEORGE CATLIN INDIAN GALLERY. 



on horseback only — made small and light, of bulls' hides ; sometimes single, some- 

 times double and tripled. Such was Hector's shield, and of most of the Homeric 

 heroes of the Greek and Trojan wars. In those days also were darts or javelins and 

 lances; the same were also used by the ancient Britons; and such exactly are now 

 in use amongst the Arabs and the North American Indians. 



In this wise, then, are all of these wild red knights of the prairie armed and 

 equipped; and while nothing can possibly be more picturesque and thrilling than a 

 troop or war-party of these fellows galloping over these green and endless prairies, 

 there can be no set of mounted men of equal numbers so effective and so invincible 

 in this country as they would be could they be inspired with confidence of their own 

 powers and their own superiority ; yet this can never be done, for the Indian, as far 

 as the name of white man has traveled and long before he has to try his strength with 

 him, is trembling with fright and fear of his approach. He hears of white man's 

 arts and artifice, his tricks and cunning, and his hundred instruments of death and 

 destruction; he dreads his approach, shrinks from him with fear and trembling ; his 

 heart sickens, and his pride and courage wither at the thoughts of contending with 

 an enemy whom he thinks may war and destroy with weapons of medicine or mys- 

 tery.— Pages 31-34, vol. 1, Catlin's Eight Years. 



MEDICINE BAGS. 



ILetter from mouth of Yellowstone, Upper Missouri, 1832.] 



In the last letter I spoke of ' Pe-toh-jpee-lciss (the Eagle Ribs), a Blackfoot brave 

 whose portrait I had just painted at full length, in a splendid dress. I mentioned also 

 that he held two medicine-bags in his hand, as they are represented in the picture, 

 both of them made of the skins of otters, and curiously ornamented with ermine and 

 other strange things. 



I must needs stop here — my painting and everything else — until I can explain the 

 word "medicine" and "medicine-bag," and also some medicine operations which I have 

 seen transacted at this place within a few days past. Medicine is a great word in this 

 country, and it is very necessary that one should know the meaning of it while he is 

 scanning and estimating the Indian character, which is made up in a great degree 

 of mysteries and superstitions. 



The word medicine, in its common acceptation here, means mystery, and nothing 

 else ; and in that sense I shall use it very frequently in my Notes on Indian Manners 

 and Customs. 



The fur-traders in this country are nearly all French, and in their language a 

 doctor or physician is called "medicine." The Indian country is full of doctors, and 

 as they are all magicians, and skilled, or profess to be skilled, in many mysteries,the 

 word " medicine " has become habitually applied to everything mysterious or unac- 

 countable ; and the English and Americans, who are also trading and passing through 

 this country, have easily and familiarly adopted the same word, with a slight alter- 

 ation, conveying the same meaning; and, to be a little more explicit, they have de- 

 nominated these personages " medicine-men," which means something more than 

 merely a doctor or physician. These physicians, however, are all medicine-men, as 

 they are all supposed to deal more or less in mysteries and charms, which are aids and 

 handmaids in their practice. Yet it was necessary to give the word or phrase a still 

 more comprehensive meaning, as there were many personages amongst them and also 

 amongst the white men who visit the country who could deal in mysteries, though 

 not skilled in the application of drugs and medicines ; and they all range now under 

 the comprehensive and accommodating phrase of medicine-men. For instance, I am 

 a medicine-man of the highest order amongst these superstitious people, on account of 

 the art which I practice, which is a strange and unaccountable thing to them, and, 

 of course, called the greatest of "medicine." My gun and pistols, which have percus- 

 sion locks, are great medicine ; and no Indian can be prevailed on to fire them off, for 

 they say they have nothing to do with white man's medicine. 



