THE GEORGE CATLIN INDIAN GALLERY. 453 



meaning or importance ; and more so, for the first will admit the presumption that 

 epaulettes and cocked hats amongst the civilized world are made for some important 

 purpose — but the latter will presume that horns on an Indian's head are nothing more 

 nor less (nor can thoy he in their estimation) than Indian nonsense and stupidity. 



THE HEAD-DRESS. 



This brings us to the "horned crest" again, and if the poor Indian scans epau- 

 lettes*and cocked hats, without inquiring their meaning and explaining them to his 

 tribe, it is no reason why I should have associated with the noble dignitaries of these 

 Western regions, with horns and ermine on their heads, and then to have introduced 

 the subject withont giving some further clew to their importance and meaning. For 

 me this negligence would be doubly unpardonable, as I travel, not to trade, but to 

 herald the Indian and his dying customs to posterity. 



This custom then, which I have before observed belongs to all the Northwestern 

 tribes, is one no doubt of very ancient origin, having a purely classic meaning. No 

 one wears the head-dress surmounted with horns except the dignifciries who are very 

 high in authority, and whose exceeding valor, worth, and power is admitted by all 

 the nation. 



He may wear them, however, who is not a chief, but a brave or warrior of such 

 remarkable character that he is esteemed universally in the tribe as a man whose 

 '•voice is as loud in council" as that of a chief of the first grade, and consequently 

 his power as great. 



This head-dress with horns is used only on certain occasions, and they are very sel- 

 dom. When foreign chiefs, Indian agents, or other important personages visit a 

 tribe, or at war parades, at the celebration of a victory, at public festivals, &c, thoy 

 are worn ; but on no other occasions, unless sometimes, when a chief sees fit to lead 

 a war-party to battle, he decorates his head with this symbol of power to stimulate 

 his men, and throws himself into the foremost of the battle, inviting his enemy to 

 concentrate their shafts upon him. 



The horns on these head-dresses are but loosely attached at the bottom, so that 

 they easily fall back or forward, according as the head is inclined forward or back- 

 ward, and by an ingenious motion of the head, which is so slight as to bo almost im- 

 perceptible, they are made to balance to and fro, and sometimes one backward and 

 the other forward, like a horse's ears, giving a vast deal of expression and force of 

 character to the appearance of the chief who is wearing them. This, reader, is a 

 remarkable instance (like hundreds of others), for its striking similarity to Jewish 

 customs, to the kerns (or keren, in Hebrew), the horns worn by the Abysinian chiefs 

 and Hebrews as a symbol of power and command, worn at great parades and cele- 

 brations of victories. 



"The false prophet Zedekiah made him horns of iron" (1 Kings, xxii, 11). "Lift 

 not your horns on high ; speak not with a stiff neck" (Psalms, lxxv, 5). 



This last citation seems so exactly to convey to my mind the mode of raising and 

 changing the position of the horns by a motion of the head, as I have above described, 

 that I am irresistibly led to believe that this custom is now practiced amongst these 

 tribes very nearly as it was amongst the Jews, and that it has been, like many other 

 customs of which I shall speak more in future epistles, handed down and preserved 

 with very little innovation or change from that ancient people. 



The reader will see this custom exemplified in the portrait of Mah-to-toh-pa (Plate 

 64). [No. 128. ] This man, although the second chief, was the only man in the nation 

 ■who was allowed to wear the horns, and all, I found, looked upon him as a leader 

 who had the power to lead all the warriors in time of war, and that in consequence of 

 the extraordinary battles which he had fought. — Pages 100-104, vol. 1, Catlin's Eight 

 Years. 



