Adventures of the Ojibbeway and Ioway Indians in England, France, and Belgium; Vol. 2 (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. 2 (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
Mr. Melody called upon me immediately on his arrival in London, and I
went with him to see his party, several of whom I at once recognized
as I entered their rooms. On seeing me they all rose upon their feet
and offered me their hands, saluting me by their accustomed word, "How!
how! how! _Chip-pe-ho-la!_" and evidently were prepared for great
pleasure on meeting me. _White Cloud_, the head chief of the tribe, was
of the party, and also the war-chief _Neu-mon-ya_ (the Walking Rain).
These two chiefs, whose portraits were then hanging in my collection,
had stood before me for their pictures several years previous in their
own village, and also one of the warriors now present, whose name
was _Wash-ka-mon-ya_ (the Fast Dancer). These facts being known, one
can easily imagine how anxious these good fellows had been, during a
journey of 2000 miles from their country to New York, and then during
their voyage across the ocean, to meet me in a foreign land, who had
several years before shared the hospitality of their village, and, to
their knowledge, had done so much to collect and perpetuate the history
of their race. They had come also, as I soon learned, in the full
expectation to dance in my collection, which they were now impatient to
see.
This first interview was during the evening of their arrival, and was
necessarily brief, that they might get their night's rest, and be
prepared to visit my rooms in the morning. A few pipes were smoked
out as we were all seated on the floor, in a "talk" upon the state
of affairs in their country and incidents of their long and tedious
journey, at the end of which they now required rest, and I left them.
By entering the city at night, they had created little excitement or
alarm, except with the landlady and her servants, where they had been
taken in. Their rooms had been engaged before their arrival, but the
good woman "had no idea they were going to look so savage and wild;
she was very much afraid that their red paint would destroy her beds,"
not yet knowing that they were to wash the paint all off before they
retired to rest, and that then they were to spread their buffalo robes
upon the floor and sleep by the side of, and under her beds, instead
of getting into them. These facts, when they became known, amused her
very much; and Mr. Melody's representations of the harmlessness and
honesty of the Indians, put her at rest with respect to the safety of
her person and her property about her house.
The objects of these being the same as those of the former party,
of seeing the country and making money by their exhibitions, I
entered into a similar arrangement with Mr. Melody, joining with my
collection, conducting their exhibitions, and sharing the expenses and
receipts of the same, on condition that such an arrangement should be
agreeable to the Indians.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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