THE GEORGE CATLIN INDIAN GALLERY. 419 



His entrCe aud his garb were somewhat thus : He approached the ring with his 

 body in a crouching position (Plate 19), with a slow and tilting step; his body and 

 head were entirely covered with the skin of a yellow bear, the head of which (his 

 own head being inside of it) served as a mask ; the huge claws of which also were 

 dangling on his wrists and ankles; in one hand he shook a frightful rattle, and in 

 the other brandished his medicine-spear or magic wand, to the rattling din and dis- 

 cord of all of which he added the wild and startling jumps and yelps of the Indian 

 and the horrid and appalling grunts, and snarls, and growls of the grizzly bear, in 

 ejaculatory and guttural incantations to the Good and Bad Spirits, in behalf of his 

 patient, who was rolling and groaning in the agonies of death while he was dancing 

 around him, jumping over him, and pawing him about, and rolling him in every di- 

 rection. 



In this wise this strange operation proceeded for half an hour, to the surprise of a 

 numerous and death-like silent audience, until the man died, and the medicine-man 

 danced off to his quarters, aod packed up and tied and secured from the sight of the 

 world his mystery dress and equipments. 



This dress, in all its parts, is one of the greatest curiosities in the whole collection 

 of Indian manufactures which I have yet obtained in the Indian country. It is the 

 strangest medley and mixture, perhaps, of the mysteries of the animal and vegetable 

 kingdoms that ever was seen. Besides the skin of the yellow bear (which, being 

 almost an anomaly in that country, is out of the regular order of nature, and, of 

 course, great medicine, and converted to a medicine use), there are attached to it the 

 skins of many animals, which are also anomalies or deformities, which render them, 

 in their estimation, medicine ; and there are also the skins of snakes, and frogs, and 

 bats, beaks and toes and tails of birds, hoofs of deer, goats, and antelopes, and, in 

 fact, the " odds and ends " and fag ends, and tails, and tips of almost everything 

 that swims, Hies, or runs in this part of the wide world. 



Such is a medicine-man or a physician, and such is one of his wild and ridiculous 

 maneuvers, which I have just witnessed in this strange country. 



These men, as I before remarked, are valued as dignitaries in the tribe, and the 

 greatest respect is paid to them by the whole community, not only for their skill in 

 their " materia medica," but more especially for their tact in magic and mysteries, in 

 which they all deal to a very great extent. 1 shall have much more to say of these 

 characters and their doings in future epistles, and barely observe in the present place 

 that no tribe is without them ; that in all tribes their doctors are conjurors, are ma- 

 gicians, are soothsayers, and I had like to have said, high priests, inasmuch as they 

 superintend and conduct all their religious ceremonies, they are looked upon by all 

 as oracles of the nation. In all councils of war and peace they have a seat with the 

 chiefs, are regularly consulted before any public step is taken, and the greatest def- 

 erence and respect is paid to their opinions. — Pages 38-41, vol. 1, Catlin's Eight 

 Years. 



DANCING AMONG THE NORTH AMERICAN INDIANS. 



Dancing is one of the principal and most frequent amusements of all the tribes of 

 Indians in America ; and in all of these both vocal and instrumental music are in- 

 troduced. These dances consist in about four different steps, which constitute all 

 the different varieties, but the figures and forms of these scenes are very numerous 

 and produced by the most violent jumps and contortions, accompanied with the song 

 and beats of the drum, which are given in exact time with their motions. It has 

 been said by some travelers that the Indian has neither harmony nor melody in his 

 music, but I am unwilling to subscribe to such an assertion, although I grant that 

 for the most part of their vocal exercises there is a total absence of what the musical 

 world would call melody ; their songs being made up chiefly of a sort of violent 

 chant of harsh and jarring gutturals, of yelps and barks and screams, which are 

 given out in perfect time, not only with "method (but with harmony) in their mad- 

 ness." There are times, too, as every traveler of the Indian country will attest, if he 



