THE GEORGE CATLIN INDIAN GALLERY. 715 



I remember well his calling at my studio in the old Exchange building, Wall street, 

 in 1826, when he disclosed the ambition of his life to become the historian and limner 

 of the aborigines of the vast continent of North America. Most faithfully has he kept 

 to this self-appointed task. His many volumes narrating these adventures, recording 

 the peculiar customs, and with graphic artistic skill painting the scenery, in which 

 he introduced groups of figures at ball-play, on the war-path, in council, and religious 

 ceremonies, with a thousand other details of his experiences of their lives and man- 

 ners, will now be sought for and read by every student of ethnology for the purpose 

 of forming light essays for the magazines and otherwise entertaining popular read- 

 ings of the day. 



Had there been such a man as Catlin following in the train of Julius Caesar when 

 he conquered Great Britain, instead of Tacitus, how much richer would be the mate- 

 rials for correct thought and information than those we possess. His cartoons are 

 now boxed up at Washington; but Catlin's great desire was to have them exhibited 

 in a building to be erected in Central Park, where they would be accessible to all the 

 world, for he justly observed that in this ever-growing city nearly all travel centers. 

 In conversing with me last winter, when he had his works on view at the Sommerville 

 gallery, in Fifth avenue, he showed me the plan of a building in the form of an Indian 

 tent, to be made of zinc and iron, and painted like squaws adorn the buffalo robes of 

 their chiefs. I differed from him as to the tent, and thought the dome wigwam of the 

 Mandans was better, as that form could be so architecturally modified as to be really 

 classically aesthetic in its simple beauty of outline, and capable of much adornment in 

 subordinate details. 



Mr. Harvey then suggests an organization to be formed to raise subscriptions to 

 erect a building, to be open free to all, to the end that Mr. Catlin's wish might be car- 

 ried out; "that his works should be seen and studied for the benefit that would accrue 

 to society." He thought that such a testimony should be given to the memory " of 

 that most worthy man, George Catlin, the great traveler and historian of the red In- 

 dians." 



For a reminiscence of and interview with Mr. Catlin by Dr. Charles 

 Eau, see herein. 



General A. L. Chetlain, of Chicago, in response to a letter, furnishes 

 the following in relation to Mr. Catlin and his residence at Brussels : 



101 Washington Street, 

 Chicago, III, June 22, 1886. 



In the winter of 1869-70 I met at Brussels, Belgium, where I was stationed as 

 United States consul, Mr. George Catlin, an American artist, then residing in that 

 city. 



Mr. Catlin called at the consulate on business, and learning that my boyhood days 

 had been spent in the lead mines of the Northwest, and that I had seen much of In- 

 dian life, he became* interested, and soon after called again to talk with me about the 

 early history of the lead mines, including the Black Hawk war of 1832, of which I 

 had distinct recollection, and in which my father served for several months as a vol- 

 unteer. Mr. Catlin was then in good health and quite robust and active for one of 

 his advanced years. He was a charming talker, but his hearing was so impaired that 

 it was with great difficulty one could talk to him. He often afterwards breakfasted 

 or dined at my house en famille. His studio was in an obscure street near the Antwerp 

 railroad station, in the northern part of the city. It occupied two rooms on the second 

 floor, one a large front room, in which he exhibited his paintings and did his work ; 

 the other, a rear and smaller room, used as a sleeping and store room. Both were 

 scantily furnished. He lived in a frugal way, taking part of his meals in an adjoin- 

 ing restaurant. His expenses were light, not exceeding, I judged, rent and living 

 combined, over five francs per day. He seemed to have few acquaintances, even 



