414 THE GEORGE CATLIN INDIAN GALLERY. 



One of the principal denunciations against the custom of taking the scalp is on 

 account of its alleged cruelty, which it certainly has not, as the cruelty would be in 

 the killing, and not in the act of cutting the skin from a man's head after he is dead # 

 To say the most of it, it is a disgusting custom, and I wish I could be quite sure that 

 the civilized and Christian world (who kill hundreds to where the poor Indians kill 

 one) do not often treat their enemies' dead in equally as indecent and disgusting a 

 manner as the Indian does by taking the scalp. 



If the reader thinks that I am taking too much pains to defend the Indians for this, 

 and others of their seemingly abominable customs, he will bear it in mind that I 

 have lived with these people until I have learned the necessities of Indian life in 

 which these customs are founded, and also that I have met with so many acts of 

 kindness and hospitality at the hands of the poor Indian, that I feel bound, when I can 

 do it, to render what excuse I can for a people who are dying with broken hearts, and 

 never can speak in the civilized world in their own defense. 



And even yet, reader, if your education and your reading of Indian cruelties and 

 Indian barbarities— of scalps, and scalping-knives, and scalping— should have ossified 

 a corner of your heart against these unfortunate people, and would shut out their 

 advocate, I will annoy you no longer on this subject, but withdraw, and leave you to 

 cherish the very beautiful, humane, and parental moral that was carried out by the 

 United States and British Governments during the last and the Revolutionary wars, 

 when they mutually employed thousands of their " red children" to aid and to bleed 

 iu fighting their battles, and paid them, according to contract, so many pounds, shil. 

 lings, aud pence, or so many dollars and cents, for every scalp of a "red" or a "blue 

 coat' ? they could bring in! 



In Plate 101 there will be seen the principal modes in which the scalps are prepared, 

 and several of the uses to which they are put. The most usual way of preparing and 

 dressing the scalp is that of stretching it on a little hoop at the end of a stick two or 

 three feet long (letter a), for the purpose of " dancing it," as they term it, which will 

 be described in the scaip-dance in^a few moments. There are many, again, which are 

 small and not "dressed," sometimes not larger than a crown piece (letter c), and hung 

 to different parts of the dress. In public shows and parades they are often suspended 

 from the bridle-bits or halter, when they are paraded or carried as trophies (letter &) 

 Sometimes they are cut out, as it were, into a string, the hair forming a beautiful 

 fringe to line the handle of a war-club (letter e). Sometimes they are hung at the end 

 of a club (letter d), and at other times, by the order of the chief, are hung out ove r 

 the wigwams, suspended from a pole, which is called the " scalp-pole." This is often 

 done by the chief of a village, in a pleasant day, by his erecting over his wigwam a 

 pole with all the scalps that he has taken arranged upon it (letter/) ; at the sight of 

 which all the chiefs and warriors of the tribe who had taken scalps "follow suit," 

 enabling every member of the community to stroll about the village on that day and 

 "count scalps," learning thereby the standing of every warrior, which is decided in 

 a great degree by the number of scalps they have taken in battles with their enemies. 

 Letters g g show the usual manner of"taking the scalp, and letter h exhibits the head 

 of a man who had been scalped and recovered from the wound. 



So much for scalps and scalping, of which I shall yet say more, unless I should un- 

 luckily lose one before I get out of the country. — Page 238-240, vol. 1, Catlin's Eight 

 Years. 



INDIANS AS EATERS. 



While at the Mandan Village, in 1832, Mr. Catlin, in giving their 

 manners and customs, refers to their being small eaters, and drifts into 

 a general detail as to the habits of eating among the North American 

 Indians. 



So far as I have yet traveled in the Indian country I never have seen an Indian 

 woman eating with her husband. Men form the first group at the banquet, and 



