George  Catlin （1796– 1872）是一位画家，在没有摄影机的年代，他访问了美国西部原住民多个民族，用画笔记载了他们的生活，还写成书，是很宝贵的材料。美京华盛顿的肖像博物馆藏有他几百幅油画创作。欧裔还没有强迫改变原住民生活，语言文化之前,Catlin 留下了忠实的记录。下面是他对美洲原住民的赞美：

I love a people who have always made me feel welcome to the best they had.

I love a people who are honest without laws, who have no jails and no poorhouses.

I love a people who keep the commandments without everhaving read them or heard them preached from the pulpit.

I love a people who never swear, who never take the name of God in vain.

I love a people who love their neighbor as they love themselves.

I love a people who worship God without a bible, for Ibelieve that God loves them also.

I love a people whose religion is all the same, and who arefree from religious animosity.

I love a people who have never raised a hand against me, or stole my property, where there was no law to punish them for either.

I love a people who have never fought a battle with whitemen, except on their own ground.

I love and don't fear mankind where God has made and left them, for there they are children.

I love a people who live and keep what is their own withoutlocks and keys.

I love a people who do the best they can.

And oh, how I love a people who don't live for the love of money.

(Catlin, George. Last Rambles Amongst the Indians ofthe Rocky Mountains and the Andes. London: Sampson Low, Son and Marston,1868.)

总结来说，美洲原住民的风俗是：好客，誠實，守法，敬天，睦鄰，無濫用武力，無盜竊，尊重不同信仰，夜不閉戶，盡力，不貪財。

比较一下礼记礼运大同篇，你还觉得是电影中描绘的野蛮好战吗？

“大道之行也，天下为公。选贤与能，讲信修睦，故人不独亲其亲，不独子其子，使老有所终，壮有所用，幼有所长，鳏寡孤独废疾者，皆有所养。男有分，女有归。货恶其弃于地也，不必藏于己；力恶其不出于身也，不必为己。是故谋闭而不兴，盗窃乱贼而不作，故外户而不闭，是谓大同"。-礼记礼运大同篇