THE GEORGE CATLIN INDIAN GALLERY. 599 



which will be obvious to the reader in the annexed illustration (Plate 9). The Ioways, 

 like three other tribes only in North America, all adhere to their national mode of 

 shaving and ornamenting their heads. This is a very curious mode, and presents an ap- 

 pearance at once that distinguishes them from the Ojibbeways and other tribes, who cul- 

 tivate the hair to the greatest length they possibly can, and pride themselves on its jet 

 and glossy black. Every man in the Ioway tribe adheres to the mode of cutting all the 

 hair as close as he can, excepting a small tuft which is left upon the crown, and being 

 that part which the enemy takes for the scalp, is very properly denominated the scalp- 

 lock. He then rouges with vermilion the whole crown of his head (and oftentimes his 

 whole face), and surmounts his scalp-lock by a beautiful crest, made of the hair of the 

 deer's tail, dyed of vermilion red. 



The chief man of this party, the White Cloud, the son of a distinguished chief of the 

 same name who died a few years since, was thirty-five years of age, and hereditary chief 

 of the tribe. By several humane and noble acts, after he received his office of chief, he 

 gained the admiration and friendship of the officers of the United States Government, as 

 well as of his tribe, and had therefore been countenanced by the Government (as has 

 been shown) in the enterprise of going abroad. 



Neu-mon-ya (the Walking Rain), and war-chief of the tribe, was 54 years of age, and 

 nearly six feet and a half in height. A noble specimen of the manly grace and dignity 

 that belong to the American wilderness, and also a man who had distinguished himself 

 in the wars that he had led against his enemies. 



Se-non-ti-yah (the Blistered Feet), the medicine (or mystery) man, was a highly impor- 

 tant personage of the party, and held a high and enviable position (as physician, sooth- 

 sayer, and magician) in his tribe. 



These personages are fr.und in every tribe, and so much control have they over the su- 

 perstitious minds of their people that their influence and power in the tribe often tran- 

 scend those of the chief. In all councils of war and peace they have a seat by the chiefs, 

 and are as regularly consulted by the chiefs as soothsayers were consulted in ancient 

 days, and equal deference and respect is paid to their advice or opinions, rendering them 

 oracles of the tribe in which they live. 



A good illustration of this was given by this magician while on their voyage to this 

 country, a few weeks since, when near the land off the English coast. The packet ship 

 in which the Indians were passengers was becalmed for several days, much to the an- 

 noyance of the Indians and numerous other passengers, when it was decided by the In- 

 dian chief that they must call upon the medicine man to try the efficacy of his magical 

 powers in the endeavor to raise a wind. For this purpose he very gradually went to 

 work, with all due ceremony, according to the modes of the country, and after the usual 

 ceremony of a mystery feast and various invocations to the spirit of the wind and the 

 ocean, both were conciliated by the sacrifice of many plugs of tobacco thrown into the 

 sea; and in a little time the wind began to blow, the sails were filled, and the vessel soon 

 wafted into port, to the amusement of the passengers and much to the gratification of 

 the Indians, who all believed, and ever will, that the vessel was set in motion by the 

 potency of the doctor's mysterious and supernatural powers. 



Of the Warriors, Shon-ta-yi-ga (the Little Wolf) and No-ho-mun-ya (called the Roman 

 Nose) were the most distinguished, and I believe the world will agree with me that it 

 would be an act of injustice on my part should I allow the poor fellows to carry through 

 this country, without giving them publication, the subjoined documents,* by which it 



*" Know all men by these presents, That Shon-ta-yi-ga, or the Little Wolf, an Ioway brave, is 

 well entitled to be called a brave, from the fact of his having been engaged in many expeditions 

 against the enemies of his tribe ; in all such excursions he has, I am informed, universally behaved 

 bravely. But especially is he entitled to the love and confidence of all men, whether white or red, 

 on account of his humanity and daring conduct in arresting from the cruel nation of which he is a 

 member a party of Omahaws. On last Sabbath day he saved from the tomahawk and scalping- 

 knife ten unoffending Omahaws. One of the party was decoyed out of sight and murdered; the 



