412 the geor&e catlin Indian gallery. 



tens of thousands, and sold at an enormous price. The scabbards of the knives and 

 handles for the tomahawks the Indians construct themselves, according to their own 

 taste, and oftentimes ornament them very handsomely. In his rude and unapproached 

 condition, the Indian is a stranger to such weapons as these — he works not in the 

 metals— and his untutored mind has not been ingenious enough to design or execute 

 anything so savage or destructive as these civilized refinements on Indian barbarity. 

 In his native simplicity he shapes out his rude hatchet from a piece of stone, as in 

 letter /, heads his arrows and spears with flints, and his knife is a sharpened bone, 

 or the edge of a broken silex. The war-club, c, is also another civilized refinement, 

 with a blade of steel of eight or ten inches in length, and set in a club, studded around 

 and ornamented with some hundreds of brass nails. 



Their primitive clubs, d, are curiously carved in wood, and fashioned out with con- 

 siderable picturesque form and grace ; are admirably fitted to the hand, and cal- 

 culated to deal a deadly blow with the spike of iron or bone which is imbedded in 

 the ball or bulb at the end. 



Two of the tomahawks that I have named, marked e, are what are denominated 

 " pipe-tomahawks," as the heads of them are formed into bowls like a pipe, in which 

 their tobacco is put, and they smoke through the handle. These are the most valued 

 of an Indian's weapons, inasmuch as they are a matter of luxury, and useful for cut- 

 ting his fire- wood, &c, in time of peace, and deadly weapons in time of war, which 

 they use in the hand or throw with unerring and deadly aim. (See Scalping, below.) 



The scalping-knife 6, in a beautiful scabbard, which is carried under the belt, is the 

 form of knife most generally used in all parts of the Indian country where knives 

 have been introduced. It is a common and cheap butcher-knife with one edge, manu- 

 factured in Sheffield, in England, perhaps, for sixpence, and sold to the poor Indian 

 in these wild regions for ahorse. If I should live to get home, and should ever cross 

 the Atlantic with my collection, a curious enigma would be solved for the English 

 people, who may inquire for a scalping-knife, when they find that every one in my 

 collection (and hear also that nearly every one that is to be seen in the Indian coun- 

 try to the Rocky Mountains and the Pacific Ocean) bears on its blade the impress of 

 G. R., which they will doubtless understand. 



The huge two-edged knife, with its scabbard of a part of the skin of a grizzly 

 bear's head, letter a, is one belonging to the famous chief of the Mandans, of whom 

 I have before said much. The manufacture of this knife is undoubtedly American, 

 and its shape differs altogether from those which are in general use.* 



The above weapons, as well as the bow and lance, of which I have before spoken, 

 are all carried and used on horseback with great effect. The Indians in this country 

 of green fields all ride for their enemies, and also for their game, which is almost in- 

 variably killed whilst their horses are at full speed. They are all cruel masters for 

 their horses, and in war or the chase goad them on with a heavy and cruel whip 

 (Plate 99 g), the handle of which is generally made of a large prong of the elk's horn 

 or of wood, and the lashes, of rawhide, are very heavy, being braided or twisted or 

 cut into wide straps. These are invariably attached to the wrist of the right arm by 

 a tough thong, so that they can be taken up and used at any moment, and dropped 

 the next without being lost. — Pages 235-237, vol. 1, Catlin's Eight Years. 



SCALPING, AND METHOD PRACTICED, BY ALL NORTH AMERICAN 



INDIANS. 



As I have introduced the scalping-knife in Plates 99& and 101.1, it may be well for 

 me to give some further account in this place of the custom and the mode of taking 

 the scalp — a custom practiced by all the North American Indians — which is done, when 



* "This celebrated knife is now in my Indian museum, and there is no doubt, from its authentic his- 

 tory, that it has been several times plunged to the hearts of his enemies by the hand of Mah-to-toh-pa, 

 who wielded it."— Gr. Catlin. It was sent to Mr. Catlin in 1840 by Mr. McKenzie, who had procured it 

 from the Iticcarees, (Arickarees). Seo note, page 237, vol. 1, Catlin's Eight Years. 





