Atlantic States -- Description and travel; Kemble, Fanny, 1809-1893; United States -- Social life and customs -- 1783-1865
vermilion-coloured powder, and knots of scarlet berries or beads, I
don't know which, hung like ear-rings on each side of his face. A string
of glass beads was tied round his naked throat; he was wrapped in a
large blanket, which completely concealed his form, except his legs and
feet, which were clothed in common leather shoes, and a species of
deerskin gaiter. He seemed much alive to what was going on, conversed
freely in his own language with his neighbour, and laughed once or twice
aloud, which rather surprised me, as I had heard so much of their
immovable gravity. The costume of the other young man was much the same,
except that his hair was not adorned. Black Hawk himself had on a blue
cloth surtout, scarlet leggings, a black silk neck-handkerchief, and
ear-rings. His appearance altogether was not unlike that of an old
French gentleman. Beside him, on a chair, sat one of his warriors,
wrapped in a blanket, with a cotton handkerchief whisped round his head.
At one of the windows apart from their companions, with less courtesy in
their demeanour, and a great deal of sullen savageness in their serious
aspects, sat the great warrior, and the prophet of the tribe--the latter
is Black Hawk's brother. I cannot express the feeling of commiseration
and disgust which the whole scene gave me. That men such as ourselves,
creatures with like feelings, like perceptions, should be brought, as
strange animals at a show, to be gazed at the livelong day by succeeding
shoals of gaping folk, struck me as totally unfitting. The cold dignity
of the old chief, and the malignant scowl of the prophet, expressed the
indecency and the irksomeness of such a situation. Then, to look at
those two young savages, with their fine muscular proportions, and think
of them cooped up the whole horrible day long, in this hot prison-house
full of people, made my heart ach. How they must loathe the sight of
these narrow walls, and the sound of these strange voices; how they must
sicken for their unmeasured range of wilderness! The gentleman who
seemed to have the charge of them pressed me to go up and shake hands
with them, as every body else in the room did; but I refused to do so
from literal compassion, and unwillingness to add to the wearisome toil
they were made to undergo. As we were departing, however, they
reiterated their entreaties that we would go up and shake hands with
them,--so I did. Black Hawk and the young men received our courtesy with
great complaisance; but when we went to the great warrior and the
prophet, they seemed exceedingly loath to receive our hands, the latter
particularly, who had, moreover, one of the very worst expressions I
think I ever saw upon a human countenance. I instinctively withdrew my
hand; but when my father offered his, the savage's face relaxed into a
smile, and he met his greeting readily. I wonder what pleased him about
my father's appearance, whether it was his large size or not. I had a
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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