THE GEORGE CATLIN INDIAN GALLERY. 395 



Of pipes, and the custom of smoking I have already spoken; and I then said that 

 the Indians use several substitutes for tobacco, which they call K'nick K'neck. For 

 the carrying of this delicious weed or bark, and preserving its flavor, the women con- 

 struct very curious pouches of otter or beaver or other skins (letters c c c), which 

 are ingeniously ornamented with porcupine quills and beads, and generally carried 

 hanging across the left arm, containing a quantity of the precious narcotic, with 

 flint and steel and spunk for lighting the pipe. 



The musical instruments used amongst these people are few, and exceedingly rude 

 and imperfect, consisting chiefly of rattles, drums, whistles, and lutes, all of which 

 are used in the different tribes. 



In Plate 101£ (letters d d) will be seen the rattles (or She-she-quois) most gener- 

 ally used, made of rawhide, which becomes very hard when dry, and charged with 

 pebbles or something of the kind, which produce a shrill noise to mark the time in 

 their dances and songs. Their drums (letters e e) are made in a very rude manner, 

 oftentimes with a mere piece of rawhide stretched over a hoop, very much in the 

 shape of a tambourine, and at other times are made in the form of a keg, with 

 a head of rawhide at each end ; on these they beat with a drum-stick, which often- 

 times itself is a rattle, the bulb or head of it being made of rawhide and filled with 

 pebbles. In other instances the stick has at its end a little hoop wound and covered 

 with buckskin, to soften the sound, with which they beat on the drum with great 

 violence as the chief and heel- inspiring sound for all their dances, and also as an ac- 

 companiment for their numerous and never-ending songs of amusement, of thanks- 

 giving, and medicine or metai. The mystery whistle (letter/) is another instrument 

 of their invention, and very ingeniously made, the sound being produced on a princi- 

 ple entirely different from that of any wind instrument known in civilized inventions, 

 and the notes produced on it by the sleight or trick of an Indian boy in so simple 

 and successful a manner as to baffle entirely all civilized ingenuity, even when it is 

 seen to be played. An Indian boy would stand and blow his notes on this repeatedly 

 for hundreds of white men who might be lookers on, not one of whom could make the 

 least noise on it, even by practicing with it for hours. When I first saw this curious 

 ■exhibition I was charmed with the peculiar sweetness of its harmonic sounds, and 

 completely perplexed (as hundreds of white men have no doubt been before me, to 

 the great amusement and satisfaction of the women and children) as to the mode in 

 which the sound was produced, even though it was repeatedly played immediately 

 before my eyes, and handed to me for my vain and amusing endeavors. The sounds 

 of this little simple toy are liquid and sweet beyond description, and though here 

 only given in harmonics, I am inclined to think might, by some ingenious musician 

 or musical instrument-maker, be modulated and converted into something very 

 pleasing. 



The war-ivhistle (letter h) is a well-known and valued little instrument, of G or 9 

 inches in length, invariably made of the bone of the deor or turkey's leg, and gener- 

 ally ornamented with porcupine quills of different colors, which are wound around it. 

 A chief or leader carries this to battle with him, suspended generally from his neck, 

 and worn under his dress. This little instrument has but two notes, which are pro- 

 duced by blowing in the ends of it. The note produced in one end being much more 

 shrill than the other, gives the signal for battle, whilst the other sounds a retreat ; a 

 thing that is distinctly heard and understood by every man, even in the heat and 

 noise of battle, where all are barking and yelling as loud as possible, and of course 

 unable to hear the commands of their leader. 



There is yet another wind instrument which I have added to my collection, and from 

 its appearance would seem to have been borrowed in part from the civilized world 

 (letter g). This is what is often on the frontier called a "deer-skin flute" a "Winne- 

 bago courting flute," a (i tsal-eet- quash-to, v &c. ; it is perforated with holes for the 

 fingers, sometimes for six, at others for four, and in some instances for three only, 

 having only so many notes, with their octaves. These notes are very irregularly 



