THE IRISH PENNY JOURNAL.
| Number 6. | SATURDAY, AUGUST 8, 1840. | Volume I. |
THE RED MEN OF AMERICA.—First Article.
It is a melancholy truth that this most interesting portion ofthe human race is rapidly disappearing from the surface ofthe earth. War, its murderous effects centupled by the destructiveweapons acquired from the white man—diseasein new and terrible forms, to the treatment of which theirsimple skill, and materia medica, equally simple, are whollyincompetent—famine, the consequence of their sadly changedhabits, of the intemperance and wastefulness, substituted bythe insidious arts of the trader for the moderation and foresightof their happier fathers—the vices, in short, and theencroachments of civilization, all and each in its turn are blottingout tribe after tribe from the records of humanity; andthe time is fast approaching when no Red man will remain, toguard or to mourn over the tombs of his fathers.
The conviction of this truth is become so deeply felt, thatmore than one effort has been made, and is making, to preservesome memento of this ill-treated people. We are notso much raising our own feeble voice in the service, as attempting[Pg 42]a record of what others have done; but so much has beeneffected, and so zealous have been the exertions made to rescuethe memory, at least, of these dying nations from oblivion, thatthe space we have assigned to this notice will be taken uplong before our materials are exhausted. The accuracy of thefacts and statements we shall lay before our readers may inevery case be relied on.
Among the most devoted and persevering explorers of theRed man’s territory, is one from whose authority, and indeedfrom whose very lips, in many instances, we derive a greatportion of the circumstances we are about to describe—weallude to the celebrated George Catlin, whose abode of sevenyears among the least known of their tribes, and whose earnestenthusiasm in the task of inquiry which formed the soleobject of his visit, together with his entire success in the pursuit,have constituted him the very first authority of the day.We have, besides, consulted all the writers on this now engrossingsubject, but in most cases have afterwards takenthe highly competent opinion just quoted, as to the accuracyof their descriptions—an opinion that has always been givenwith evident care and consideration.
Mr Catlin has painted with his own hand, and from thelife, no less than three hundred and ten portraits of chiefs, warriors,and other distinguished individuals of the varioustribes (forty-eight in number) among whom he sojourned,with two hundred landscapes and other paintings descriptiveof their country, their villages, religious ceremonies, customs,sports, and whatever else was most characteristic of Indian lifein its primitive state; he has likewise collected numerous specimensof dresses, some fringed and garnished with scalp-locksfrom their enemies’ heads; mantles and robes, on which arepainted, in rude hieroglyphics, the battles and other prominentevents of their owners’ lives; head-dresses, formed of theraven’s and war-eagle’s feathers, the effect of which is strikinglywarlike and