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
I mentioned that this is the nucleus or place of concentration of the
numerous tribe of the Sioux, who often congregate here in great masses
to make their trades with the American Fur Company; and that on my way
up the river, some months since, I found here encamped, six hundred
families of Sioux, living in tents covered with buffalo hides. Amongst
these there were twenty or more of the different bands, each one with
their chief at their head, over whom was a _superior chief_ and leader,
a middle-aged man, of middling stature, with a noble countenance, and a
figure almost equalling the Apollo, and I painted his portrait (+plate+
86). The name of this chief is Ha-wan-je-tah (the one horn) of the
Mee-ne-cow-e-gee band, who has risen rapidly to the highest honours
in the tribe, from his own extraordinary merits, even at so early an
age. He told me that he took the name of “One Horn” (or shell) from a
simple small shell that was hanging on his neck, which descended to
him from his father, and which, he said, he valued more than anything
he possessed; affording a striking instance of the living affection
which these people often cherish for the dead, inasmuch as he chose
to carry this name through life in preference to many others and more
honourable ones he had a right to have taken, from different battles
and exploits of his extraordinary life. He treated me with great
kindness and attention, considering himself highly complimented by the
signal and unprecedented honour I had conferred upon him by painting
his portrait, and that before I had invited any other. His costume was
a very handsome one, and will have a place in my +Indian Gallery+ by
the side of his picture. It is made of elk skins beautifully dressed,
and fringed with a profusion of porcupine quills and scalp-locks; and
his hair, which is very long and profuse, divided into two parts, and
lifted up and crossed, over the top of his head, with a simple tie,
giving it somewhat the appearance of a Turkish turban.
This extraordinary man, before he was raised to the dignity of chief,
was the renowned of his tribe for his athletic achievements. In the
chase he was foremost; he could run down a buffalo, which he often had
done, on his own legs, and drive his arrow to the heart. He was the
fleetest in the tribe; and in the races he had run, he had always taken
the prize.
It was proverbial in his tribe, that Ha-wan-je-tah’s bow never was
drawn in vain, and his wigwam was abundantly furnished with scalps that
he had taken from his enemies’ heads in battle.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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