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 exhibition rooms and in the streets. He had laughed, he said, to
see Frenchmen kiss each other on both cheeks; and he had observed that,
when gentlemen kiss ladies, they kiss them on the forehead: he was
not quite sure that they would do so in the dark, however. "In London
always kiss em on the mouth; ladies kiss em Indians heap, and hug em
too: in France ladies no kiss em--no like em--no good."
In speaking of the _bal_ in the gardens, "he didn't see anything so
very bad in that, but as for the masquerade, he looked upon it as a
very immoral thing that so many thousands of ladies should come there
and be ashamed to show their faces, and have the privilege of picking
out just such men as they liked to go with them, and then take hold
of their arms, as he said he repeatedly saw them, and lead them out."
Amongst the Indians, he said, they had a custom much like that to be
sure, but it was only given once a-year, and it was then only for the
young married men to lend their wives to the old ones: this was only
one night in the year, and it was a mark of respect that the young
married men were willing to pay to the old warriors and chiefs, and
the young married women were willing to agree to it because it pleased
their husbands. On those occasions, he said, "none are admitted into
the ring but old married men, and then the young married woman goes
around and touches on the left shoulder the one who she wishes to
follow her into the bushes, and she does it without being ashamed and
obliged to cover her face."
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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