Volume 1

Letters and notes on the manners, customs, and condition of the North American Indians. Written during eight years' travel amongst the wildest tribes of Indians in North America, in 1832,33,34,35,36,37,38,and 39. With four hundred illustrations, carefully engraved from his original paintings / [George Catlin].

  • Catlin, George, 1796-1872.
Date:
1842
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Letters and notes on the manners, customs, and condition of the North American Indians. Written during eight years' travel amongst the wildest tribes of Indians in North America, in 1832,33,34,35,36,37,38,and 39. With four hundred illustrations, carefully engraved from his original paintings / [George Catlin]. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    scope and reach of human wisdom, on which the civilized world in this en- lightened age are more incorrectly informed, than upon that of the true man- ners and customs, and moral condition, rights and abuses, of the North American Indians; and that, as I have also before remarked, chiefly on account of the difficulty of our cultivating a fair and honourable acquaintance with them, and doing them the justice, and ourselves the credit, of a fair and impartial investigation of their true character. The present age of refine- ment and research has brought every thing else that 1 know of (and a vast deal more than the most enthusiastic mind ever dreamed of) within the scope and fair estimation of refined intellect and of science ; while the wild and timid savage, with his interesting customs and modes has vanished, or his character has become changed, at the approach of the enlightened and intellectual world; who follow him like a phantom for awhile, and in igno- rance of his true character at last turn back to the common business and social transactions of life. Owing to the above difficulties, which have stood in the way, the world have fallen into many egregious errors with regard to the true modes and meaning of the savage, which I am striving to set forth and correct in the course of these epistles. And amongst them all, there is none more common, nor more entirely erroneous, nor more easily refuted, than the current one, that “the Indian is a sour, morose, reserved and taciturn man.” I have heard this opinion advanced a thousand times and I believed it; but such certainly, is not uniformly nor generally the case. I have observed in all my travels amongst the Indian tribes, and more particularly amongst these unassuming people, that they are a far more talkative and conversational race than can easily be seen in the civilized world. This assertion, like many others I shall occasionally make, will some- what startle the folks at the East, yet it is true. No one can look into the wigwams of these people, or into any little momentary group of them, without being at once struck with the conviction that small-talk, gossip, garrulity, and story-telling, are the leading passions with them, who have little else to do in the world, but to while away their lives in the innocent and endless amusement of the exercise of those talents with which Nature has liberally endowed them, for their mirth and enjoyment. One has but to walk or ride about this little town and its environs fora few hours in a pleasant day, and overlook the numerous games and gambols, where their notes and yelps of exultation are unceasingly vibrating in the atmosphere; or peep into their wigwams (and watch the glistening fun — that’s beaming from the noses, cheeks, and chins, of the crouching, cross-_ legged, and prostrate groups around the fire; where the pipe is passed, and jokes and anecdote, and laughter are excessive) to become convinced that it is natural to laugh and be merry. Indeed it would be strange if a race of people like these, who have little else to do or relish in life, should be curtailed in that source of pleasure and amusement; and it.