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
The old Doctor and _Wa-ton-ye_, the two unmarried men of the
party, were the only ones who seemed to show anything like decided
dissatisfaction in their faces, though Jim and Little Wolf were
fumbling theirs over in their fingers, evidently in a struggle of
feeling whether to be dissatisfied or not. The Little Wolf was a
warrior of decided note, who had taken several scalps, and his
wife had never taken one, and yet her medal was equal to his own;
however, by the operation he had got two medals instead of one. Jim
felt a little touched, and, though never having done much more in war
than his squaw had, was preparing to make a great harangue on the
occasion, and even rolled over on his back, and drew up his knees,
for the purpose, but, taking the shining metal from his wife's hands,
and placing it by the side of his own, he thought they would form a
beautiful ornament, both hanging together, symbolic of an affectionate
husband and wife, and he was silent. The poor old Doctor, though, who
had taken _one prisoner_ certain, and _possibly_ some scalps, and (as
the old War-chief had one day told him) undoubtedly "many lives," who
could only dangle one medal (having no wife), and that one no better
than those given to the women and children, lost all traces of the
complaisant smiles that had shone on his face a little time before,
and, rising suddenly up, and wrapping his robe around him, he found his
way to the house-top, where he stood in silent gaze upon the chimneys
and tiles, more suited to the meditations that were running through his
troubled mind. _Wa-ton-ye_, in the mean time, with smothered feelings
that no one ever heard vent given to, hung his with its tri-coloured
ribbon upon a nail in the wall just over his head, and, drawing his
buffalo robe quite over him, hid his face, and went to sleep.
White Cloud and the War-chief sat during the while, with their families
hanging about their shoulders and knees, well pleased, and smiling upon
the brightness of his Majesty's familiar features in shining gold, as
they turned their medals around in various lights. Theirs were of a
more precious metal, and each, from the number of his family with him,
became the owner of _three_, instead of _one_, over which the poor
Doctor was yet pondering on the house-top, as he stood looking off
towards the mountains and prairies.
When their carriages were at the door, to make their visit to the
_Hôpital des Invalides_, as promised the night before, the Doctor was
unwilling to break the charm of his contemplations, and _Wa-ton-ye_
could not be waked, and the rest drove off in good cheer and delight.
They hung their medals on their necks, suspended by their tri-coloured
ribbons, the meaning of which having been explained to them, and they
were soon at the mouths of the huge cannon, whose "big mouths" had
"spoken so loudly" the night before.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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