THE GEORGE CATLIN INDIAN GALLEEY. 537 



I believe that in this way the world, who take but a superficial glance at them, are, 

 and will be, led into continual error on this interesting subject ; one that invites, and 

 well deserves from those learned gentlemen, a fair investigation by them, on the 

 spot, rather than so limited and feeble an examination as I have been able to make 

 of it, or that they can make in their parlors at so great a distance from them, and 

 through such channels as they are obliged to look to for their information. 



Amongst the tribes that I have visited I consider the thirty out of the forty-eight 

 are distinct and radically different in their languages, and eighteen are dialects of 

 some three or four. It is a very simple thing for the off-hand theorists of the scien- 

 tific world, who do not go near these people, to arrange and classify them, and a 

 very clever thing to simplify the subject and bring it, like everything else, under 

 three or four heads, and to solve and resolve it by as many simple rules. 



I do not pretend to be able to give to this subject, or to that of the probable origin 

 of these people, the close investigation that these interesting subjects require and de- 

 serve ; yet I have traveled and observed enough amongst them, and collected enough 

 to enable me to form decided opinions of my own ; and in my conviction have ac- 

 quired confidence enough to tell them, and at the same time to recommend to the 

 Government or institutions of my own country to employ men of science, such as I 

 have mentioned, and protect them in their visits to these tribes, where " the truth, 

 and the whole truth," may be got, and the languages of all the tribes that are yet in 

 existence (many of which are just now gasping them out in their last breath) may 

 be snatched and preserved from oblivion, as well as their looks and their customs, 

 to the preservation of which my labors have been principally devoted. 



I undertake to say to such gentlemen, who are enthusiastic and qualified, that here 

 is one of the most interesting subjects that they could spend the energies of their 

 valuable lives upon, and one of the most sure to secure for them that immortality for 

 which it is natural and fair for all men to look. 



THREE CONDITIONS OP THE INDIANS. 



From what has been said in the foregoing letters, it will have been seen that there- 

 are three divisions under which the North American Indians may be justly con- 

 sidered : those who are dead, those who are dying, and those who are yet living and 

 flourishing in their primitive condition. Of the dead, I have little to say at present, 

 and I can render them no service ; of the living, there is much to be said, and I shall 

 regret that the prescribed limits of these epistles will forbid me saying all that I de- 

 sire to say of them and their condition. 



DECREASE IN, NUMBER. 



The present condition of these once numerous people, contrasted with what it was, 

 and what it is soon to be, is a subject of curious interest as well as some importance 

 to the civilized world, a subject well entitled to the attention, and very justly com- 

 manding the sympathies of enlightened communities. There are abundant proofs 

 recorded in the history of this country, and to which I need not at this time more 

 particularly refer, to show that this very numerous and respectable part of the human 

 family, which occupied the different parts of North America at the time of its first 

 settlement by the Anglo-Americans, contained more than fourteen millions, who have 

 been reduced since that time, and undoubtedly in consequence of that settlement, to 

 something less than two millions. 



This is a startling fact, and one which carries with it, if it be the truth, other facts 

 and their results, which are equally startling, and such as every inquiring mind 

 should look into. The first deduction that the mind draws from such premises is the 

 rapid declension of these people, which must at that rate be going on at this day, 

 and sooner or later lead to the most melancholy result of their final extinction. 



