CHAPTER XVI.

Mr. Rankin resolves to take the Indians to the provincial

towns--Exhibition advertised to close--The wedding in

St. Martin's church--Great excitement--Its object--Grand

parade through the streets in omnibuses--Rankin advertises

"the beautiful and interesting bride" to appear on the

platform at the Indians' exhibitions--Public disgust and

indignation--Condemned by the Press--Rankin begins his

exhibition--Denies Cadotte admission to the Indians' rooms,

and dismisses him from his service--Rankin leaves London with

the Indians--Author getting out his large work--The Indian

portfolio--The "jolly fat dame" makes a visit to Daniel in the

exhibition rooms--A long dialogue--Illustrious subscribers

to the Author's large work--Emperor of Russia and Duke of

Wellington review 10,000 troops at Windsor--The Emperor

presents the Author a gold box--Author takes out a patent for

"disengaging and floating quarter-decks, to save lives on

vessels sinking or burning at sea."

At the commencement of this chapter we find the Indians still

proceeding with their amusements at the Egyptian

Hall, riding out during the day for fresh air and to see the city, and

enjoying their roast beef and _chickabobboo_; the interpreter laid up,

as described, and Mr. Rankin labouring to promote, and preparing for,

an event that was to give greater notoriety to himself and his party,

and ensure more splendid success through the kingdom, as the sequel

will show.

My opposition to his views in promoting the marriage of this love-sick

pair afforded him the suitable occasion of calling on me one morning

and advising me of a course which "he had been, he said, recommended

by many of his friends to pursue, which was, that (as he had now heard

me lecture on the modes of the Indians until the subject had become

sufficiently familiar to him to enable him to give the lectures well

enough himself) he could promote his own interest much better by

taking the Indians to the provincial towns, meeting all the expenses,

and taking all the receipts, instead of sharing with a second person,

which his friends thought was a great pity he should any longer do."

He represented that by such a course he could afford to do better by

the Indians, and he thought it would be decidedly for the interest of

both, and he had resolved to do it. I said to him that it was, to be

sure, a resolve which he could easily make, as we were under no other

than a verbal agreement, and entirely confidential, so that, if his

interest urged it sufficiently strong, there was no doubt that he could

do as he pleased, and that, under any circumstances, I should have but

one anxiety, and that would be for the welfare of the Indians under

his charge. I had so far done all I could to introduce them and him

properly. I had added my collection to their exhibition, to give it

additional interest. I had devoted my best efforts in lecturing on them

and their customs, and had succeeded (after lying still with them for

a month in London) in getting for them an audience of the Queen. By

these means I had rendered him and them a service, for which I wanted

no other return than the assurance that, wherever he went with them, he

should take good care of and protect them.

He said he had made up his mind to take them on his own hands in that

manner after an exhibition for ten days longer in the Egyptian Hall,

when he was to leave London on a tour to the provincial towns; and

he wished me to advertise these exhibitions positively to close on a

certain day. I then informed him that I should do so, and should freely

yield to his proposition to sever in the manner he had proposed, on

account of the accomplishment of the marriage, which he had assured me

was just at hand, and in the responsibility of which I was determined

to take no part. This I told him was an argument sufficiently strong,

without further comment, to incline me to meet his proposition without

the slightest objection.

I therefore advertised, as he had suggested, that the Indians could

only be seen in London that number of days; and from night to night

announced the same thing from the platform when giving my lecture;

and to the last day, at his request, stated that the Indians were

positively to leave London at that time. The next morning after we

had made this final close, and I had announced it as such to the

audience, advertisements appeared in the papers that "he had rented

the adjoining room to Mr. Catlin's, and on the same floor, for two

months--a much finer room, where ladies and others would be much better

accommodated; where the lectures in future would be given by Mr.

Rankin, _himself_, who had _lived all his life among the Indians_." And

in his advertisements, a few days after, he had the imprudence to state

that "_hereafter the beautiful and interesting bride of the 'Strong

Wind,' the interpreter, will make her appearance on the platform with

the Indians, and preside at the piano_."

This extraordinary advertisement, which of course was after the

consummation of the marriage, was inserted in all the London daily

journals, and was at once a key to all the absurd and disgusting

efforts that had been used to create an excitement on the occasion of

the wedding. It had been carefully announced that the wedding was to

take place at a certain hour in the day in St. Martin's church, that

ten thousand people might be waiting there for a chance to see the

novel spectacle of a beautiful London girl married to an Indian from

the wilds of America, and then to trumpet it through the city and

through the land where they were going, that the shillings might the

more abundantly pour in for a sight of the extraordinary pair that

were united in St. Martin's church in London, and the "beautiful and

interesting bride who was to preside at the piano" while the Indians

danced.

To make this affair more exciting, and its disgusting humbug more

complete, several omnibuses and coaches, drawn by four-in-hand,

were employed to convey the "beautiful and interesting bride" and

bridegroom, and Mr. Rankin and his attendants, through the streets

to and from the church where the ceremony took place. Each of these

splendid affairs was decorated with evergreens, ribands, &c.; and on

their tops, bands of music playing through the streets, and other

attendants, covered with belts and ribands, waving flags of various and

brilliant colours. These carriages were directed to be driven through

the principal thoroughfares of London, that the excitement and hubbub

might be the more complete, and that the greater number of shillings

might be turned into the exhibition-room.

The scheme, as a business one, was not without some ingenuity, but,

most unluckily for its projector, it did not exactly succeed. There

was too much sagacity in the London people and the London press not to

detect the object of the scheme, and too much good taste to countenance

and patronise it. The result was, and deservedly so, that it was

condemned by the press, and the project and its projectors held up to

public view in the light that they deserved.

The next day after his advertisement that "the beautiful and

interesting bride was to appear and preside at the piano," he put forth

another advertisement, stating that the bride _would not_ appear, as

announced the day before, owing to objections raised by some of her

friends, &c. These friends were nearly all the press in London, as well

as her father and her husband, who had never been consulted on the

subject, who were indignant at the step he had taken, and ordered him

to countermand his advertisement.

He then commenced his exhibition of the Indians in his new quarters,

and under the new auspices, necessarily without the additional

attraction of the new and beautiful bride, and also without the aid of

his interpreter Cadotte, whom he had turned out of his employment, and

to whom he had refused admission to the house to see his fellow Indians

or to hold any communication with them. Cadotte was thus driven to his

father-in-law's house, where he took up his residence, and Mr. Rankin

proceeded with his exhibitions, himself lecturing on their customs and

_interpreting_ their speeches to the audience, and all the various

communications of the audiences and the public to them, wherever they

went, without knowing five words of their language.

The extraordinary announcement which he had put in the papers of the

appearance of the "beautiful and interesting bride upon the platform"

had drawn a great crowd together at his first exhibition under the

new arrangement, and, from the odd mixture of people it had brought

together, begat some very amusing incidents worth recording. On

ascending the platform for his first lecture, amidst a room densely

packed, chiefly with working men and working women, whose application

to their tasks during the day had prevented them from getting a glimpse

of the beautiful bride of the "_Strong Wind_," and had now handed in

their hard-earned shillings, he soon found himself in the midst of

difficulties which it would seem that he had not anticipated.

In such a city as London there are always enough who do not read the

_contradictions_ of announcements (with those who won't believe them

if they do read them) to fill a room; and of such was his room chiefly

filled on this occasion--all impatient to see the beautiful bride of

the Indian, and full of expectation, though his second advertisement

had announced that "she would not appear." One can easily imagine the

difficulties with which he was surrounded, and the perplexing materials

with which he was about to contend in presenting himself as the

expounder of Indian modes, and that in the absence of the "beautiful

bride."

Curiosity to hear him give his first lecture on the customs of the

Indians, "who had spent all his life amongst them," led me into the

crowd, where I caught the following amusing incidents, which are given

as nearly as I could hear them amidst the confusion that soon took

place. Mr. Rankin had proceeded but a few sentences in his elucidations

when a voice from a distant part of the room called out, "Rankin! Mr.

Rankin!" "Well," inquired the lecturer, "what's wanted of Mr. Rankin?"

"Why, Sir, Mr. Rankin is advertised to lecture, and we expect to hear

him." "My name is Rankin--I am Mr. Rankin, Sir." "No, you are not Mr.

Rankin neither: why do you tell us that nonsense? Come now, _Arthur_;

you know me, old fellow: don't set yourself up for Mr. Rankin here;

you'll get yourself into trouble if you do." (Uproar, and cries of

"Turn him out, turn him out.") The voice continues, "Mr. Rankin! Mr.

Rankin! what has lived all his life with the Indians!" (Uproar.) "I

am Mr. Rankin, Sir: what do you want?" "You are _not_ Mr. Rankin; are

Mr. Arthur Jones, or was so when I knew you in New York." (Cries of

"Turn him out--shame, shame! the bride, the bride!" and hisses.) The

lecturer here advanced to the front of the platform and endeavoured

to frown the crowd into silence, but got nothing in return but "The

bride, the bride!" and hisses from various quarters. One of the men

in his employment unluckily at that moment seized hold of a little

square-shouldered working-man, standing just before me, who was

hissing, and was hauling him towards the door. The little man gathered

himself up, and brought his antagonist to a halt before he was half way

to the door. While grasping each other by the collar, the little man,

who was nearly lost sight of in the crowd, demanded the cause of this

violence on his person. "Why, Sir, you was hissing the lecturer, and I

was ordered to put you out of the room--that was all."

"So I did iss im, Sir, hand I'll iss again, hif I choose----ands hoff!

hif you please!" "You must go out, Sir." "Hout, Sir! [in a tremendous

voice.] I'll hax this haudience hif I am to go hout, or whether they

would prefer to ear the hobservations I hintend to make." There was a

general uproar here for a few moments, and the friends of the little

man seemed to predominate as they were gathering around him, and the

cry of "Hands off!" freed him from the difficulties with which he had

been beset, and encouraged him to demand an audience for a moment,

which was carried by acclamation all around the room. By stepping on to

the end of a bench near by, he become conspicuous above the heads of

the audience, and continued:--

"Ladies hand Gentlemen, I opes I ave your haprobation?" (Shouts of

approbation from all parts of the room; the Indians seated on the

platform, and Mr. Rankin allowing the little working gentleman to

proceed.)

"My friends, I am a poor and to speak, and I did not hanticipate an

event hov this sort. I came ere, like the rest of you, an ard-working

man, to spend my shilling, hand for wot? To be umbugged, gentlemen?

(Great applause.) To be oaxed, gentlemen? I calls it an impudent

oax! I olds in my and the adwertisement of that gentleman haxing us

to pay our shillings to see the bride of the Hindian wot was married

yesterday; and we are now told that she is not to be ere, and that

this is ol nothink.--I say it is _somethink_, gentlemen. (Great

applause.) Wen it was said that this couldn't be elped, I issed im,

and ee _hought_ to be issed, for I saw we was oaxed: I was then

dragged by the andkerchief in a wiolent manner, but I hescaped unurt,

and I am thankful that my woice can now be eard.

"Hif this gentleman is really Mr. Rankin, or hif ee is not, its hol

the same--wot's the hods? he as inwited us ere, to inale the ot

hatmosphere of the Hegyptian All, to see the 'beautiful bride,' oom

ee as been hinstrumental in leading up to the halter of Ymen, after

making a great ubbub about it; and I esitate not to pronounce it

an underanded business, that umbles a man in my hestimation, and I

think it would ave been better for im to ave ushed up the wole think

holtogether. (Applause.)

"Gentlemen, I am appy to see that I ave your haprobation. Wen I

look around me, I see that you are all working men like myself, and

able to hunderstand me. You all know it's werry ard to be oaxed out

of our shillings--wen prowisions is igh--wen work is scarce--wen

we ave little to heat, and hobliged to lie hidle." (Applause, and

Hear, hear.) A voice. "Mr. Rankin! Mr. Rankin!" A hundred voices!

"The bride! the bride!--Turn him out!--Bagh!--The Indians! the

Indians!--The workee! hear him out!--Mr. Rankin!--The Indians! the

Indians! Police! the police!--Turn him out!--The bride! the bride!

the bride! the bride!" &c. &c.

In the midst of all the din and confusion which it seemed now

impossible to suppress, the sudden expedient of Mr. Rankin succeeded,

and was probably the only one that could have done it. He thought of

his Indians, who were quietly seated on the platform, and prepared for

the war-dance; and the signal given, and "Sound trumpets, sound!" they

all sprang upon their feet and soon drowned the din and confusion in

the screams and yells of the war-dance.

By the time the brandishing of tomahawks and spears and war-clubs and

scalping-knives of this noisy affair was done, the attention of the

visitors had become so much engrossed with the spirit and novelty of

the scene, that they seemed generally disposed to dispense peaceably

with the expected treat of seeing the beautiful bride, and were quiet.

The little pugnacious working-man, however, arose again, as soon as

silence was restored, to resume his speech; and, asking "if he should

go hon," the response from every part of the house was, "No! no!" to

which he pertinaciously replied, "Well, then, I'll go ome, and see if I

can hearn hanother shilling in the place hov the one I ave given to see

those ill-looking wild hanimals, the Hindians."

The reader can easily understand why Mr. Rankin's stay with the Indians

in London after this was very short. Of his career and theirs in the

provincial towns, other historians will probably give some account,

and I refer the reader to them, being unable to give more than a very

imperfect account of it myself.

This sudden break-up of our establishment at the Egyptian Hall, just at

the commencement of the fashionable season, when considerable outlay

had been made, and the receipts daily increasing, was disastrous to

all parties, and particularly so to me, who had the Hall, at a heavy

rent, for three months longer, left on my hands. The excitement of

the exhibition being thus removed, my Indian collection, which had

already been three years in the same building, scarcely drew visitors

enough to meet its expenses, and I left its management entirely to my

faithful man Daniel, while I devoted my time, in an adjoining room, to

getting out my second book, shortly after published at the Egyptian

Hall--a large illustrated work, entitled '_Catlin's Hunting Scenes

and Amusements of the North American Indians_.' Several months being

necessary for the completion of this work, I resolved to hold my

collection in the Hall, as it was, until the expiration of my lease,

and then pack it up and return to the United States.

I was then, for a while, free again from the yells and stamps of the

Indians, and the excitements and anxieties attending their exhibitions;

and my exhibition room became a quiet and pleasant salon in which

to meet my friends, who frequently called, and I found were glad to

see me, even though I had no Indians with me. My work was advancing

fast, and I devoted my whole time to it, excepting when old friends

or persons of distinction called, when I endeavoured to be with them,

leaving the management of the room and entertainment of visitors

mostly to Daniel, who by this time was a perfect key to everything

in the room, provided he was turned the right way. He had all sorts

of visitors however--those who came for useful information, and

others merely to hear the war-whoop, and see the war-dance, supposing

the Indians to be still there. These, feeling provoked at their

disappointment, often took revenge on poor Daniel, by torturing him

with questions about the Yankees, repeal, &c., which would lead at last

to most exciting discussions on slavery, poor-laws and poorhouses,

United States Bank, national debt, annexation, wars in Afghanistan,

the Oregon question, the income-tax, and repudiation. As I have before

said, Daniel, with a strong mind, and well fortified with the facts

and dates relative to these subjects, was quite able to surprise his

assailants with his information on all these points, and of course to

provoke them in return. The consequence was that these debates often

ran too high, and, as soon as they arrived at a pitch of indiscretion,

I generally heard something of them in the adjoining room, and, leaving

my work, showed myself in the exhibition, which brought them to an

amicable issue.

There were others, again, who came to talk and learn more about the

Indians, whom they knew had gone away. Among such was one day the

"jolly fat dame," who stepped in merely to have a little chat with

Daniel; and, as will be seen, she was lucky in finding him alone, and

just in the humour to talk with her. There happened to be no cart

or carriage passing at the moment, to prevent me from healing her

melodious voice, as she entered, and rolled along, with her parasol

swinging in her hand.--"Well, Daniel" (who happened to be at the

farther end of the room), "I am so lucky to find you all alone for

once, for you always have such a possee around you! Daniel, you know

you and I have always agreed very well." "Yes, madam, I don't know

why you and I should have a falling-out." "Ah, well, we'll drop that,

Daniel--I believe I'll take a chair, I am so fatigued with those plaguy

stairs. Well, oh, but what a wonderful collection this is--Ha? what a

curiosity that man is--Mr. Catlin, I mean--what a life he _has_ led, to

be sure! Don't you think he has been married to some of those little

squaws? I'll be bound he has." "No, madam, I should doubt whether he

has. I think Mr. Catlin went into the Indian country, determined to

make this collection and to immortalize himself; and I have many a time

heard him say that he resolved never to get into any difficulty with

them about their women; and I think it was one reason why he succeeded,

and was everywhere treated with friendship." "Ah, well! may be so. But,

look ye, Daniel; that's been a sad affair with poor Cadotte, has it

not? what a foolish man, ha!"

"Why, I don't see that it was so foolish on his part as on that of the

girl."

"Oh, tush! but she's a silly little thing. She's pretty enough; but

what's that to such a man as Cadotte? She's no substance. He's a giant,

almost--what a grip!--I never felt the like in my life! Ah, well, I am

sorry--I felt quite an interest in Cadotte."

"I feel more sorry for the foolish girl," said Daniel, "for falling in

love with him--it was all her doing--she would have him, and wouldn't

take 'No' for an answer. I never saw the like in my life. She seemed

crazy for him; and they both cried like children about it for weeks,

and he was good for nothing else. She has got him now; and, as I said

before, I pity her, for she don't know what country she is going to,

nor what society she will have instead of that of her parents, and

sisters, and friends in London. The girl don't know what she will come

to, and therefore I pity her."

"Well, _I_ don't pity her a bit. Ah, yes, I am sorry she has been so

silly; but I pity _him_ the most. I care nothing about her; or--that

is--she ought to know better; but she's, as I told you, a silly little

thing. Ah, well, I have only been one night to see them since they left

Mr. Catlin. What a foolish thing that was! It will be the ruin of them

all. I am afraid they will come to want, poor things! I have only been

there one night! Cadotte was not there."

"No, madam, he won't join them any more. Rankin has turned him out of

the house, and out of his employ, because he wouldn't let his wife

appear in the exhibition and play the piano, as he had advertised."

"Noble fellow! I like him for that. Isn't that a fine spirit? I knew he

had it. But that little silly thing, she can't play. What do the public

care about a foolish girl's playing upon the piano?--Ridiculous! Well,

they have all gone, I suppose?"

"All but Cadotte and his wife, madam; they have not gone."

"What! you don't say so? Cadotte has not gone?"

"No; they are living together with the girl's father. Rankin has left

him, without anything but his wife, to get home to his own country in

the best way he can."

"Well, there's a brute for you; is'nt he--that Rankin? I always hated

his looks, d'ye see. Not gone, ha? What is he to do here? Will he stay

in London? Can't Mr. Catlin do something for him? He'd be just a good

hand now, to help you here, Daniel--to explain: you can't always be

here--there should be two of you. He comes here occasionally?"

"Oh, yes, he's here every day."

"Well, look ye, Daniel, I'll call again and see Mr. Catlin about it.

Something should be done. Mr. Catlin is a good fellow I know. I want a

long talk with him; he shall know my whole mind on this affair. I can't

stay now--I must go; but what a pity--ha, Daniel! Good day."

"Good day."

She was very near discovering me as she turned round and passed my

door; but Daniel smiled after she had gone out, and said he was quite

sure she had not seen me, as he had kept her conversation directed to

him, so that she should not turn her face round suddenly on me.

I was sorry that I had overheard this dialogue; but, as it had fallen

thus into my possession, I resolved to make the most prudent use of it,

believing it to contain the sum total of all she wished to say in her

"long talk" with me; and I directed Daniel, when she should call to see

me, to announce me "out of town," and himself to engross all that she

had to say, saving me from entering again upon an unpleasant subject,

which I considered now at an end.

Thus continued my labours and Daniel's, each one in his department, for

three months or more after the Indians had left, by which time my large

work was ready for publication (like the first one, "to be published by

the Author, at the Egyptian Hall, price five guineas in printed tints,

and eight guineas coloured), with a subscription-list headed by the

illustrious names of--

HER GRACIOUS MAJESTY THE QUEEN,

LOUIS PHILIPPE, KING OF THE FRENCH,

THE EMPEROR OF RUSSIA,

THE KING OF THE BELGIANS,

H.R.H. THE DUKE OF CAMBRIDGE,

AND MANY OF THE NOBILITY OF ENGLAND.

The Emperor of Russia was at this time paying his visit to the Queen

of England; and my dear wife and myself took the occasion of the

grand pageant when the Emperor, with Prince Albert and the Duke of

Wellington, reviewed 10,000 troops at Windsor, to obtain a view of his

Imperial Majesty, which we did during the review, and, still more to

our satisfaction, after it was over, from behind the post of the gate

opening into the great park, where we had stationed ourselves, and

where his Imperial Majesty passed within reach of us. When the Emperor

and suite had passed by, I suddenly perceived in the passing throng J.

W. Webb, Esq., editor of the 'New York Inquirer,' and endeavoured, but

unsuccessfully, to overtake him.

A few days after this, the Honourable Mr. Murray was kind enough to

deliver to the Emperor the copy of my work subscribed for by his

Majesty; and, in a few weeks after that, sent me the following very

flattering communication:--

"Buckingham Palace, June 14th, 1844.

"Dear Sir,

"The Emperor of Russia, having inspected your PORTFOLIO OF

INDIAN HUNTING AND OTHER SCENES, was so much pleased with their

spirit and execution, that he desired Count Orloff to send me a

gold snuff-box, to be presented to you as a mark of his Majesty's

gratification derived from the efforts of your pencil.

"I acquit myself of this agreeable commission by sending you herewith

a Russian box of gold and blue enamel, set in pearls, which will, I

trust, prove to you a gratifying reminiscence of the Emperor's visit

to England.

"I am, my dear Sir,

"Very faithfully yours,

"C. A. MURRAY.

"_To Geo. Catlin, Esq._"

This most gratifying testimony of the Emperor's satisfaction with my

work was unexpected by me; and future pages will show that I received

evidences equally flattering from their Majesties the King of the

French and the King of the Belgians.

My large work being now published in London, and, like my former one,

kindly noticed and highly approved by the press, I felt as if my

labours in England were coming near to a close; and, having a little

leisure, I was drawing my little children (of whom I now had four)

nearer to me than ever, and with my dear Clara was endeavouring to

see the remainder of the sights of London before our departure for

our native land. This desired event was yet to be delayed a little,

however, by a circumstance that I must here narrate, not to leave the

reader in the dark as to the curious incidents and impulses of this

transatlantic part of my chequered life.

About this period occurred an unparalleled destruction of life at sea:

the "Solway" and other noble vessels striking on sunken rocks, and

going down in smooth water in sight of land, and hundreds of human

beings sinking with them to eternity. Human invention, roused by human

sympathy, was everywhere labouring to devise means for the preservation

of life in such cases; and my brain, like the brains of hundreds of

others, was busy in the same cause, when a plan suddenly suggested

itself, which appeared more practicable the more I contemplated it. I

deliberated on it much, and threw in my own way all the arguments I

could possibly raise against it; and amongst them, as the strongest,

the blind and deaf enthusiasm, which leads too many inventors to ruin.

No objections that I then raised or can yet raise, however, have

created in my mind a doubt of the feasibility of my plan, or of its

immense and never-ending importance to the human race. And, as the

sequel will show, I give the following information concerning it to

the world, not on my own account, but for those who may possibly be

benefited by it, or whom it may in any way concern.

On mature deliberation I decided, like other inventors, to avail myself

of a patent for my discovery; and, with that view, called upon a

patent-agent, who had been recommended to me by the highest authority.

On stating to him the object of my visit, I was invited to a private

room, where he stated that it was necessary that he should hear a

distinct description of my invention before he could tell whether it

was new, and whether it was a fitting subject of a patent. I replied

as follows:--"I believe, Sir, that there is but one effectual way of

saving the lives of the greater number of persons on board steamers

and other vessels sinking or burning at sea, and that an invention

applicable, for such a purpose, to all vessels (as there is never to be

an end to the increase of vessels and exposure of life on the ocean)

would be of the greatest importance to mankind, and would most richly

repay the inventor. A plan has suggested itself to me which I think

will have this effect; and if, after hearing it explained, you should

decide that it is new and of sufficient consideration, I beg you to

procure me a patent for it as soon as it can be obtained."

I then proceeded--"The patent I should ask for would be for

'_disengaging and floating quarter-decks of steamers and other

vessels for the purpose of saving human lives at sea_.' These I would

propose to build of solid timber or other material, resting upon and

answering all the purposes of quarter-decks; and, in case of the

sinking of a vessel, to be disengaged by means which I would set forth

in the specification, and capable of floating, as rafts, with all

the passengers and crew upon them. These rafts might easily be made

of sufficient strength to resist the force of the most violent sea;

and their shape being such as to prevent them from capsizing, there

would be little difficulty in preserving life for many days upon them.

They might be made to contain within them waterproof cases of sheet

iron or tin, to carry provisions and liquors, and also rockets for

signals, valuable papers, money, &c.; and, when driven on shore, would

float safely over a reef, where vessels and life-boats go to pieces

and the greatest loss of life generally takes place. In case of a

vessel on fire at sea, when it should be found that all exertions to

extinguish the flames were unavailing, all hands might retreat to the

quarter-deck, and the vessel be scuttled and sunk by slinging a gun

and firing a shot through her bottom, or by other means; and as she

goes down the flames of course are extinguished, and her passengers and

crew, and valuables, might be saved on the raft, as I have described."

When I had thus explained the nature of my invention, I asked the agent

whether he considered it new, and fit to be patented, to which he at

once replied, "You may rely on it, Sir, it is entirely new: nothing of

the kind has been patented; and it is a subject for which I think I can

get you what we call a 'clean patent.'" Upon this I at once authorized

him to proceed and procure the patent in the quickest manner possible,

saying that the money required for it should be ready as fast as he

should call for it. After this, and in further conversation about it,

he said, "I think remarkably well of the invention, and, though I am

not in the habit of giving encouragement to my employers, I say to you,

frankly, that I believe that when we have obtained the patent, the

Admiralty will buy it out of your hands and give it for the benefit of

the world at large."

Being thus authorized, he proceeded, and the patent was obtained in

the space of two months, and for which I paid him the sum of 130_l._

After I had received my patent, I met a friend, Mr. R----, to whom I

explained the nature of my invention; and, when I had got through, he

asked me who had been my agent in the business, and I told him; to

which he replied that it was very strange, as he believed that a friend

of his, a Captain Oldmixon, had procured a patent, in London, for a

similar thing, some five or six years before. He said he was quite

confident that it was the same thing, for he had heard him say a great

deal about it, and recollected his having advertised and performed an

experiment on a vessel in the river below the city; and advised me to

call on my agent and put the question to him. I did so, and he referred

to the published lists of patents for ten or twelve years back, and

assured me that no such name was on the list of patentees, and that I

might rest satisfied that no such patent had ever been taken out.

I then returned to my friend Mr. R----, and informed him of this,

telling him that he _must_ be mistaken. To which he replied, "No; since

you have been absent I have recollected more. I have found the address

of Captain Oldmixon's attorney who procured the patent for him, which I

give you; and I wish you would call on him, and he will correct me if I

am wrong."

I took the address and called on the attorney, whom I found in his

office. I asked him if he had taken out a patent for Captain Oldmixon

five or six years ago, and he replied that he had. I asked him if he

would be kind enough to tell me the nature of it, and he instantly

replied that it was for "disengaging and floating quarter-decks for

saving life." I then asked him if he had completed his patent by

putting in his specification, and he replied that he had, and that if I

would ask for it in a registry of patents in Chancery-lane I could see

it. I then inquired if it had been published in the manner that the law

requires, and he assured me it had. He further stated that he had been

for several years, and still was, engaged with it for Captain Oldmixon

before the Committee on Shipwrecks, with a prospect of getting the

Admiralty to take it up. With this information I returned immediately

to my agent, and, having explained it to him, he accompanied me to

the registry in Chancery-lane, where, on being asked if they had the

specification of a patent in the name of Captain Oldmixon, one of the

clerks instantly replied "Yes," and unrolled it upon the counter.

I read it over, and, finding it almost word for word like my own, and

the invention exactly the same, I said to my agent, "I have nothing

more to say or to do, but to go home and attend to my business." Nor

have I ever taken further pains about it. My agent, at a subsequent

period, wrote me a letter, expressing his regret that such a thing

should have happened, and enclosing a 10_l._ note, the amount, he said,

of his fees; stating that the rest had all been paid into different

offices, for which there was no remedy.

I have mentioned the above circumstance, as forming one of the many

instances of ill luck that have been curiously mixed with the incidents

of my life; and also to show the world how much circumspection and

caution are necessary in guarding one's interest, even amidst the

well-regulated rules and formalities of this great and glorious country.

Captain Oldmixon has my hearty wishes for the success of his invention;

and I hope that my allusion to it in the above manner will do him no

injury, but may be the cause of turning the attention of the world

towards it as a means of benefiting the human race.

I have informed the reader already that, just before completing the

above adventure, the Ojibbeways having left London, and my large work

being published to the world, I was turning my eyes to my native

country again, where, with my little ones and my collection, I was

preparing to go; but even this _was not to be_ as we had designed it,

for it was announced, just then, that another party of fourteen Indians

had arrived in Liverpool, and were on their way to the metropolis!

Life has its chapters, like the chapters of a book; and our days are

like the leaves we turn in reading it. We peruse one page ignorant of

what is contained in the next; and, as the chapters of life are often

suddenly cut short, so this chapter of my book must end here; and the

reader will start with me afresh, in a second volume, which commences

with a new enterprise.

APPENDIX.

APPENDIX.--(A.)

OPINIONS OF THE PRESS

ON

CATLIN'S NORTH AMERICAN INDIAN MUSEUM.

The following are a few of the very numerous eulogiums which the

Press has passed upon the merits of this Collection, in England,

France, and the United States, where it has been exhibited.

LONDON PRESS.

THE QUARTERLY REVIEW.

Mr. Catlin's object in visiting England with his Indian Gallery, it

would seem, is to sell his collection to our Government, and we most

sincerely hope that his reliance on the magnanimity of the British

people will not be disappointed. As a man of science, of enterprise,

and of true philanthropy, he is justly entitled to be considered as a

citizen of the world; and, although he reflects especial honour upon

the intelligent nation to which he is so proud to declare that he owes

his birth, yet, for that very reason, we are confident, a generous

feeling will universally exist to receive him with liberality here.

But, leaving the worthy artist's own interests completely out of the

question, and in the cause of science casting aside all party feeling,

we submit to Lord Melbourne, to Sir Robert Peel, to Lord Lansdowne,

to Sir R. Inglis, and to all who are deservedly distinguished among

us as the liberal patrons of the fine arts, that Mr. Catlin's Indian

collection is worthy to be retained in this country as the record of

a race of our fellow-creatures whom we shall very shortly have swept

from the face of the globe. Before that catastrophe shall have arrived,

it is true, a few of our countrymen may occasionally travel among

them; but it cannot be expected that any artist of note should again

voluntarily reside among them for seven years, as competent as Mr.

Catlin, whose slight, active, sinewy frame has peculiarly fitted him

for the physical difficulties attendant upon such an exertion.

Considering the melancholy fate which has befallen the Indian race, and

which overhangs the remnant of these victims to our power, it would

surely be discreditable that the civilized world should, with heartless

apathy, decline to preserve and to transmit to posterity Mr. Catlin's

graphic delineation of them; and if any nation on earth should evince a

desire to preserve such a lasting monument, there can be no doubt that

there exists none better entitled to do so than the British people; for

with feelings of melancholy satisfaction, we do not hesitate to assert

that throughout our possessions on the continent of America, we have,

from the first moment of our acquaintance with them to the present

hour, invariably maintained their rights, and at a very great expense

have honestly continued to pay them their annual presents, for which

we have received from them, in times of war as well as of peace, the

most unequivocal marks of their indelible gratitude. Their respect for

our flag is unsullied by a reproach--their attachment to our sovereign

is second only in their breasts to the veneration with which they

regard their "Great Spirit"--while the names of Lord Dalhousie, of

Sir Peregrine Maitland, and of Sir John Colborne, who for many years

respectively acted towards them as their father and as their friend,

will be affectionately repeated by them in our colonies until the

Indian heart has ceased to beat there, and until the Red Man's language

has ceased to vibrate in the British "wilderness of this world."

Although European diseases, and the introduction of ardent spirits,

have produced the lamentable effects we have described, and although

as a nation we are not faultless, yet we may fairly assert and proudly

feel that the English government has at least made every possible

exertion to do its duty towards the Indians; and that there has existed

no colonial secretary of state who has not evinced that anxiety to

befriend them which, it is our duty to say, particularly characterized

the administration of the amiable and humane Lord Glenelg.

----*----

THE LITERARY GAZETTE.

_Catlin's Indian Gallery, Egyptian Hall._--We have now to announce

the opening of this exhibition, from visits to which every class of

the community, old as well as young, will reap much instruction and

gratification. Having recently described, from an American journal, Mr.

Catlin's seven or eight years' sojourn among the red races of North

America, we need now only say that his representation of them, their

country, their costumes, their sports, their religious ceremonies,

and in short their manners and customs, so as to enable us to form a

complete idea of them, is deserving of the utmost praise. There are

above 500 subjects in these spacious rooms, from a wigwam to a child's

rattle; and everything belonging to the various Indian tribes are

before the spectator in their actual condition and integrity. There

are, besides, a multitude of portraits of the leading warriors, &c.

&c., and other pictures of dances, ball-play, ambuscading, fighting;

and the whole supplying by far the most ample and accurate history of

them that has ever been published to the world. No book of travels

can approach these realities; and after all we had read of the red

men, we confess we are astonished at the many new and important points

connected with them which this Gallery impressed upon us. We saw more

distinctly the links of resemblance between them and other early and

distant people; and we had comparisons suggested of a multitude of

matters affecting the progress of mankind all over the earth, and alike

illustrated by similitudes and dissimilitudes. Indeed the philosophical

inquirer will be delighted with this exhibition, whilst the curious

child of seven years of age will enjoy it with present amusement and

lasting instruction.

----*----

THE ATHENÆUM.

_The Indian Gallery._--This is the collection mentioned heretofore by

our American correspondent (No. 609), and a most interesting one it is.

It contains more than 300 portraits of distinguished Indians, men and

women of different tribes, all painted from life; and in many instances

the identical dress, weapons, &c. are exhibited which they wore when

their portraits were taken; and 200 other paintings, representing

Indian customs, games, hunting-scenes, religious ceremonies, dances,

villages, and said to contain above 3000 figures: in brief, it is a

pictorial history of this interesting and fast-perishing race. It

includes, too, a series of views of the Indian country; and we have

seen nothing more curious than some of the scenes on the Upper Missouri

and Mississippi, the general accuracy of which is beyond question. Mr.

Catlin has spent seven years in wandering among the various tribes,

for the sole purpose of perfecting this collection. As he observes,

"it has been gathered, and every painting has been made from nature,

by my own hand; and that, too, when I have been paddling my canoe or

leading my packhorse over and through trackless wilds, at the hazard of

life. The world will surely be kind and indulgent enough to receive and

estimate them as they have been intended, as true and fac-simile traces

of individual and historical facts, and forgive me for their present

unfinished and unstudied condition as works of art."

The value of this collection is increased by the fact that the red men

are fast perishing, and will probably, before many years have passed,

be an extinct race. If proof of this were wanting, we have it in the

facts recorded in the catalogue, of the devastation which the smallpox

has lately spread among them. Of one tribe, the hospitable and friendly

Mandans, as Mr. Catlin calls them, 2000 in number when he visited

them and painted their pictures, living in two permanent villages on

the Missouri, 1800 miles above its junction with the Mississippi, not

one now exists! In 1837 the smallpox broke out among them, and only

thirty-five were left alive; these were subsequently destroyed by a

hostile tribe, which took possession of their villages: and thus,

within a few months, the race became extinct--not a human being is

believed to have escaped.

----*----

THE ART-UNION.

_Mr. Catlin's Indian Gallery._--Circumstances have hitherto prevented

our noticing this most admirable exhibition; but we have examined it

in all its parts with very minute attention, and have been highly

gratified, as well as much informed, by doing so. Mr. Catlin's

collection is by no means to be classed among the ephemeral amusements

of the day; it is a work of deep and permanent interest. Perceiving

that the rapid destruction of the aboriginal tribes by war, disease,

and the baneful influence of spirituous liquors, would soon cause all

traces of the red men to be lost, Mr. Catlin determined on proceeding

through their still untrodden wildernesses, for the purpose of gaining

an intimate acquaintance with their manners and customs, and of

procuring an exact delineation of their persons, features, ceremonies,

&c., all which he has faithfully and perfectly accomplished at no

small hazard of life and limb. It was not a common mind that could

have conceived so bold a project, nor is he a common man who has so

thoroughly accomplished it.

The arms, dresses, domestic implements, &c. &c. collected by the

industry of this most energetic of explorers are precisely as they

have been manufactured and used by their Indian owners, and form

a collection which every succeeding year will render more and

more valuable. The portraits of distinguished warriors, &c., the

representations of religious ceremonies, war-dances, buffalo-hunts,

&c. &c., are depicted by Mr. Catlin himself, and that with a force and

evident truth that bring the whole detail of Indian life in eloquent

reality before the eyes of the spectator. We have no hesitation in

saying that this gallery supplies the most effective and valuable means

for acquiring an exact acquaintance with the great American continent

that has ever been offered to the hunger and thirst after knowledge,

go prevailing a characteristic of the age. Mr. Catlin is about to

publish the details of his eight years' sojourn among the interesting

people with whom his portraitures have made us so familiar; and we

have no doubt that this work will render the stores of information he

has opened to us in his gallery entire and complete. As works of art

their merit depends chiefly on their accuracy, of which no doubt can be

entertained.

----*----

LA BELLE ASSEMBLÉE.

_Mr. Catlin's Gallery of North American Indians._--Of all the

exhibitions that have been brought forward for the amusement of the

public, we must give this of Mr. Catlin the preference in every point

of view; it possesses not only present but future interest, for perhaps

not many generations may flourish and fade before nearly the whole of

the aboriginal tribes will be wholly extirpated. Wherever the imprint

of the white man's foot has flattened the grass of the prairie, it may

be looked upon as an ominous token to the unsuspecting native. The

broad lands of the owners of the soil are daily passing into the hands

of the stranger, and desolation comes where lowly comfort dwelt.

As historical records, these pictures, from the faithful pencil of Mr.

Catlin, are invaluable, inasmuch as they may be considered, in all

probability, the last and almost the only authentic remains of ancient

tribes, that are slowly but surely leaving nothing but a name behind.

----*----

THE TIMES.

_Mr. Catlin's North American Indian Gallery._--A very curious

exhibition is opened in the Egyptian Hall, Piccadilly. It consists

of above 500 portraits, landscapes, views of combats, religious

ceremonies, costumes, and many other things illustrative of the

manners and customs, and modes of living and of battle, &c. of the

different tribes of North American Indians. Some of these pictures

are exceedingly interesting, and form a vast field for the researches

of the antiquary, the naturalist, and the philosopher. The numerous

portraits are full of character; they exhibit an almost endless variety

of feature, though all bearing a generical resemblance to each other.

The views of combats are very full of spirit, and exhibit modes of

warfare and destruction horribly illustrative of savage life. The

method of attacking buffaloes and other monsters of the plains and

forests are all interesting; the puny process of a fox-chace sinks into

insignificance when compared with the tremendous excitement occasioned

by the grappling of a bear or the butting of a bison. These scenes are

all accurately depicted, not in the finished style of modern art, but

with a vigour and fidelity of outline, which arises from the painter

having actually beheld what he transmits to canvas. The most curious

portion of this exhibition is, however, the representations of the

horrible religious ceremonies of several of the Indian tribes, and

the probationary trials of those who aspire to be the leaders amongst

them. These representations disclose the most abhorrent and execrable

cruelties. They show to what atrocities human nature can arrive where

the presence of religious knowledge is not interposed to prevent its

career. The exhibition also contains tents, weapons, dresses, &c.

of the various tribes visited by Mr. Catlin. These are curious, but

of secondary importance. The catalogue, which is to be had at the

exhibition-room, is a very interesting _brochure_, and will afford a

great deal of novel but important information.

----*----

MORNING CHRONICLE.

_The Aboriginal Tribes of North America._--A pictorial exhibition of a

singularly interesting description has just been opened in the Egyptian

Hall, Piccadilly. It consists of portraits, landscapes, costumes, and

other representations of the persons, manners, and customs of the North

American Indians, painted by Mr. Catlin, an American artist, during

eight years' travel amongst their various tribes.

On Monday a numerous assemblage, comprising many distinguished

members of the fashionable as well as the literary world, visited

this extraordinary collection, and listened with the utmost curiosity

and interest to the details and explanations given by Mr. Catlin in

illustration of some of its most remarkable objects.

Mr. Catlin modestly apologizes for the unfinished character of his

pictures, considered as works of art. They are sketches rapidly and

roughly executed, as might be expected from the circumstances under

which they were made: but they are freely drawn with a strong tone of

colour; and being drawn and coloured immediately from nature, there

is a graphic truthfulness about them which places, as it were, the

very objects themselves before the eye of the spectator, and fills

the imagination with images of these ancient lords of the western

continent, now reduced to scattered remnants and fast disappearing

from the earth, a thousand times more distinct and vivid than could be

produced by volumes of description.

----*----

THE MORNING POST.

_Catlin's Indian Gallery._--This is a very extraordinary collection,

consisting of an immense number of portraits, landscapes, costumes,

and representations of the manners and customs of the North American

Indians, among whom the artist-collector travelled for eight years,

extending his researches through forty-eight tribes, the majority of

whom speak different languages. The long room on the groundfloor of

the Egyptian Hall is covered from the roof to the floor, and nearly

the floor itself, by some thousands of specimens, real as well as

pictorial, of these interesting races, many of whom are now, alas!

nearly extinguished, under the civilizing influences of fire-water,

smallpox, and the exterminating policy of the government of the United

States, in which treachery has recently played a counterpart to the

most gratuitous despotism. "I have seen them in their own villages,"

says Mr. Catlin, "have carried my canvas and colours the whole way, and

painted my portraits, &c. from the life, as they now stand and are seen

in the gallery."

The collection contains 310 portraits of distinguished men and women

of the different tribes in the British, United States, and Mexican

territories; and 200 other paintings descriptive of river, mountain,

forest, and prairie scenes; the village games, festivals, and peculiar

customs and superstitions of the natives, exhibiting in all above 3000

figures; all, Mr. Catlin assures us, were taken from nature, and all by

his own hand! a truly Herculean undertaking, and evidently sustained

by an enthusiastic spirit, as well as a share of unconquerable

perseverance, such as falls to the lot of few artists in any country to

boast of.

----*----

THE MORNING POST.

_Catlin's Indian Gallery._--This valuable collection of portraits,

landscapes, scenes from savage life, weapons, costumes, and an endless

variety of illustrations of Indian life, real as well as pictorial,

continues to attract crowds of spectators. We are happy to find our

prediction fully borne out by fact, that the exhibition only required

to be fully made known to the public to be properly appreciated. The

most pleasing attention is paid by Mr. Catlin and his assistants

to gratify the curiosity of visitors, to point out to notice the

peculiarities of the various subjects through which they wander, and

to explain everything which strikes the eye and attracts the observer

to inquire into its use or meaning. During our visit on Saturday

the company were startled by a yell, and shortly afterwards by the

appearance of a stately chief of the Crow Indians stalking silently

through the room, armed to the teeth and painted to the temples,

wrapped up in a buffalo robe, on which all his battles were depicted,

and wearing a tasteful coronet of war-eagle's quills. This personation

was volunteered by the nephew of Mr. Catlin, who has seen the red

man in his native wilds, and presents the most proud and picturesque

similitude that can be conceived of the savage warrior. His war-whoop,

his warlike appearance and dignified movements seem to impress the

assemblage more strikingly with a feeling of the character of the

North American Indian than all the other evidences which crowded the

walls. Subsequently he appeared in another splendid costume, worn by

the braves of the Mandan tribe, also remarkable for its costly and

magnificent head-dress, in which we see "the horns of power" assume a

conspicuous place. The crowds that gathered around him on each occasion

were so dense that Mr. Catlin could scarcely find space to explain the

particulars of the costumes; but we are glad to find he is preparing

a central stage where all may enjoy a full and fair sight of "the

Red Man" as he issues from his wigwam, clad in the peculiar robe and

ornaments of his tribe, to fight, hunt, smoke, or join in the dances,

festivals, and amusements peculiar to each nation.

----*----

THE GLOBE AND TRAVELLER.

_Indian Knowledge of English Affairs._--Mr. Catlin, in one of his

lectures on the manners and customs of the North American Indians,

during the last week, related a very curious occurrence, which excited

a great deal of surprise and some considerable mirth amongst his highly

respectable and numerous audience. Whilst speaking of the great and

warlike tribe of Sioux or Dahcotas, of 40,000 or 50,000, he stated

that many of this tribe, as well as of several others, although living

entirely in the territory of the United States, and several hundred

miles south of her Majesty's possessions, were found cherishing a

lasting friendship for the English, whom they denominate Saganosh. And

in very many instances they are to be seen wearing about their necks

large silver medals, with the portrait of George III. in bold relief

upon them. These medals were given to them as badges of merit during

the last war with the United States, when these warriors were employed

in the British service.

The lecturer said that whenever the word Saganosh was used, it seemed

to rouse them at once; that on several occasions when Englishmen had

been in his company as fellow-travellers, they had marked attentions

paid them by these Indians as Saganoshes. And on one occasion,

in one of his last rambles in that country, where he had painted

several portraits in a small village of Dahcotas, the chief of the

band positively refused to sit, alleging as his objection that the

Pale-faces, who were not to be trusted, might do some injury to his

portrait, and his health or his life might be affected by it. The

painter, as he was about to saddle his horse for his departure, told

the Indian that he was a Saganosh, and was going across the Big Salt

Lake, and was very sorry that he could not carry the picture of so

distinguished a man. At this intelligence the Indian advanced, and

after a hearty grip of the hand, very carefully and deliberately

withdrew from his bosom, and next to his naked breast, a large silver

medal, and turning his face to the painter, pronounced with great

vehemence and emphasis the word Sag-a-nosh! The artist, supposing that

he had thus gained his point with the Indian Sagamore, was making

preparation to proceed with his work, when the Indian still firmly

denied him the privilege--holding up the face of his Majesty (which had

got a superlative brightness by having been worn for years against his

naked breast), he made this singular and significant speech:--"When you

cross the Big Salt Lake, tell my Great Father that you saw his face,

and it was bright!" To this the painter replied, "I can never see your

Great Father, he is dead!" The poor Indian recoiled in silence, and

returning his medal to his bosom, entered his wigwam, at a few paces

distant, where he seated himself amidst his family around his fire, and

deliberately lighting his pipe, passed it around in silence.

When it was smoked out he told them the news he had heard, and in a

few moments returned to the traveller again, who was preparing with

his party to mount their horses, and inquired whether the Saganoshes

had no chief. The artist replied in the affirmative, saying that the

present chief of the Saganoshes is a young and very beautiful woman.

The Sagamore expressed great surprise and some incredulity at this

unaccountable information; and being fully assured by the companions of

the artist that his assertion was true, the Indian returned again quite

hastily to his wigwam, called his own and the neighbouring families

into his presence, lit and smoked another pipe, and then communicated

the intelligence to them, to their great surprise and amusement; after

which he walked out to the party about to start off, and advancing to

the painter (or Great Medicine, as they called him) with a sarcastic

smile on his face, in due form, and with much grace and effect, he

carefully withdrew again from his bosom the polished silver medal, and

turning the face of it to the painter, said, "Tell my Great Mother

that you saw our Great Father, and that we keep his face bright!"

----*----

THE GLOBE AND TRAVELLER.

_North American Indians._--An exhibition has been opened consisting

of portraits, landscapes, costumes, implements of war, articles of

commerce, and a variety of curiosities, illustrating the manners,

habits, and customs of forty-eight different tribes of the North

American Indians. The collection, which must prove highly interesting

to all who take an interest in the various modes of life existing among

our fellow-creatures in the different states and stages of savage life,

or comparative civilization, consists of 310 portraits of distinguished

men and women of the different Indian tribes, and 200 other paintings

descriptive of Indian countries, villages, sports, and pastimes; the

whole of which were painted by Mr. Catlin during a residence of eight

years among the different tribes. An additional interest is given to

the paintings by the various implements used by the natives, such as

bows, arrows, tomahawks, and scalping knives. There are even human

scalps, which illustrate one of the paintings representing the scalp

dance, in which the victors of one tribe exhibit, in one of their war

dances, the scalps of another whom they have vanquished. Among the

most spirited of the paintings, as works of art, may be enumerated

those of the voluntarily inflicted torments to which some of the tribes

subject themselves as proofs of their courage; those of the buffalo

hunts, buffalo fights, and of the prairies, which are all highly

characteristic productions. In speaking of the different items of

interest in this exhibition, Mr. Catlin and the cicerone should not be

forgotten, as they amuse the visitors with many of those interesting

personal anecdotes which travellers always abound in.

----*----

THE SPECTATOR.

Catlin's Indian Gallery, at the Egyptian Hall, Piccadilly, is a museum

of the various tribes of North American Indians.

Mr. Catlin is an enterprising American artist, who has devoted eight

years to the delineation of scenes and persons, and the collection

of objects to form a permanent record of the characteristic features

and customs of the different tribes of Indians in North America,

now fast becoming extinct by the combined operation of smallpox,

spirit-drinking, and war. The walls of a room 106 feet in length are

entirely covered with portraits of Indian men, women, and children, in

their respective costumes, some small whole-lengths, others busts the

life-size, to the number of 310; and 200 views of landscape scenery,

native villages, games, customs, and hunting-scenes, all painted on the

spot. Besides the pictures, the dresses worn by several tribes, and a

numerous collection of weapons, pipes, ornaments, &c., are arranged

round the room; and in the centre is set up a wigwam of the "Crow"

tribe, a conical tent twenty-five feet high, made of buffalo-skins,

dressed and painted, supported by thirty poles meeting at the top, and

capable of sheltering eighty persons.

To attempt anything like a detailed description of the contents of such

a museum would require a volume; to characterize it generally in our

limited space is difficult. It would require hours of attentive study

to become fully acquainted with the multifarious articles. The several

tribes are distinguished in the catalogue: the dresses are all so

fantastic, and the physiognomies so varied, that it would be difficult

to class them.

The dances and other amusements appear anything but gamesome; and the

religious ceremonies of the Mandans, of which there are four scenes,

are horrible in the extreme. It is their annual custom to assemble

the young men in the "Medicine" or "Mystery" Lodge--the medicine-men

are a sort of mixture of the doctor, priest, and sorcerer--and after

being starved for four days and nights, they are tortured in the most

cruel manner to test their powers of endurance. The animal character,

sharpened and sometimes ennobled by the influence of moral qualities,

is strongly expressed in all the heads.

The scenery on the Missouri and Mississippi is remarkable for the

mixture of beauty and desolation, and an appearance of cultivation in

the wildest parts. Mr. Catlin's views bear the impress of fidelity

that belongs to pictures painted on the spot; and their freshness and

characteristic spirit more than atone for any defects of execution.

The scenes of buffalo-hunting are full of movement and energy; and the

groups of Indians are sketched with so much life and action, that the

scene appears to pass before you. Numerous certificates attest the

accuracy of the portraits and views. The robes and the tent covering

exhibit come curious specimens of the pictorial skill of the Indians,

which reminds one of the Egyptian and Mexican paintings; the outline

being strongly defined, and with attention to the characteristic

points. The dresses are very tastefully decorated with beads, feathers,

and skins; and the pipes, war-clubs, lances, bows, quivers, and shields

are profusely ornamented: the cradles are really beautiful.

Mr. Catlin is about to publish an account of his expedition, in which

the various objects in his museum will be more fully explained than in

the catalogue; previously to which he intends giving a sort of lecture

in the room descriptive of the people. In the mean time, a visit to

this "Indian gallery" will give a more lively and distinct idea of the

aborigines of North America, than a whole course of reading.

----*----

THE CONSERVATIVE JOURNAL.

_Catlin's Indian Gallery._--This is, we believe, the first time that

the British public have had a fair opportunity, upon an extensive

scale, of making themselves acquainted with the personal appearance of

the various tribes of North American Indians, once constituting the

noblest race of savages that are mentioned in history, but of late

years sinking into all the depravity which the wicked race of white

traders has inflicted on them. These manly natives of the woods and

prairies of America, "the red men," as they are properly denominated,

are sinking fast in character, and gradually fading from human

existence, through the sordid and base traffic of the "pale-faces,"

who drive an infamous trade by bartering the execrable "fire-waters"

(rum and whisky) amongst these children of the wood, for the furs and

other produce of their hunting expeditions. Once these vile poisons

are swallowed by the aborigines, they lose all their manly and martial

energies, become sottish, feeble, and enervated in mind and body, and

appear as if conscious of their self-debasement.

With respect to the subjects of exhibition, they are chiefly portraits

of the most noted chiefs of the various tribes that formerly roamed

at large over the vast territory of which they were the natural

proprietors. There are also some of the females of note and others in

early life, who display attractions of feature and expression which

would not discredit the most civilized people. Amongst the chiefs

of greatest notoriety here is the celebrated chief "Black Hawk," on

whose keen eye and determined brow "no compromise" is plainly written

by the hand of nature. The eldest and second sons of this chief are

here also, and are worthy of the sire from whom they sprung. There

are also several other distinguished warriors of this tribe, which is

denominated the Sacs (Sauskies). There also are distinguished chiefs

and warriors of the following nations: the Konzas, Osages, Camanchees,

Pawneepicts, Sioux, Missouries, Mandans, Black Feet, A's-sin-ne-boins,

Delawares, Choctaws, Cherokees, &c., amounting to some hundred

portraits; besides views of fine scenery, buffalo-hunting, war and

other dances; a variety of weapons, dresses, some scalps, a wigwam, &c.

We hope soon to give a few interesting details.

----*----

ATLAS.

_Catlin's Indian Gallery, Egyptian Hall._--A room 106 feet in length

and of proportionate breadth and height, is occupied exclusively with

this most interesting exhibition. Its pictorial portion consists of a

vast series of portraits of the chiefs, the braves, the medicine-men,

and squaws of the numerous tribes and nations of Indians--the

aborigines of North America. Another lengthened series consists of

landscape views of scenery, the rivers, mountains, and prairies--the

homes and hunting-grounds of the Red Men. Illustrations of manners

and customs, including some of the most curious and valuable portions

of the gallery, form a third series of pictures, and these efforts of

the pencil extend to upwards of 500. They are not offered as specimens

of the art, although in that light they are by no means unworthy of

attention, but as a pictorial history of nations about to be swept by

the tide of civilization from the surface of the earth. As these bold

sketches were executed in the wigwam, in the tent, in the steam-boat,

in the forest, in the canoe, in storm and sunshine, amid strife and

smoke, and every possible variety of interruption and annoyance, their

existence is a miracle, and the artist may be proud of the fire and

spirit, the truth and energy, yes, and the freedom and power with which

he has, under such circumstances conveyed to canvas the vivid impress

of the ancient nobles of the forest and the prairie.

In eight years Mr. Catlin visited 48 tribes, including 300,000 Indians;

has painted 310 portraits from life, and all the scenic accounts we

have noticed. For the sake of the pictures, of the exhibition itself,

which is intensely interesting, and yet more for the important lesson

it teaches, we earnestly recommend the Indian Gallery to the attention

of the reader.

----*----

THE BRITANNIA.

_Egyptian Hall, Piccadilly._--The suite of apartments composing

this unique building has been opened for the exhibition of Catlin's

Gallery of North American Indians, which comprises a museum of the

various articles used in domestic life and in war by the aborigines

who inhabit the Texas and adjoining country. Besides the articles

of dress and ornament, the instruments of chace and warfare, the

walls of the apartment are hung with a collection of 500 paintings,

which represent the figures of living Indian chiefs, their battles,

festivities, and domestic habits, as well as the scenery of the country

in the "far west," and the animals which inhabit it, being a faithful

representation of those distant regions.

At the farther end of the room is a wigwam of buffalo-hide, pitched

in the manner in which the natives arrange it; namely, in the form

of a tent, but somewhat more conical. The owner of this interesting

exhibition, Mr. Catlin, spent several years among the Pawnee, Sioux,

Crow, and other tribes, for the purpose of taking accurate delineations

of the noble races of Indians who still wander through the extensive

prairies in all their primary freedom and independence. The exhibition

will amuse the mere lounger as much as it will interest the curious and

reflecting.

----*----

EAST INDIA CHRONICLE.

_North American Indians._--Of late years Cooper's American novels, and

various works of travels; and, more recently, the Hon. Mr. Murray's

and Captain Marryat's attractive volumes, have deeply interested us

respecting the Red Indians of North America, their derivation, manners,

customs, &c. Mr. Catlin, however, who has devoted eight years of his

life to these miscalled savage people, who are now rapidly fading

away from the face of the earth, sad victims of oppression, European

vice and European disease, is enlightening us still further upon the

subject. He has opened an exhibition at the Egyptian Hall, Piccadilly,

in which are assembled (all of his own painting) about 500 portraits

of Indian chiefs, warriors, squaws, &c.; landscapes and other scenes,

illustrating their warlike and religious ceremonies, their customs,

dances, buffalo hunts, &c. The portraits, many of them valuable even

as works of art, excite a strong and vivid interest from the almost

exhaustless variety and force of character which they display. Many

of the heads are bold and highly intellectual, and remarkable for

their phrenological developments. Several of the young squaws, too,

have considerable pretensions to beauty, with abundance of archness,

vivacity, and good humour. Then again there is an immense collection

of their weapons, pipes, musical instruments, dresses, &c.; amongst

them a child's cradle, or whatever it may be termed, in which the women

carry their children at their backs. It is impossible for persons of

any age to find themselves otherwise than instructed and gratified by

this exhibition. Besides what we have mentioned, Mr. Catlin lectures

thrice a week in the evening, with the assistance of living figures for

additional illustrations.

----*----

THE JOHN BULL.

_Catlin's Indian Gallery._--Mr. Catlin is an American artist, who,

after eight years' toilsome travel, during which he visited forty-eight

tribes of the aborigines of his native land, and traversed many

thousands of miles, appearing to have crossed in nearly every direction

the vast plains which lie between the semi-civilized border and the

Rocky Mountains, has succeeded in forming a collection which he truly

terms "unique," and which ought to be so secured by the purchase of

some Government or other, as to be rendered what he fondly calls it,

"imperishable." He thus explains the motives which induced him to

undertake this labour:--"Having some years since become fully convinced

of the rapid decline and certain extinction of the numerous tribes of

the North American Indians, and seeing also the vast importance and

value which a full pictorial history of these interesting but dying

people might be to future ages, I set out alone, unaided and unadvised,

resolved (if my life should be spared), by the aid of my brush and

my pen, to rescue from oblivion so much of their primitive looks and

customs as the industry and ardent enthusiasm of one lifetime could

accomplish, and set them up in a gallery, unique and imperishable, for

the use and benefit of future ages."

A proof of the utility of his undertaking is the fact that one of the

most singularly interesting tribes which he visited, the Mandans, who

numbered 2000 souls in 1834, have been since wholly destroyed, not

a remnant of their race left--name, and line, and language utterly

extinct. Of the other tribes, too, many thousands have perished

since the period of his visit by the smallpox, which deadly disease

sweeps them off by wholesale; by the ardent spirits, still deadlier,

introduced among them by the traders, and by war. The red man seems

doomed to inevitable destruction; and despite the philanthropist, no

long period of time, it is to be feared, will elapse before he will

exist only by the aid of the "brush and pen."

Mr. Catlin has made 310 portraits of distinguished individuals of the

various tribes, and 200 other paintings illustrative of their manners,

games, religious and other customs, as well as portraying some of

the most remarkable scenery of the prairies and wilderness. They are

roughly executed, but are the more valuable as being evidently faithful

transcripts from the life. They occupy the entire of the large room of

the Egyptian Hall, covering the walls on either side, whilst in the

centre a long table is covered with Indian habiliments and weapons,

which likewise hang with bears' and other skins in profusion from the

ceiling, whilst the whole is crowned by a wigwam, a veritable wigwam,

brought from the foot of the Rocky Mountains. Will or can any one with

a spark of curiosity, not to name enthusiasm, in his composition,

begrudge a shilling for the sight?

----*----

THE COURT JOURNAL.

_Catlin's Indian Gallery._--We must confess that, after the many

failures of exhibitions analogous to this, we did not go to it prepared

either to be pleased or to glean from it any novelty of information;

but we were most agreeably disappointed, and can assure our readers

that a more attractive exercise for the mind could not well have been

devised. We may, without hesitation, describe this immense collection

of portraits, landscapes, costumes, and representations of manners and

customs, as embracing a view of all the North American Indian tribes

(resident in the British and Mexican territories, and those of the

United States) now unexterminated! Out of the entire nations swept away

by whiskey, smallpox, and the aggressions of the whites, about 300,000

souls remain; and of these the numbers become every year more and more

reduced, so that ultimately we may calculate with certainty that they

will

"Leave not a wreck behind."

Under this impression Mr. Catlin has done well and wisely to "devote

more than eight years of his life to the accomplishment of so great a

design" as that of creating their pictorial history.

Mr. Catlin states that every painting has been made from nature, and

by his own hand, many of them in the intervals of paddling a canoe, or

leading a packhorse through trackless wilds, at the hazard of his life;

that he has visited these people in their own villages, and painted

their portraits (certificated by the United States authorities) on the

spot.

The room in which this exhibition takes place is on the ground-floor

of the Egyptian Hall, and is 106 feet in length. In the centre is a

very handsome "Crow lodge or wigwam," brought from the foot of the

Rocky Mountains. It is made of buffalo-skins garnished and painted.

The pine-poles are thirty in number, and the interior will hold eighty

persons. On a table near this tent are lances, calumets, tomahawks,

scalping-knives, and scalps; and above, men's and women's dresses,

bows, spears, shields, moccasins, war-clubs, drums, &c. Around are

hung the numerous paintings in oil, comprising portraits, landscapes,

ceremonies, games, manual occupations, hunting excursions, councils,

and feasts.

The portraits are very characteristic, the men being for the most

part tidy, with one or two striking exceptions, and the young women

remarkably handsome. The landscapes are clearly painted, and the

ceremonies are very amusing in some instances and very horrible in

others. Those which please us most are the hunting and travelling

sketches, and one or two of "the fury of the fight!" For instance, No.

486, "Bogard, Batiste, and I, chasing a herd of buffalo in high grass,

on a Missouri bottom," is one of the most spirited things that can be

imagined; and so also is No. 471, "A Camanchee warrior lancing an Osage

at full speed."

The great merit of these oil sketches is their manifest correctness,

not to a line or the mere making out of a horse's head or some portion

of dress, but to the action and the scene. Not only the portraits, but

the landscapes and groups, have a certificate of identity.

We recommend to all the "Descriptive Catalogue," which is very amusing,

and is necessary to the elucidation of customs and localities. At the

private view to which we were invited on Tuesday there was a very

numerous assemblage of persons of distinction.

----*----

NEW COURT GAZETTE.

_Catlin's Indian Gallery._--This interesting exhibition consists

chiefly of portraits of the most distinguished warriors and chiefs of

the various tribes, besides views of fine scenery, buffalo hunting, war

and other dances; a vast variety of weapons, dresses, some scalps, a

wigwam, &c. The collection also contains some of the females of note,

who display attractions of feature and expression which would not

discredit the most civilized people. Amongst the chiefs of greatest

notoriety here is the celebrated chief "Black Hawk." The eldest and

second sons of this chief are here also, and are worthy of the sire

from whom they sprung. There are several other distinguished warriors

of this tribe and others, amounting to some hundred portraits. We can

strongly recommend our readers to attend; they will then, for the first

time, become acquainted with the real manners and customs of these

"before-misrepresented people," who are fast sinking from the face of

the earth.

----*----

LONDON SATURDAY JOURNAL.

_Mr. Catlin's Indian Gallery._--In visiting it, indeed, the town-bred

admirer of the freedom and grandeur of "savage life" might find

somewhat, at first sight, to feed his sentimental fancies. Round the

room, on the walls, are portraits of Indians, remarkable specimens

of the true animal man; arrayed in their holiday dresses, tricked

out in all the variety of savage fancy, and many of them as evidently

and consciously "sitting for their portraits," as the most pedantic

and affected superficialist of civilization. With these we have many

glimpses of the scenery and state of existence connected with "life

in the wilds." The far stretching prairie; the noble river and its

"reaches," and "bluffs," and waterfloods; the shaggy bison, whose

tremendous aspect makes him fearful, even in the stillness of a

picture; the more terrible grisly bear; the Indian "at home," and the

the Indian "abroad," with stirring hunting scenes, enough to rouse

one's blood, and to make an unfledged adventurer long to dash away, and

try one's skill and courage in an encounter with horned monsters, or

even that "ugly creature" before whom the "strongest bull goes down."

----*----

KIDD'S LONDON JOURNAL.

_Catlin's Indian Gallery, Egyptian Hall._--By a visit to this

exhibition, every class of the community, old as well as young, will

derive much instruction and gratification. Mr. Catlin's representation

of the red races of North America, their country, their costumes,

their sports, their religious ceremonies, and, in short, their manners

and customs, so as to enable us to form a complete idea of them, is

deserving of the utmost praise. There are above 500 subjects in these

spacious rooms, from a wigwam to a child's rattle; and everything

belonging to the various Indian tribes are before the spectator in

their actual condition and integrity. There are, besides, a multitude

of portraits of the leading warriors, &c., &c., and other pictures

of dances, ball-play, ambuscading, fighting; the whole supplying

by far the most ample and accurate history of them that has ever

been published to the world. No book of travels can approach these

realities; and after all we had read of the red men, we confess we

are astonished at the many new and important points connected with

them which this gallery impressed upon us. We saw more distinctly the

links of resemblance between them and other early and distant people;

and we had comparisons suggested of a multitude of matters affecting

the progress of mankind all over the earth, alike illustrated by

similitudes and dissimilitudes.

----*----

SCOTSMAN--EDINBURGH.

_Mr. Catlin's Lectures on the North American Indians._--Numbers of

fashionable persons still continue to attend the Rotunda to inspect

the varied curiosities belonging to this interesting tribe. We have

much pleasure in publishing the following testimonial from a gentleman

well qualified to pronounce an opinion, on the remarkable fidelity and

effect of Mr. Catlin's interesting and instructive exhibition:--

"Cottage, Haddington, 15th April, 1843.

"DEAR SIR,--I have enjoyed much pleasure in attending your

lectures at the Waterloo Rooms in Edinburgh. Your delineations of the

Indian character, the display of beautiful costumes, and the native

Indian manners, true to the life, realised to my mind and view,

scenes I had so often witnessed in the parts of the Indian countries

where I had been; and for twenty years' peregrinations in those

parts, from Montreal to the Great Slave River north, and from the

shores of the Atlantic, crossing the Rocky Mountains, to the mouth of

the Columbia River, on the Pacific Ocean, west, I had opportunities

of seeing much. Your lectures and exhibition have afforded me great

pleasure and satisfaction, and I shall wish you all that success

which you so eminently deserve, for the rich treat which you have

afforded in our enlightened, literary, and scientific metropolis.

"I remain, dear Sir, yours very truly,

"JOHN HALDANE."

"To George Catlin, Esq."

The following is an extract of a letter received some days since by a

gentleman in Edinburgh, from Mr. James Hargrave, of the Hudson's Bay

Company, dated New York Factory, Hudson's Bay, 10th December, 1842:--

"Should you happen to fall in with 'Catlin's Letters on the North

American Indians,' I would strongly recommend a perusal of them for

the purpose of acquiring a knowledge of the habits and customs of

those tribes among whom he was placed. Catlin's sketches are true

to life, and are powerfully descriptive of their appearance and

character."

UNITED STATES PRESS.

THE UNITED STATES GAZETTE.

_Catlin's Indian Gallery._--The conception and plan of this gallery

are in a high degree ingenious and philosophical. While it seems to

the careless victor to be only a very animated representation of

some of the most striking incidents in Indian life, it is in fact so

contrived as to contain an intelligent and profound exposition of all

that characterizes the savage in mind, in memory, and in manners; a

revelation of the form and qualities of his understanding, of the

shape and temper of his passions, of his religious impressions and the

traditions which have given them their hue, and of the mingled ferocity

and fun, barbarity and _bonhomie_, which streak his character. These

are the matters that are brought out by a study of these pictures;

and they show, on the part of the originator of this museum, a

comprehension and reach of understanding which of themselves merit the

name of genius. The execution is as happy as the purpose is judicious.

No artist in this country possesses a readier or more graphic pencil;

perhaps no one, since Hogarth, has had in so high a degree the faculty

of seizing at a moment the true impression of a scene before his eyes,

and transferring it to the canvas. And as a refined and finished

portrait-painter, his large picture of Osceola alone sets him on a

level with the most accomplished professors in any part of the States,

and shows what eminence and what emolument might have been achieved

by him had he devoted himself to that narrower branch of his art. The

great and unshared merit of these sketches lies in the circumstance

that there is nothing either in the grouping or the detail in anywise

imaginary, but that every scene which his collection contains was

copied by him from life, while the original was before him. Of the

tribes thus represented, some have already, in the interval since these

drawings, been entirely swept away from the earth, and it is plain that

others, who escape that fate, will, as they are more nearly approached

by the whites, lose much that is distinctive in their character and

habits, and in a few, probably a very few years, the only memorial of

the bravery, the sufferings, the toils, sports, customs, dresses, and

decorations of the Indians, will be Catlin's Gallery.

We feel great pride in stating that Mr. Catlin is a native of

Pennsylvania. His birthplace, we are informed, is the valley of the

Wyoming. There, probably, he acquired that fondness for the free wild

life of the huntsman and forester that has led him so far from the

tame continuance of cities, and has made the privations of that remote

existence tolerable. There, too, he must have imbibed in early youth

that love of the chace, and that sympathy with its noble excitements,

which has made him out of sight the best exhibitor of the sports of

the West that ever yet employed pen or pencil in illustration of the

magnificent diversions that gave a dash of sublimity to the occupation

of those dwellers by the sources of the Father of Waters. We, too, have

seen something of that stirring Western life, and have had a taste of

its delights and dangers, though we pretend not to a tithe of the lore

here brought out. We know, perhaps, enough to judge of what is well

done in this department, and we can testify strongly to the prodigious

superiority of Mr. Catlin in the conception of the hunting-scenes,

in the appreciation and selection of its strongest points and most

interesting moments, and in the vigour and power with which the whole

is presented, over Mr. Irving. Mr. Irving's style is, at all times,

nicer and more fastidious than suits our taste; certainly it is too

dainty to be capable of expressing the roughness and energy of those

exhibitions. It may be that we ought not to have Indian life at all,

but if we are to have it, let us have something of the heartiness

and strength which make it what it is, and let there be some harmony

between the subject and the manner. In Irving's dialect there are no

terms for the utterance of what is most peculiar on those occasions;

the harp-like gentleness of his tones and regularity of his pauses

cannot present the hurry, helter-skelter dash and drive of those

impetuous onsets and those breathless contests. His descriptions of

the buffalo-hunt remind us of Finden's engraving of a ragged peasant,

wherein the ravelled coat seems fringed with lace, and the cap seems

tasselled with flakes of the ermine. Catlin brings forward the scene in

all the rudeness and the raciness of reality.

Upon the whole, Mr. Catlin has accomplished a work which will for ever

associate his name in the highest rank of honour, with a subject that

will interest the civilized world every year more and more through all

coming time. We have learned with great regret that he will certainly

take his museum to England in the course of a few weeks. We know too

well how it will be valued there, to imagine that it will ever be

permitted to come back.

----*----

THE PHILADELPHIA GAZETTE.

_Catlin's Indian Gallery._--We cannot notice this collection too often.

It is one of those productions which illustrate, in an eminent degree,

the observation of Playfair, that when the proper time has arrived

for some great work to be performed, some individual is raised up by

Providence whose position and character and capacity precisely fit him

for accomplishing the design. For reasons that will be appreciated

by the philosopher, the philanthropist, and the theologian, as well

as considerations that address themselves to the curiosity of the

man of general knowledge, it was particularly desirable that a full

and authentic record should be given to the world of the national

characteristics of a race whose history is so peculiar, whose condition

is so curious, and whose speedy extinguishment is so certain, as

those of the North American Indians. Accordingly, when it is plain

that the moment has arrived beyond which the portraiture of their

state cannot any longer be delayed, if it would be known that they

are in that native predicament which has been in nowise modified by

European intercourse, a man appears whose birth in a spot of which

the traditions are so strongly interfused with the memory of the

Indian (the Wyoming Valley), has caused his imagination to be deeply

impressed, even from his earliest youth, by the character and actions

of this people; who is endowed by nature with the hand and eye of

a painter, and who passes through a professional education which

advances his talent to the skill of an accomplished artist, and who has

inherited a fortitude of spirit, an elevation of purpose, and a vigour

of limb, which render him competent to encounter the dangers, the

discouragements, and the difficulties which of necessity lie along the

path to the object in question. The man is willing to devote the best

years of his life to the task of working out a great picture of those

tribes of savages which are separated by 2000 miles from the farthest

settlement of his nation.

One of the most remarkable tribes which has yet been found on this

continent was that of the Mandans. They were more advanced in the

knowledge of domestic comforts, and were distinguished for more

intelligence and a higher sense of honour than any of their brethren.

They possessed certain very extraordinary and interesting annual

religious celebrations, which were in part a commemoration of the

Deluge, and contained, amongst other things, an allusion to the twig

which the dove brought back from Noah to the earth. Mr. Catlin was the

first white man who was ever admitted to inspect these ceremonies in

the sacred hall in which they were performed for four days. He made

several large and very copious paintings of the scenes which were

presented to him; and he sketched almost all that was striking in the

character of this tribe. The next year the whole of this nation was

swept away by the smallpox; not an individual man, woman, or child

survives; and the world possesses no other knowledge of this people or

their traditions than is contained in these pictures in the gallery of

Catlin. Fortunately they present us with as full and satisfactory a

representation as could be desired.

We believe that all who have visited this collection have formed but

one opinion as to its interest and excellence. We would remind our

readers that this gallery will remain open for their inspection but a

short time longer before its final removal to England.

* * * * *

_Mr. Catlin's Gallery of Indian Paintings._--We congratulate our

citizens on the opportunity they have now presented to them of

witnessing the results of Mr. Catlin's labours and travels among the

tribes of Aborigines inhabiting the Rocky Mountains and the prairies

of "the far West." Mr. Catlin spent many years among these tribes, at

the imminent risk of his life, and at an incalculable cost of comfort,

solely with the view of taking likenesses and sketches from life and

nature, and of representing these "children of the forest" in their own

peculiar costumes, and as he found them in their own native wilds.

Of the accuracy of his likenesses we have the most undoubted testimony;

and of the sketches of scenery, dances, hunting parties, &c., we may

venture to say they are graphic, bold, and free. We know of nothing

from which one who has never seen the Indian in his untamed character

can derive so accurate a knowledge of these fast-disappearing natives

of the soil as from this gallery.

We would throw in a word in favour of the young--let them by all means

see this gallery.

----*----

THE PHILADELPHIA WEEKLY MESSENGER.

_Catlin's Indian Gallery._--Mr. Catlin's gallery of Indian pictures

and curiosities has recently been opened at the Arcade for the

inspection of the citizens of Philadelphia. In common with other

lovers of amusement, we have visited this collection, and have found

that it fully justifies whatever has been said by those who visited

it in Boston and New York, and described it as the most surprising,

entertaining, and instructive exhibition which the efforts of American

genius have ever brought before the country....

In this stage of human knowledge Catlin resolved to devote the labours

of his life to exploring the condition, customs, character, and conduct

of this people, and to bring home a record of their being, which should

be to the world a possession for ever. He has fulfilled this purpose.

He has lifted the veil on which was written "ignorance," and he has

shown to his countrymen the peculiarities of a life which is competent

to instruct philosophy with conclusions that it has never dreamt of,

and entertain curiosity beyond the compass of the wildest fables.

----*----

THE PHILADELPHIA EVENING POST.

The subjects of Mr. Catlin's pencil, his histories and delineations,

are of a noble race. The Camanchees, the Mandans, the Pawnees, the

Blackfeet, Sioux, Crows, Assiniboins, Omahaws, &c. &c., who have not

yet sunk beneath the withering associations of white people, who on

their native prairies stalk with noble pride and independence, who

manufacture their own dresses from the skins of the mountain sheep

and buffalo, and use their spears, bows and arrows, in preference to

fire-arms, and with courtly pride and hospitality welcomed the artist,

and honoured him for his talents of delineation, as a nobleman of

nature, infinitely superior to the mercenary race of traders and Indian

agents, who plunder and cheat them when opportunity offers.

The Indian is truly fortunate in having so faithful and industrious

a champion, historian, and painter as Mr. Catlin, who will no doubt

rescue their name from the mass of trading libellers that have so long

corrupted and then slandered them. With a remarkable assiduity and

perseverance he has devoted many years of his life, and much pecuniary

means, in preparing a magnificent collection of their dresses,

instruments, ornaments, portraits, &c. For ourselves, we anticipate

one of the most original and curious works that has been issued from

the press for many years, for Mr. Catlin has struck out a new path to

fame and fortune, and while he leaves a memorial of the true Indian

uncorrupted native character, he makes a lasting name for himself.

----*----

THE NEW YORK EVENING STAR.

_Catlin's Indian Gallery._--We would remind those who have not yet

visited this extraordinary collection, that it will be closed after the

lapse of a single week, and that it will never again be exhibited in

America. There will never be presented to our citizens an opportunity

of inspecting one of the most remarkable and entertaining works that

the genius and labour of an individual has created in this age and

country; and those who neglect this occasion of examining this most

curious monument of talent and enterprise will have missed for ever one

of the noblest spectacles at which patriotism can refresh its pride,

or reason can inform its curiosity. Mr. Catlin has received permission

from the English Chancellor of the Exchequer to import his museum into

England free from duty, a saving to him of about two thousand dollars.

He will sail for that country in the course of the summer, and the

indifference of America will have surrendered to her rival what the

labour of an American had created for herself.

In our opinion nothing could redound more to the patriotism, national

pride, and honour of our country, than the purchase by Congress of

this rare collection of aboriginal curiosities, to enrich a national

museum at Washington. Such an object is by no means unworthy the

attention of the nation; and as in the lapse of a few more years all

traces of this interesting people will have passed away, or but a small

remnant of them remain in their wilderness asylum almost beyond the

ken of civilized man, such a depository of the relics peculiar to this

wonderful people would possess an interest which would be immeasurably

enhanced when their existence as a nation was for ever blotted out, as

from present indications it inevitably must be. Located at the capital,

members of Congress and public-spirited citizens of the far West

could from time to time contribute to the common stock, until, in the

course of a few years, a national museum of Indian curiosities would

be formed to perpetuate their manners, customs, and costumes, that

would be a monument to the taste and public spirit of the nation to the

latest generation. The facilities possessed by the Government for the

successful prosecution of so noble a design commends it forcibly to the

consideration of Congress. And as it is not yet too late, we trust, to

secure the co-operation of Mr. Catlin in furtherance of an object so

congenial with his views, and which would at the same time ensure him

a just reward for his enthusiastic devotion to this noble enterprise,

without being compelled to seek it in a foreign land, we would fain

hope that his stay among us would be prolonged until measures were

taken to call the attention of Congress to the subject. Should this

suggestion be favourably received, and it be found that the engagements

of Mr. Catlin do not preclude its being carried out, we trust the

project will enlist warmly the interest of our public-spirited and

patriotic citizens at an early day.

We have already spoken once or twice at some length of the value and

interest of this exhibition. It addresses itself to the feelings of the

rudest observer, and engages the imagination of the idlest visitor,

by revealing, with amazing copiousness, the whole interior life and

customs of a people singular and striking beyond the speculations

of romance, and so separated by position, by distrust, and enmity,

that no one has ever before seen what this man has sketched. To the

philosopher, the philanthropist, the moralist, and the man of science,

it presents matter equally attractive and important, in those higher

regards with which they are conversant, with that which amuses the

fancy of the rude. By all it will be found a storehouse of wonders,

which will surprise the mind in present observation, and gratify the

thoughts in all future recollection.

----*----

THE UNITED STATES GAZETTE.

_Catlin's Indian Gallery._--I am grieved to see that this noble product

of American genius is in a few days to leave its native soil, without

any effective efforts having been made to ensure its permanent return.

I did hope that individual disposition would be matured into common

action, and that at any price a treasure so honourably, so peculiarly

American, would be kept from passing into European hands.

Is it _yet_ too late to avert such a result? Cannot we yet prevent such

a spot upon our city's bright escutcheon?

With what feelings will our descendants enter some department of the

British Museum, or some _Palais_ or _Musée_ in the city of Bourbons,

to see a treasure thus surrendered by their fathers? Can they boast

of Catlin's _powers_ as a national glory? Others can point to the

possession of the _fruits_ of them as our national disgrace.

Whether in justice or in wrong, our treatment of the Indian nations has

been a reproach to us through the world. Let it not be in a stranger's

power to show how noble and how elevated a race we are thus accused of

having injured.

Let it not be said that while America has extirpated them from

existence, France or England has preserved the only memorial of what

they were.

It is at all events yet in the power of each to _visit_ the collection

in his own country. Let no man who bears the honoured name of an

American fail to do so. He has no idea of what the rude forefathers

of his forests were. He has never had Indian existence in its varied

forms presented to him in such life-like reality, never before so much

relating to this people so systematically brought together. In the

labours of Catlin's hand and in the achievements of his pencil, we and

our descendants must now look for the history of our national ancestry.

----*----

THE AMERICAN SENTINEL.

_Catlin's Gallery._--Mr. Catlin's extraordinary exhibition of Indian

curiosities and paintings will be closed, as we learn from his

advertisement, in the course of a few days. This is the last exhibition

that will be made of this wonderful collection in the United States, as

it will be taken to England at once and there be disposed of. We trust

that every one who has a spark of rational curiosity or national pride

will visit a work which, above every other that we are acquainted with,

is fitted to gratify both.

We do not think that, all the circumstances being taken together,

there has been produced in this age any work more wonderful or more

valuable. The hardy enterprise of the forest-born adventurer must unite

with the tact and skill a very accomplished diplomatist to carry a man

through the scenes which Catlin has visited; and the observation of a

philosophical genius must be joined to the ready skill of a thoroughly

furnished artist, to bring back from those scenes of savage life such

illustrations as Catlin now presents. This age will send forth no such

man; and should such appear at any future period, he will be too late

for the performance of this task.

This museum possesses in itself more to amaze and delight than any work

to which we can point. The very spirit of savage existence is unsphered

before us as we contemplate these graphic sketches. We feel the freedom

and enthusiasm which mark the life of the hunter and the warrior of

the west, fascinating above all the attractions of civilized being. We

are pleased, astonished, charmed by the variety and strangeness of the

spectacles brought before us.

No parent should suffer himself to feel that he has done justice to his

children until he has taken them to view this gallery, which will never

again be open to their inspection. No citizen should suffer it to leave

the country until he has fully possessed himself of all that it reveals

respecting the aborigines of his country.

----*----

THE UNITED STATES GAZETTE.

_Mr. Catlin's Views of the Far West._--There can be no mistake or

exaggeration in pronouncing the exhibition of these views of the

scenery and natural history of the western country the most important

and interesting object for public attention which has ever been offered

to the eastern division of the United States.

It has been with a fascinating degree of feeling and adventure that

Mr. Catlin has gone over the immense plains of the west, and employed

himself with pallet and pencil among all the scenes he could select

of landscape and natural history, and with the western natives, and

to sketch people, views, and objects which have formed so much of its

distinctive character, by which he may rescue and retain the almost

incredible appearances and habits of a race of men and animals now fast

disappearing in the march of civilization, upon the remembrance and

record of history.

The collection of Portraits, made of upwards of 300 persons, forms

a representation from forty-eight Indian nations, chiefly between

the settled part of our country and the Rocky Mountains, among which

are the Sacs, Osage, Pawnee, Camanchee, Sioux, Mandans, Blackfeet,

Shawnee, Cher-o-kee, Seneca, and Seminoles; and of these, the portraits

of Osceola, Micanopeah, Keokuk, Black Hawk, Io-way, Red Jacket,

Co-ee-ha-jo, King Philip, John Ross, with several of their wives and

children, will always be prominent in the references of American

history.

In addition to these important objects of personal consideration, the

peculiar and correct representations and appearances of the general

western country are prominent, and are all of a highly novel and

beautiful character.

The views of rivers, towns, settlements, mountains, prairies, and

waterfalls, and animals, are generally those which have never been

before presented to us. They have been taken in upwards of 200 oil

paintings coloured to nature, and consist of the most important

localities reaching to the Rocky Mountains, finished on the spot

with a fidelity of delineation and picturesque effect which would

be creditable to an artist of very high attainments with all the

"appliances and means" afforded by the best accommodation and leisure.

----*----

THE PHILADELPHIA SATURDAY COURIER.

_Catlin's Indian Gallery._--In a late number we took notice of the

vast and wonderful assemblage of pictures and curiosities by which

Mr. Catlin has contrived to bring before our eyes the fullness of the

life of the Western Indians. We would again urge upon our citizens, as

Americans, and as valuing curious information and refined pleasure, to

give this gallery a visit. There is not in our land, nor in any part of

Europe which we have visited, anything of the kind more extraordinary

or more interesting. The galleries illustrative of national character

and antiquities which are to be found in London, Paris, Florence, and

other cities, have been collected by the power of great kings; and

the outlay of immense treasure, and the apparatus of negotiations,

and special ministers, and resident consuls, and agents innumerable,

have been requisite to their completion. This is the work of a single

individual, a man without fortune and without patronage, who created it

with his own mind and hand, without aid and even against countenance;

and who sustained the lonely toils of eight years in a region fearful

and forbidding beyond the conceptions of civilized life, in order to

present his countrymen with a work which he knew they would one day

value as the most remarkable thing they owned, and which he was assured

that no spirit and no skill but his own could accomplish. He may point

to his magnificent collection, which now receives the admiration

of every eye, and may say with honest pride, "Alone I did it!" But

without the abatement of a reference to the circumstances of the case

and without any qualification of any sort, we declare that if this

museum is less gorgeous and less stately than those imperial galleries

which give fame even to the capitals of England and France, it is not

less instructive or entertaining than the greatest of them. Of the

enterprise, the free genius, the noble self-dependence, the stern

endurance, and indomitable perseverance which our republican system

glories in inspiring and cherishing, there is no nobler, and there will

be no more abiding monument, than Catlin's Indian Gallery.

----*----

PHILADELPHIA SATURDAY NEWS.