THE GEORGE CATLIN INDIAN GALLERY. 615 



the train of his thoughts. When his pipe was smoked out, he charged it again with tobacco, 

 but before lighting it he laid it aside, and straightening his long limbs upon the floor, 

 and drawing another buffalo robe over his body and his head, he went to sleep.* 



GIANT AND GIANTESS VISIT THE INDIANS. 



This was the day for ll seeing the Giants," and they were soon after announced as hav- 

 ing arrived, according to appointment. During one of the Indians' exhibitions there 

 had been a great excitement produced among them by the appearance in the crowd of 

 two immense persons, a man and a woman, who stood nearly the whole length of their 

 bodies above the heads of others about them ! This had excited the amazement of the 

 Indians so much that for a while they stopped their dances to sit down and smoke a 

 pipe. They must necessarily make some sacrifice on such an occasion, and it was de- 

 cided to be done with a piece of tobacco, which, being duly consecrated by them, was car- 

 ried by the doctor (the medicine man) to an adjoining room, and burned in the fire. 



There were no questions asked by the Indians about these unaccountable people, where 

 they came from, &c, but they wished me to invite them to call at their lodgings at No. 

 7 St. James's street the next day at 12 o'clock, where they would be glad to see them 

 a little while. This wish was communicated to them in a note which I wrote on my 

 knee, and was passed to them over the heads of the audience; the giant man read it, and 

 smiling, nodded his head, accepting of their invitation. This pleased the Indians, who 

 all joined in sounding the war-whoop. These two extraordinary personages proved to 

 be the well-known "Norfolk giants," who were brother and sister, and, walking " arm- 

 in-arm," so high that the eye of an ordinary man was just on a level with the apron- 

 string of the fair damsel; and the waist of the brother was, of course, yet some inches 

 higher. I regret that I have not preserved the exact elevation of these two extraordi- 

 nary persons, which I took pains to procure, but have somehow mislaid. 



INDIANS MEASUKE THE GIANT. 



The invitation thus given brought them on their present visit to the Indians, who had 

 great satisfaction in shaking their hands, and closely inspecting them; and not many 

 minutes after their arrival a scene ensued that would have made a sick man laugh, or a 

 rich subject for the pencil of Hogarth. The Indians had sent Daniel for a ball of twine, 

 which they had unfolded upon the floor, and each one having cut off a piece of sufficient 

 length was taking for himself th^ measure of the giant man, from head to foot, from 

 hand to hand, his arms extende the span of his waist, his breast, and his legs; the 

 length of his feet, and his finger: nd tying knots in their cords to indicate each pro- 

 portion. In the midst of all th- le doctor presented the most queer and laughable 

 point in the picture, as he had be* applying his string to the back of the fair damsel, 

 having taken her length, from th >p of her head to the floor, and tied a knot in his 

 cord at the place where the wais ' her dress intersected it; he had then arrested the 

 attention of all, and presented his singular dilemma, when he stood with both ends of 

 his cord in his hands, contemplating the enormous waist and other proportions before 

 him, which he coveted for other knots on his string, but which his strict notions of gal- 

 lantry were evidently raising objections to his taking. I whispered to him, and relieved 

 him from his distressing state of uncertainty by saying I thought he had been particu- 

 lar enough, and he withdrew, but with a sigh of evident regret. 



* Though the old war chief, who was their speaking oracle on the subject of religion, remained 

 sad and contemplative, there was daily much conversation and levity among the rest of the party 

 on the subject of the "six religions of white men," which they had discovered; and either Jim or 

 (he little "commanding general " (son of the war-chief), both of whom were busy with their pen- 

 cils, left on the table for my portfolio the subjoined curious but significant illustration of their ideas 

 of white man's paradise, and the six different modes of getting to it. [Plate 11 is a facsimile of this 

 curious document, which the reader will appreciate on examination.] 



