THE GEORGE CATLIN INDIAN GALLERY. 487 



ably and smiling, and that when nobody knew that his life was in immediate danger. 

 The surgeon who was attending me (Dr. Wright) was sitting on my bedside in his 

 morning call at my room, when a negro boy, who alone had been left in the room 

 with him, came into my apartment and said Mr. Beyrich was dying. We instantly 

 stepped into his room and found liim, not in the agonies of death, but quietly breath- 

 ing his last, without a word or a struggle, as he had laid himself upon his bed with 

 his clothes and his boots on. In this way perished this worthy man, who had no oue 

 here of kindred friends to drop tears for him ; and on the day previous to his misfor- 

 tune died also, and much in the same way, his devoted and faithful servant, a young 

 man, a native of Germany. Their bodies were buried by the side of each other, and 

 a general feeling of deep grief was manifested by the officers and citizens of the post 

 in the respect that was paid to their remains in the appropriate and decent committal 

 of them to the grave. 



After leaving the headwaters of the Canadian, my illness continually increased, and 

 losing strength every day, I soon got so reduced that I was necessarily lifted on to 

 and off from my horse, and at last so that I could not ride at all. I was then put 

 into a baggage wagon which was going back empty, except with several soldiers sick, 

 and in this condition rode eight days, most of the time in a delirious state, lying on 

 the hard planks of the wagon, and made still harder by the jarring and jolting, until 

 the skin from my elbows and knees was literally worn through, and I almost worn 

 out; when we at length reached this post, and J was taken to a bed, in comfortable 

 quarters, where I have had the skillful attendance of my friend and old schoolmate, 

 Dr. Wright, under whose hands, thank God, I have been restored, and am now daily 

 recovering my flesh and usual strength. 



The experiment has thus been made of sending an army of men from the North 

 into this Southern and warm climate, in the hottest months of the year, of July and 

 August ; and from this sad experiment I am sure a secret will be learned that will be 

 of value on future occasions. 



Of the 450 fine fellows who started from this place four mouths since, about one- 

 third have already died, and I believe many more there are whose fates are sealed and 

 will yet fall victims to the deadly diseases contracted in that fatal country. About 

 this post it seems to be almost equally unhealthy, and generally so during this season 

 all over this region, which is probably owing to an unusual drought which has been 

 visited on the country and unknown heretofore to the oldest inhabitants. 



INDIAN COUNCIL AT FOKi 1 GIBSON. 



Since we came in from the prairies, and the sickness has a little abated, we have 

 had a bustling time with the Indians at this place. Colonel Dodge sent runners to 

 the chiefs of all the contiguous tribes of Indians, with an invitation to meet the Paw- 

 nees, &c, in council, at this place. Seven or eight tribes flocked to us in great num 

 bers on the first day of the month, when the council commenced; it continued foi 

 several days, and gave these semi-civilized sons of the forest a fair opportunity of 

 shaking the hands of their wild and untamed red brethren of the West— of embracing 

 them in their arms, with expressions of friendship, and of smoking the calumet to- 

 gether, as the solemn pledge of lasting peace and friendship. 



Colonel Dodge, Major Armstrong (the Indian agent), and General Stokes (the In- 

 dian commissioner) presided at this council, and I cannot name a scene more inter- 

 esting and entertaining than it was ; where, for several days in succession, free vent 

 was given to the feelings of men civilized, half-civilized, and wild ; where the three 

 stages of man were fearlessly asserting their rights, their happiness, and friendship 

 for each, other. The vain orations of the half-polished (and half-breed) Cherokees and 

 Choctaws, with all their finery and art, found their match in the brief and jarring 

 gutterals of the wild and naked man. 



After the council had adjourned and the fumes of the peace- making calumet had 

 vanished away, and Colonel Dodge had made them additional presents, they soon 



