Illustrations of the manners, customs, & condition of the North American Indians, Vol. 2 (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. 2 (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
Besides the above personages, I also painted the portraits of
_Wa-ho-beck-ee_ (————), a brave, and said to be the handsomest
man in the Osage nation; _Moi-een-e-shee_ (the constant walker);
_Wa-mash-ee-sheek_ (he who takes away); _Wa-chesh-uk_ (war);
_Mink-chesk_ (————); _Wash-im-pe-shee_ (the mad man), a distinguished
warrior; _Shin-ga-wos-sa_ (the handsome bird); _Cah-he-ga-shin-ga_ (the
little chief), and _Tcha-to-ga_ (the mad buffalo); all of which will
hang in my +Indian Museum+ for the inspection of the curious. The last
mentioned of these was tried and convicted of the murder of two white
men during Adams’s administration, and was afterwards pardoned, and
still lives, though in disgrace in his tribe, as one whose life had
been forfeited, “but (as they say) not worth taking.”
The Osages have been formerly, and until quite recently, a powerful
and warlike tribe; carrying their arms fearlessly through all of
these realms; and ready to cope with foes of any kind that they were
liable to meet. At present, the case is quite different; they have
been repeatedly moved and jostled along, from the head waters of the
White river, and even from the shores of the Mississippi, to where
they now are; and reduced by every war and every move. The small-pox
has taken its share of them at two or three different times; and the
Konzas, as they are now called, having been a part of the Osages, and
receded from them, impaired their strength; and have at last helped
to lessen the number of their warriors; so that their decline has
been very rapid, bringing them to the mere handful that now exists of
them; though still preserving their valour as warriors, which they
are continually shewing off as bravely and as professionally as they
can, with the Pawnees and the Camanchees, with whom they are waging
incessant war; although they are the principal sufferers in those
scenes which they fearlessly persist in, as if they were actually bent
on their self-destruction. Very great efforts have been, and are being
made amongst these people to civilize and christianize them; and still
I believe with but little success. Agriculture they have caught but
little of; and of religion and civilization still less. One good result
has, however, been produced by these faithful labourers, which is the
conversion of these people to temperance; which I consider the first
important step towards the other results, and which of itself is an
achievement that redounds much to the credit and humanity of those,
whose lives have been devoted to its accomplishment.
Here I must leave the Osages for the present, but not the reader, whose
company I still hope to have awhile longer, to hear how I get along
amongst the wild and untried scenes, that I am to start upon in a few
days, in company with the first regiment of dragoons, in the first
grand _civilized foray_, into the country of the wild and warlike
Camanchees.
[Illustration: 154 155 156]
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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