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
For the amusement of the reader, however, I have made room for a
couple of his drawings, which will convey some idea of their general
character, and of the decided cleverness of this good fellow at
story-telling and design. The woodcuts are traced from the originals,
and are therefore as near fac-similes as I could make them. _Plate No.
23_ represents _Pane-way-ee-tung_, the brother-in-law of _Say-say-gon_,
crossing the river Thomas in a bark canoe, who had the following
curious and amusing encounter with a bear which he met swimming in
the middle of the river. Though the Indian had no other weapon than a
paddle, he pursued the bear, and, overtaking it, struck it a blow, upon
which it made an effort to climb into the canoe, by which the canoe was
upset and the Indian sank under it. He arose to the surface, however,
just behind the canoe, which in its progress had passed over him, and,
being bottom upwards, the bear had climbed upon it, as seen in the
sketch, and, having seen the man sink under it, was feeling under the
canoe with his paws in hopes of getting hold of him. The bear, having
made no calculation for the progress of the canoe, had not thought of
looking behind it for his enemy, but balanced himself with difficulty
without being able to look back; and whilst he was thus engaged feeling
for his enemy under the canoe the Indian silently swam behind it, and,
cautiously pushing it forward with his hand, succeeded in moving it
near the shore, where he discovered his friend _Say-say-gon_ hunting
with his rifle, who was in waiting for it, and when near enough shot it
in the head.
_Plate No. 24_ is his illustration of the first interview between white
men and the Ojibbeway Indians; his description of it is as follows:--
"_Gitch-ee-gaw-ga-osh_ (the point that remains for ever), who died
many snows since, and who was so old that he had smoked with three
generations, said that his grandfather, _On-daig_, met the first
white man who ever entered an Ojibbeway's wigwam. That white man was
a great chief, who wore a red coat. He had many warriors with him,
who all came in sight of the village of _On-daig_ (the crow),
and, leaving his warriors behind, he walked towards the wigwam of
_On-daig_, who came out, with his pipe of peace in one hand, and
his war-club in the other. _On-daig_ offered his pipe to the white
chief to smoke, who put his sword behind him in one hand, and raised
his hat with the other. _On-daig_ never had seen a white man's hat
before, and, thinking the white chief was going to strike him with
it, drew his war-club. They soon, however, understood each other, and
smoked the pipe together."
[Illustration: N^o. 23.]
[Illustration: N^o. 24.]
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Elsewhere in the archive
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account