MR. CATLIN'S PERSONATION 1)1/ TIIE RED INDIAN SAVAGE. Tnis most
real exemplification of savage life and character that can be witnessed by any but the traveller, is Mr. CATLIN'S personation of the Red Indian of North America, at the Egyptian Hall. lit addition to the exhibition of his museum of costumes and weapons, portraits and landscapes, illustrating the features of the aborigines and of the country, 3Ir. CATLIN gives a sort of lecture or description, explanatory of his collection ; in the course of which he exemplifies the customs and habits of the people, and the difference in the dress of the several tribes, by a mimic scene enacted by himself and several persons dressed in the real costumes. We witnessed on 3Ionday evening, aiming other performances, a war-dance of the Sioux, with the ceremony of swear- ing-in warriors. Its effect was terrific—the yells yet ring in our ears: the wild ferocity of savage warfare is exemplified almost as strongly as if the scalping-knife and tomahawk had been actually at 'work. The officiating chief first enters hearing a club besmeared with red, Chic sign of blood, and rudely carved at one end with the effigy of a hu- man head : this he fixes in the ground with much ceremony, first tramping round and rotund the epot in a bent posture, wailing a dismal chant that SOMAS like a lament, or prayer for vengeance ; he then ti'. es the signal, by beating a tambourine-shaped drum, and yelling; which is answered by a chorus of yells from without, and the warriors enter one by one, in tin II war costume. The whole party tramp round the red club in single file, with a measured tread, something like the pas de chary.e, exerting their muscular strength to the utmost in the actions and keeping time on the drain with their feet and their voices : presently one starts as if inspired, and the step is arrested while he strikes the lwad of the club with his tomahawk : at this a shrill cry of exultation is raised, and the drum beats a tattoo of applause or triumph ; the officiating chief, now giving up his drum, takes some blinds stuff from an attend- ant, and daubs a pair of moustaches on the warrior's painted face, each touch of his finger eliciting a convulsive start and scream from the party, followed by a roll rut the Indian drum : and so the rite proceeds, till all are decorated with tine smut-marks. Ludicrous as the Whole scene is apart from its meaning, the solemn earnestness and vehemence of the actors invest it with a hideous reality that is appalling to the fancy. It is curious to note the effect of a bowl fide feeling in giv- ing the semblance of sublimity to the mimicry of a grotesque ceremo- nial, by contrast with the imitation of the mock-spells of a " medicine- man," or " Illastery-mau "—a compound of quack, priest, and conjuror— which only excited laughter. The "medicine-man," whose ordinary costume is a bear's skin, with a buffalo's head and horns lbr head-gear, in this instance is enveloped in a yellow bear's hide, with the snout hanging down in front, giving him the appearance. of a burlesque of the beast as he swops forward ; and the effect of his charm, as the quack begins curveting and shaking from side to side, jingling his para- phernalia and making inarticulate noises, is so excessively contis, that one wonders how the poor savages can be impressed with it, with all their belief in its virtue.
The night-dance, where the dancers tread out the embers of the fire before retiring to rest, is also accompanied with yells and screeching; and this recreation' is little less energetic than tine war-dance. Besides the chiefs of' several tribes, the Sioux, Crows, Sauks, Mandans, Black- feet, &e., there is a Pawnee dandy ; whose whole time is bestowed on adorning his person, exhibiting himself, and pampering his appetites, like some of our modern exquisites ; for though the figures are widely different, the habits of the two races are very similar. The Pawnee dandy, however, is not only treated with contempt by the warriors, hut has to put up with kicks and cuffs into the bargain. The Pawnee dandy is resplendent in beads and feathers, his tunic and leggings of skin being kept free from soil ; and he carries on his wrist a fan of fea- thers to cool himself, a brush to whisk off the flies, and a horsewhip: for he too takes his morning-ride round the village, to show off his per- fections, and see the "braves" practising their warlike games, his wife having made him a soft pad-saddle; when he returns home, she prim ides his meal ; and with a pipe he lounges away the rest of the day. The costumes, rude and uncouth as they are, have an imposing ap- pearance when worn ; and the very simplicity of the garments gives them something of a classic elegance. Not only a love of finery, but a taste for beauty is conspicuous in the ornaments ; the head-dresses of eagles' feathers, the borders of coloured porcupines' quills, necklaces of teeth, and fringes of scalp-locks, being picturesque in themselves, and calculated to show to advantage on horseback, where the swift move- men would send the fringes, feathers, and tails streaming in the wind. Nor is the fondness for jingling ornaments, such as hawk-bells, ante- lope's hoofs, bits of bone, &c. with which all the dresses are bedecked, peculiar to the Indians—as the pavement of St. James's can testify ; though we don't get farther than the clink of spurs and swords. But it is instructive to observe how little the different branches of the human family differ in their tendencies, and how slight a change in man's nature is produced by civilization.
Mr. CATLIN is anxious to vindicate the Indians from the charge of sanguinary ferocity in scalping their enemies, on the ground th;;-t the possession of the scalp is the only token that a warrior can produce of his powers ; for it serves as a certificate of his coarage, is the pass- port to the councils, and a warrior dreads not death so much as dying unscalped. If scalping were confined to the dead body, his argu- ment would have more force ; but his own pictures show that it is done in combat : this practice, however, is a slight cruelty compared with the horrible tortures voluntarily submitted to as a proof of bravery ; and both customs only go to prove the truism, that in savage state physical endurance is made the test of moral courage.
We must not conclude this notice of Mr. CATLIN'S evening entertain- ments without giving mothers a hint, which they may take from the Indian squaws, in the management of froward children. The mothers carry their infants suspended at their backs in a pretty little basket, in which the child is placed upright, lying on its back, securely fastened, and protected from the weather, with a coloured jingling to hanging before its eyes to amuse it : when the child screams, the mother hangs its cradle up to a tree and leaves it ; the consequence is, that all
strangers remark how quiet the children are in an Indian village. . '
Previous page
