Evening star., 1902-03-08
FOR RED MEN ONLY
Uncle Sam Runs a Unique
Photograph Gallery.
VALUABLE COLLECTION
VANITY OF INDIAN WARRIORS
SHOWN BEFORE THE CAMERA.
Thousands of Negatives Already Made
of Great Importance to
IL. Ethnologists.
VALUABLE COLLECTION
Written for The Evening Star

Written for The Evening Star.
Apropos of the present craze for Indian
pictures, Indian corners and everything
or anything Indian. do you know that the
nation maintains within this Mecca of the
tribes and races photograph gallery for
red men onIy?'
i happened into this unique institution a
day or two ago. happily at the moment
while sat posing midst all the awe ana
majesty of a king. picturesque and stolld
chief of the wild lands-an aboriginal brave
bedecked in the richest of reds and purples,
besmeared with the gaudiest OF barbaric
cosmetics, benecklaced with the formidable
claws of the grizzly be-earringed with bells
whose iinges kept cadence with eacn toss
Of his proud head.
This proud chieftain had journeyed far
to greet the Great Father" The por
trait for which he posed was one of the
perGuisites of his mission. In a dressing
room adjacent to the studio his suite Of
attendants had consumed full hour and
half in grooming him for the sitting.
Fifteen thousand negatives, representing
practically every aboriginal tribe of North.
Central and South America, have been
made by the official photographers partly
in this studio and partly in the field: All
this work is done under the bureau of eth
nology, of which the studio is part.
Each Sitter Gets Print.
Every savage photographed receives.
gratis. one artistically mounted print from
each negative for which he Is willing to
nose. These portraits the braves take home
and tack up in their wigwams and tepees.
exhibiting them to their friends with great
pride and gusto. Some improvise crude
frames from the wood and bark OF their
virgin forests. Last year, when De Lancey
chi. in charge Of the bureaus Illustration
department and ex-officio director OF the
Photographic work, was down in the Co
copa country with Ethnolosist MCGEE, ne
saw upon the wall of native adobe hut
a window sash found In the ruins of
neighboring ranch. Beneath each of Its six
glass panes was secured one of the half
dozen portraits which the ingenious house
holder had posed for at the government
studio during pilgrimage to the national
capital.
Indian portraits were scarce articles prior
to this enterprise of the bureau Of ethnOl-
ogy The more uncivilized the red man, the
more intense is his fear Of the camera
Only stealth and diplomacy have overcome
these scruples among the wild tribes. Will
ingness to pose has been one OF the accom-
paniments of gradual enlightenment.
The uncvilized or semi i-civilized tribes
look upon camera just as they do Cat
ling gun. Fear OF material harm Is but
one scruple. Terror Of bewitchment is an
other factor to be reckoned with.
To give any man ones image Is to give
him supernatural control of ones life in
assured did another possess a hair Of ones
head or even the pairing from ones finger
nail. This Is part Of the creed Of many
tribes.
The average Indian Is averse to having
his profile photographed. Those of whom
this view is made invariably fail to recog-
nize themselves. Although Poor Lo is the
embodiment OF all human vanities. he has
never perhaps arranged his mirrors to pre-
sent to his eye direct profile view Of his
etoical features.
Me no like. No. that no me- That half
man." This, or words to this effect, is the
comment made by many red braves upon
whom is brought to bear the persuasion
that profile portraits represent them.
The superstition that a profile portrait
win cause the side turned away from the
camera to wither up and die Is one which
has been confided to the photographers by
several Indians
Women the Most Shy.
Indian children are always the first to
make friends with the photographer; men
the next: women the last. For purposes Of
anatomical study semi-nude poses have
been attempted. but to these the women
almost invariably object. An instructive
modesty forbds.
In dealing with a group never photo
kraphed before, we are always faced by
She obstacle Of fear" said Mr. GILL; Fire