590 ' THE GEORGE CATLIN INDIAN GALLERY. 



so as to read the 'good book,' and their fathers were very proud of it ; and at last, one 

 of these girls had a baby, and not long affcer it another had a baby, and the black-coit 

 then ran away, and we have never seen him since. My friend, we don't think this 

 right. I believe there is another black-coat now in the same house. Some of the In- 

 dians send their boys there to learn to read, but they dare not let their girls go. 

 " My friends, this is all I have to say. ('How, how, ho w ! ') " 



The reverend gentlemen kindly thanked the Indians for their patience, and, telling 

 me that it would be cruel and useless, under their present circumstances, to question 

 them longer, thanked Mr. Rankin and myself for the kind assistance we had rendered 

 them, and retired, leaving with them as a present several very handsome Bibles. As 

 I was leaving the room I heard the old chief complaining that talking made his lips 

 very dry, and Mr. Rankin ordered for them a jug of chickabobhoo. * 



THE INDIANS IN LONDON, FALL OF 1845. 



THE OLD CHIEF'S DREAM, AND A FEAST OF THANKSGIVING. 



While in London, at the Indian Gallery, Mr. Oatlin relates the follow- 

 ing: 



It is impossible for me to recollect the day, but it was about this time the old chief 

 related to Mr. Rankin a dream which he had had .the night before, which made it 

 incumbent upon them to make a feast, and of course necessary for Mr. Rankin and 

 myself to furnish all the requisite materials for it. 



In his dream (or " vision," as he seemed disposed to call it) he said the Great Spirit 

 appeared to him, and told him that he had kept his eye upon them, and guarded and 

 protected them across the great ocean, according to their prayers which he had 

 heard ; that ho had watched them so far in this country ; that they had been success- 

 ful in seeing their Great Mother, the Queen, and that they were now all happy and 

 doing well. But in order to insure a continuance of these blessings, and to make 

 their voyage back across the ocean pleasant and safe, it now became necessary that 

 they should show their thankfulness to the Great Spirit in giving their great an- 

 nual feast of thanksgiving, which is customary in their country at the season when 

 their maize is gathered and their dried meat is laid in and secured for their winter's 

 food. 



This injunction, he said, was laid upon him thus, and he could not from any cause 

 whatever neglect to attend to it; if he did, he should feel assured of meeting the dis- 

 pleasure of the Great Spirit, and they should all feel at once distressed about the un- 

 certainty of their lives on their way back. This feast of thanksgiving must be given 

 the next clay, and they should wish us to procure for them a whole goat or a sheep, 

 and said that it must be a male, and they would require a place large enough to cook 

 it without breaking a bone in its body, according to the custom of their country. 



The request of this good old man was of course granted with great pleasure ; and 

 Mr. Rankin, in a short time, returned from the market with the sheep, which, on close 

 inspection, seemed to please them ; and a large chamber in Egyptian Hall, which Mr. 

 Clark, the curator of the building, had placed at their service, was decided on as the 

 place where the feast should be prepared and partaken of. Mr. Clark and his wife, 

 who are kind and Christian people, afforded them all the facilities for cooking, and ren- 

 dered them every aid they could in preparing their feast; and the next day, at the 

 hour appointed, it was announced to Mr. Rankin and myself that the " feast was 

 ready, and that we were expected to partake of it with them." 



* The minds of the Indians had been eo much engrossed for several days with the subject of religion, 

 that the inventive powers of the little Sah-mah (Tobacco) had been at work ; and when I called on 

 thom the next morning one of them handed me his ideas, as he had put them on paper with a lead 

 pencil, and I give them to the reader (Plate 8) as near as my own hand could copy them from his orig- 

 inal sketch now in my portfolio. If the reader can understand the lines, he will learn from it some- 

 thing of the state of the arts in the Indian country, as well as their native propensity to burlesque, 



