Illustrations of the manners, customs, & condition of the North American Indians, Vol. 1 (of 2): With letters and notes, written during eight years of travel and adventure among the wildest and most remarkable tribes now existingCatlin, George
History
Illustrations of the manners, customs, & condition of the North American Indians, Vol. 1 (of 2): With letters and notes, written during eight years of travel and adventure among the wildest and most remarkable tribes now existing
Catlin, George
Indians of North America
These clean and elegant gentlemen, who are very few in each tribe, are
held in very little estimation by the chiefs and braves; inasmuch as it
is known by all, that they have a most horrible aversion to arms, and
are denominated “faint hearts” or “old women” by the whole tribe, and
are therefore but little respected. They seem, however, to be tolerably
well contented with the appellation, together with the celebrity
they have acquired amongst the women and children for the beauty and
elegance of their personal appearance; and most of them seem to take
and enjoy their share of the world’s pleasures, although they are
looked upon as drones in society.
These gay and tinselled bucks may be seen in a pleasant day in all
their plumes, astride of their pied or dappled ponies, with a fan in
the right hand, made of a turkey’s tail—with whip and a fly-brush
attached to the wrist of the same hand, and underneath them a white and
beautiful and soft pleasure-saddle, ornamented with porcupine quills
and ermine, parading through and lounging about the village for an hour
or so, when they will cautiously bend their course to the suburbs of
the town, where they will sit or recline upon their horses for an hour
or two, overlooking the beautiful games where the braves and the young
aspirants are contending in manly and athletic amusements;—when they
are fatigued with this severe effort, they wend their way back again,
lift off their fine white saddle of doe’s-skin, which is wadded with
buffalo’s hair, turn out their pony—take a little refreshment, smoke a
pipe, fan themselves to sleep, and doze away the rest of the day.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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