Orotone photograph, signed by the photographer in the negative. In the original studio frame, unopened, with original studio label and letterpress caption on the reverse. Overall size 10¼x11¾" (photograph size approximately 8x10").

The letterpress caption is a poem by Ella Higginson on the subject of this picture. One of Curtis's most famous photographs. "The thought which this picture is meant to convey is that the Indians as a race, already shorn of their tribal strength and stripped of their primitive dress, are passing into the darkness of an unknown future. Feeling that the picture expressed so much of the thought that inspired his entire work, Curtis chose it as the first of the photographs to be included in 'The North American Indian' portfolios" (Graybill & Boesen, Visions of a Vanishing Race, 1976).