498 THE GEORGE CATLIN INDIAN GALLERY. 



nimbly plied, resolved to see and relish everything cnrious or beautiful that fell in 

 our way. We lingered along among the scenes of grandeur which presented them- 

 selves amid the thousand bluffs, and arrived at Prairie du Chien in about ten days 

 in good plight, without accident or incident of a thrilling nature, with the exception 

 of one instance, which happened about thirty miles below Saint Peters, and on the 

 first day of our journey. In the after part of the day, we discovered three lodges of 

 Sioux Indians encamped on the bank, all hallooing and waving their blankets for us 

 to come in to the shore. We had no business with them, and resolved to keep on our 

 course, when one of them ran into his lodge, and coming out with his gun in his hand, 

 leveled it at us, and gave us a charge of buck-shot about our ears. One of them 

 struck in my canoe, passing through several folds of my cloak, which was folded and 

 lying just in front of my knee, and several others struck so near on each side as to 

 spatter the water into our faces. There was no fun in this, and I then ran my canoe 

 to the shore as fast as possible. They all ran — men, women, and children — to the water's 

 edge, meeting us with yells and laughter as we lauded. As the canoe struck the 

 shore I rose violently from my seat, and throwing all the infuriated demon I could 

 into my face, thrusting my pistols into my belt, a half-dozen bullets into my mouth, 

 and my double-barreled gun in my hand, I leaped ashore and chased the lot of them 

 from the beach, throwing myself, by a nearer route, between them and their wig- 

 wams, where I kept them for some time at a stand, with my barrels presented, and 

 threats (corroborated with looks which they could not misunderstand) that I would 

 annihilate the whole of them in a minute. As the guu had been returned to the lodge, 

 and the man who fired it could not be identified, the rascal's life was thereby proba- 

 bly prolonged. We stood for some time in this position, and no explanation could be 

 made, other than that which could be read from the lip and the brow, a language 

 which is the same and read alike among all nations. I slipped my sketch-book and 

 pencil into my hand, and, under the muzzle of my gun, each fellow stood for his like- 

 ness, which I made them understand, by signs, were to be sent to Muzzabucksa (Iron 

 Cutter), the name they gave to Major Talliaferro, their agent at Saint Peters. 



This threat, and the continued vociferation of the corporal from the canoe that I 

 was a " Grande capitaine," seemed considerably to alarm them. I at length grad- 

 ually drew myself off, but with a lingering eye upon the sneakin g rascals, who stood 

 in sullen silence with one eye upon me and the other upon the corporal, who I found 

 had held them at bay from the bow of his canoe, with his musket leveled upon them, 

 his bayonet fixed, his cartouch-box slung, with one eye in full blaze over the barrel, 

 and the other drawn down within two parts of an inch of the upper corner of his 

 mouth. At my approach his muscles were gradually (but somewhat reluctautly) re- 

 laxed. We seated ourselves and quietly dipped our paddles again on our way. 



Some allowance must be made for this outrage, and many others that could be 

 named, that have taken place amongst that part of the Sioux nation. They have been 

 for many years past made drunkards by the solicitations of white men, and then 

 abused, and their families also ; for which, when they are drunk (as in the present 

 instance), they are often ready and disposed to retaliate and to return insult for in- 

 juries. 



THE RIVER SCENERY. 



We went on peaceably and pleasantly during the rest of our voyage, having ducks, 

 deer, and bass for our game and our food. Our bed was generally on the grass at the foot 

 of some towering bluff, where, in the melancholy stillness of night, we were lulled to 

 sleep by the liquid notes of the whip-poor-will, and after his warbling ceased roused 

 by the mournful complaints of the starving wolf, or surprised by the startling inter- 

 rogation, " Who! who! who!" by the winged monarch of the dark. 



There is something that fills and feeds the mind of an enthusiastic man when he is 

 thrown upon natural resources amidst the rude, untouched scenes of nature which 

 cannot be described, and I leave the world to imagine the feelings of pleasure with 



