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
Though I had often complaints made to me of the want of politeness
or of the rudeness of my man Daniel, I generally found that they
were instances where he had been provoked to it by some unnecessary
allusions to the vices of his own country, or by some objections to
his political opinions relative to the institutions of the United
States, upon which subjects he holds himself exceedingly punctilious
and very well prepared for debate. With whatever foibles he has, I
have found him invariably and strictly an honest man; and many of his
highest offences alleged to have been given to the public in my rooms,
were given strictly in obedience to my orders for the support of the
regulations of my exhibition, or for the protection of my property
and the advancement of my interest. To those who entered my rooms
respectfully for information, he was civil and communicative, and all
such drew valuable information from him, and many became attached to
him. His lungs were now labouring for me, while mine were getting a
little rest; and from morning to night of every day he was conducting
individuals and parties around the rooms, pointing out and explaining
the leading peculiarities of the museum, and answering the thousand
questions that were asked by all classes of society relative to the
looks, the modes, and habits of the Indians--the countries they lived
in--and also of Mr. Catlin, the proprietor and collector of the museum,
whom all were anxious to see, and many of whom had been led to believe
was himself an Indian.
In my own answering of these questions, many of which were natural to
be raised on so new and exciting a subject, I was often amused, and
as often surprised at the novelty and ignorance of many of them, even
amongst a polite and well-clad and apparently well-educated class of
people. Many of the questions, which only excited a smile with me,
elicited broad laughter from Daniel, which he could not help, and
having laughed, could not well avoid expressing his surprise at, and
his detection of, which gave umbrage, and sometimes was another cause
of difficulties that he occasionally though seldom got into.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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