Paul Kane's Journal of his Western Travels, 1846-1848 - History and ...

take hi ,as he was just as the Great Spirit had made him. I
declined, however, as ( wanted to ketch one of the female ,
but he refused, as he could n . t eire ' herself suitably for
such an occasion, being in mourning for some friends she
had Jost, and therefore only wearing her oldest and dirtiest
clothes.
After orne difficulty, I succeeded in getting a young
girl to sit in the co tume of this tribe. although her mother
was very much afraid it might shorten her life. But on my
assuring her that it was more likely to prolong it, she
seemed quite satisfied. (69)
; ". ,. l. ... • .. { I
This version's condescending tone perverts the purpose
of the journal entry. The facts are identical but the
record of them differs widely;
they Indans crowded about
the boat and wanted to
know what we wanted
I tould them that I
came to rite thare po
= rtraits (the way they
express them selfs) a man
stept up and tould me to
take him he was as natur
made him (he was nacad
) I declined the honner
I wanted take a young worn
= 30 but she sade that she
could not dress her self
as she had lost sum
of her frinds [ got a
young Gerl to set in
her Native costume
her Mother wanted
know if she would
not com to sum hat
=m by it her name was
the constant scie
Here the interpreter makes no appearance, so that
Kane seems more immediately involved. "To rite !hare
po I = rtraits" exemplifies the sort of idiomatic color
that the book dilutes. This change seems significant
because the phrase, Kane attests parenthetically, is not
his but the Saulteaux'. The book also ignores Kane's
wry humor, which the word "honner" conveys in the
journal. The specificity of the occasion is lost in the
book as weD, since the young woman's evocative name,
The Constant Sky, is not given. 28 Her mother's conc,em
is altered from "har I =m" in thejoumal to some
fonn of death - a dark spell, perhaps - in the book.
And in this respect, too, Kane's persona has been
altered: in the original we are not told how he gains the
mother's consent; in Wanderings o/an Artist, he
seems to have won a debate bya rhetorical thrust and
parry: , •... might shorten her life ... more likely to
prolong it. " Finally, there are the more overt colorations
of prejudice HI the book, which tum the Indian
The Am:erican Art Journal/Volume XXI • Number 2
Page from Paul Kane's journal,. written in pencil, for 0 portion oj
theftrst week in July, 1846. Theftrst ten lines, in which he refers 10
the