Adventures of the Ojibbeway and Ioway Indians in England, France, and Belgium; Vol. 1 (of 2): being Notes of Eight Years' Travels and Residence in Europe with his North American Indian CollectionCatlin, George
History
Adventures of the Ojibbeway and Ioway Indians in England, France, and Belgium; Vol. 1 (of 2): being Notes of Eight Years' Travels and Residence in Europe with his North American Indian Collection
Catlin, George
England -- Description and travel; France -- Description and travel; Indians of North America
My friend the Honourable C. A. Murray, with several others, had now
announced my collection open to their numerous friends and such others
as they chose to invite during the three first days when it was
submitted to their private view, and by whom it was most of the time
filled; and being kindly presented to most of them, my unsentimental
and unintellectual life in the atmosphere of railroads and grizly bears
was suddenly changed to a cheering flood of soul and intellect which
greeted me in every part of my room, and soon showed me the way to the
recessed world of luxury, refinements, and comforts of London, which
not even the imagination of those who merely stroll through the streets
can by any possibility reach.
During this private view I found entered in my book the names of very
many of the nobility, and others of the most distinguished people
of the kingdom. My friend Mr. Murray was constantly present, and
introduced me to very many of them, who had the kindness to leave
their addresses and invite me to their noble mansions, where I soon
appreciated the elegance, the true hospitality and refinement of
English life. Amongst the most conspicuous of those who visited my
rooms on this occasion were H. R. H. the Duke of Cambridge, the Duke
and Duchess of Sutherland, the Duke and Duchess of Buccleuch, Duke of
Devonshire, Duke of Wellington, the Bishop of London, the Bishop of
Norwich, Sir Robert and Lady Peel, Lord Grosvenor, Lord Lennox, Duke
of Richmond, Duke of Rutland, Duke of Buckingham, Countess-Dowager of
Dunmore, Countess-Dowager of Ashburnham, Earl of Falmouth, Earl of
Dunmore, Lord Monteagle, Lord Ashley, Earl of Burlington, Sir James and
Lady Clark, Sir Augustus d'Este, Sir Francis Head, and many others of
the nobility, with most of the editors of the press, and many private
literary and scientific gentlemen, of whose kindness to me while in
London I shall have occasion to speak in other parts of this work.
The kindness of my friend Mr. Murray on this occasion can never
be forgotten by me. He pointed out to my illustrious visitors the
principal chiefs and warriors of the various tribes, with many of whom
he was personally acquainted; explaining their costumes, weapons,
&c., with all of which his rambles in the Indian countries beyond the
Mississippi and Missouri had made him quite familiar. He led Duchesses,
Countesses, and Ladies in succession upon his arm, into the wigwam
of buffalo-hides, where he descanted, to the great satisfaction and
amusement of his friends, upon the curious modes of Indian life into
which he had been initiated, and which he had long shared with these
simple people, whilst he resided with them under roofs of buffalo-hides
(like the one now over their heads) on the vast plains and prairies of
the wilds of America.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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