Indians' remarks on the Zoological Gardens--Their pity for
the poor buffalo and other animals imprisoned--Jim's talk
with a clergyman about Hell and the hyænas--Indians' ideas
of astronomy--Jim and the Doctor hear of the hells of
London--Desire to go into them--Promised to go--Indians
counting the gin-palaces (_chickabobboo-ags_)in a ride to
Blackwall and back--The result--Exhibition in the Egyptian
Hall--A sudden excitement--The War-chief recognises in the
crowd his old friend "Bobasheela"--Their former lives on
the Mississippi and Missouri--Bobasheela an Englishman--His
travels in the "Far West" of America--Story of their first
acquaintance--The doomed wedding-party--Lieut. Pike--Daniel
Boone and Son--Indians visit a great brewery--Kind reception
by the proprietors--Great surprise of the Indians--Immense
quantities of _chickabobboo_--War-dance in an empty
vat--Daniel commences Jim's book of the statistics of
England--Indians visit the Tunnel--Visit to the Tower--The
Horse Armoury--The Royal Regalia--Indians' ideas of the crowns
and jewels--"_Totems_" (arms) on the fronts of noblemen's
houses--Royal arms over the shops--Strange notions of the
Doctor--They see the "man with the big nose" again--And the
"great white War-chief (the Duke of Wellington) on horseback,
near his wig-wam."
Three or four of my particular friends had joined us in our visit
to the Zoological Gardens this morning, and amongst them a reverend
gentleman, whose professional character was not made known to the
Indians. He kept close to Jeffrey and the Indians all the way, and
his ears were open to the translation of everything they said. He was
not only highly amused at their remarks, but told me he heard enough
to convince him that lessons of morality, of devotion, and religion,
as well as of philosophy, might be learned from those poor people,
although they were the savages of the wilderness, and often despised
as such. Mr. Melody and I accompanied them to their rooms, and as we
came in when their dinner was coming up, we sat down and partook of
it with them. The Indian's mode is to _eat exclusively_ while he eats,
and to talk afterwards. We adhered to their rule on this occasion, and
after the dinner was over, and a pipe was lit, there were remarks and
comments enough ready, upon the strange things they had just seen.
As usual, the first thing was, to have a laugh at the Doctor for having
frightened the parrots; and then to reflect and to comment upon the
cruelty of keeping all those poor and unoffending animals prisoners
in such a place, merely to be looked at. They spoke of the doleful
looks they all wore in their imprisoned cells, walking to and fro, and
looking through the iron bars at every person who came along, as if
they wished them to let them out. I was forcibly struck with the truth
and fitness of their remarks, having never passed through a menagerie
without coming out impressed, even to fatigue, with the sympathy I had
felt for the distressed looks and actions of these poor creatures,
imprisoned for life, for man's amusement only.
Jim asked, "What have all those poor animals and birds done that they
should be shut up to die? They never have murdered anybody--they have
not been guilty of stealing, and they owe no money; why should they be
kept so, and there to die?" He said it would afford him more pleasure
to see one of them let loose and run away over the fields, than to see
a hundred imprisoned as they were. The Doctor took up the gauntlet and
reasoned the other way. He said they were altogether the happiest wild
animals he ever saw; they were perfectly prevented from destroying each
other, and had enough to eat as long as they lived, and plenty of white
men to wait upon them. He did not see why they should not live as long
there as anywhere else, and as happy. He admitted, however, that his
heart was sad at the desolate look of the old buffalo bull, which he
would like to have seen turned loose on the prairies.
The Roman-nose said he heard one of the parrots say "God dam." "So he
did," said Jim; "and who could say otherwise, when the Doctor poked his
ugly face so suddenly in amongst them? They know how to speak English,
and I don't wonder they say God dam."[20]
[20] No Indian language in America affords the power of swearing,
not being sufficiently rich and refined.
I here diverted their attention from the jokes they were beginning
upon the Doctor, by asking them how they liked the _chickabobboo_ they
got in the gardens, which they recollected with great pleasure, and
which they pronounced to have been very good. Mr. Cross had invited
the whole party to a private view, and after showing us, with great
politeness, what he had curious, invited us into one of his delightful
little refreshment rooms, and treated all to cold chickens, pork pies,
pastries, and champagne, which the Indians called _chickabobboo_; and
as he did not know the meaning of the word, I related the story of it,
which pleased him very much.
The Doctor made some laugh, by saying that "he was going over there
again in a few days, if he could find some strings long enough, to
measure the elephant and the bones of the whale, as he had got the
dimensions of the giant man." Jim told him "he had not got the measure
of the _giant man_--he had only measured the _giant woman_, and
getting scared, he only half measured her; and he was so much afraid
of women, that he didn't believe he could ever take the measure of one
of them correct, if a hundred should stand ever so still for him."
The Doctor smiled, and looked at me as if to know if I was going to
ask some question again. He was fortunately relieved at that moment,
however, by Mr. Melody's question to Jim, "how he liked the looks of
the hyenas, and whether he would like him to buy one to carry home
with him?" Jim rolled over on to his back, and drew his knees up (the
only position in which he could "think fast," as he expressed it;
evidently a peculiarity with him, and a position, ungraceful as it
was, which it was absolutely necessary for him to assume, if he was
going to tell a story well, or to make a speech); and after thinking
much more profoundly than it required to answer so simple a question,
replied, "Very well, very well," and kept thinking on. The Little Wolf,
who was lying by his side, asked him "what he was troubled about?--he
seemed to be thinking very strong." Jim replied to this, that "he was
thinking a great way, and he had to think hard." He said, that when he
was looking at the hyenas, he said to Jeffrey that he thought they were
the wickedest looking animals he ever saw, and that he believed they
would go to hell; but that the gentleman who came to the garden with
Mr. Melody[21] said to him, "No, my friend, none but the animals that
laugh and cry can go to heaven or to hell." He said that this gentleman
then wanted to know how he had heard of hell, and what idea he had of
it. He said, he told Jeffrey to say to him that some white men (_black
coats_) had told amongst his people, that there was such a place as
hell, very low under the earth, where the wicked would all go, and for
ever be in the fire. He said, the gentleman asked him if he believed
it? and that he told him he thought there might be such a place for
white people--he couldn't tell--but he didn't think the Indians would
go to it. He said, the gentleman then asked him why he thought those
poor ignorant animals the hyenas would go there? And he replied to him
that _Chippehola_[22] said "the hyenas live by digging up the bodies of
people after they are buried;" and he therefore thought they were as
wicked as the white people, who also dig up the Indians' graves, and
scatter their bones about, all along our country;[23] and he thought
such white people would go to hell, and ought to go there. He said he
also told the gentleman he had heard there were some hells under the
city of London, and that he had been invited to go and see them: this,
he said, made the gentleman laugh, and there was no more said: that he
had begun to think that this gentleman was a _black coat_, but when he
saw him laugh, he found out that he was not. "Just the time you were
mistaken," said Mr. Melody; "for that gentleman _was_ a clergyman, and
you have made a very great fool of yourself." "I will risk all that,"
said Jim; "I have wanted all the time to make a speech to some of them,
but the chiefs wouldn't let me."
[21] The reverend gentleman.
[22] Mr. Catlin.
[23] One of the most violent causes of the Indian's hatred of white
men is, that nearly every Indian grave is opened by them on
the frontier for their skulls or for the weapons and trinkets
buried with them.
The pipe, during these conversations, was being handed around, and
Jim's prolific mind, while he was "thinking fast" (as he had called
it), was now running upon the elephant, and he was anxious to know
where it came from. I told him it was from the opposite side of the
globe: he could not understand me, and to be more explicit, I told him
that the ground we stood upon was part of the surface of the earth,
which was round like a ball, and many thousands of miles around; and
that these huge animals came from the side exactly opposite to us. I
never could exactly believe that Jim, at the moment, doubted my word;
but in the richness of his imagination (particularly in his thinking
position) he so clearly saw elephants walking underside of the globe,
with their backs downwards, without falling, that he broke out into
such a flood of laughter, that he was obliged to shut out his thoughts,
and roll over upon his hands and knees until the spasms went gradually
off. The rest of the group were as incredulous as Jim, but laughed less
vehemently; and as it was not a time to lecture further on astronomy,
I thought it best to omit it until a better opportunity: merely
waiting for Jim's pencil sketch (and no doubt according to his first
impression), which he was then drawing, with considerable tact; and
with equal wit, proposed I should adopt as my "arms" or _totem_, the
globe with an inverted elephant.
Melody and I strolled off together, leaving the Indians in this
amusing mood, while we were agreeing that they were a good-natured
and well-disposed set of men, determining to take everything in the
happiest way; and that they were well entitled to our protection, and
our best energies to promote their welfare. We saw that they enjoyed
every thing that we showed them, with a high relish; and in hopes that
they might profit by it, and feel a stronger attachment to us, we
resolved to spare no pains in showing them whatever we could, that they
might wish to see, and which would be likely, in any way, to render
them a benefit.
The reader will have seen, by this time, that they were a close
observing and an amusing set of fellows: and knowing also that at this
time nearly all the curious sights of London were still before us, he
will be prepared to meet the most exciting and amusing parts of this
book as he reads on.
We continued to give these curious and good fellows their daily drives
in their bus, and by an hour spent in this way each day, for several
months, they were enabled to form a tolerably correct idea of the
general shapes and appearance of the city, and its modes, as seen in
the streets. In these drives, as well as in institutions of various
kinds, which they visited, they saw many curious things which amused
them, and others which astonished them very much; but their private
room was the place for their amusing debates, and remarks upon them,
when they returned: and to that I generally repaired every night before
they went to bed, to hear what they had to say and to think, of the
sights they had seen during the day.
_Chickabobboo_, though an Ojibbeway word, had now become a frequent and
favourite theme with them, inasmuch as it was at this time an essential
part of their dinners and suppers, and as, in all their drives about
town, they were looking into the "gin palaces" which they were every
moment passing, and at the pretty maids who were hopping about, and
across the streets, in all directions, both night and day, with
pitchers of ale in their hands. The elevated positions of the Doctor
and Jim, as they were alongside of the driver of the bus, enabling
them, in the narrow streets, to peep into the splendid interior of many
of these, as they were brilliantly illumined, and generally gay with
bonnets and ribbons, and imagining a great deal of happiness and fun
to reign in them, they had several times ventured, very modestly, to
suggest to me a wish to look into some of them--"not to drink," as they
said, "for they could get enough to drink at home, but to see how they
looked, and how the people acted there."
I had told them that if they had the least curiosity, there should
be no objection to their going with me on some proper occasion,
when they again got on their frock coats and beaver hats; and also
that if there were any other curious places they wished to see in
London, Mr. Melody or I would take them there. Upon hearing this the
big-mouthed and quizzical Jim at once took me at my word, and told me
that "some gentleman with Daniel had been telling him and the Doctor
that there were several '_hells_' under the city of London, and that
they ought some time to go down and see them." He didn't think from
what Daniel and that man said that they were hells of "fire," but he
thought as Daniel had been to them, there could not be much danger,
and he thought they would be very curious to see; he knew these were
not the hells which the _black coats_ spoke of, for Daniel told him
there were many beautiful ladies, and fine music, and _chickabobboo_
there; that they did not wish to drink the _chickabobboo_, but merely
to look and see, and then come away; and they had no objections to
put on the black coats for that purpose; he said, in fact, that
Daniel had invited them to go, and that Jeffrey had agreed to go with
them. Jim had me thus "upon the hip" for this enterprise, and when I
mentioned it to poor Melody, he smiled as he seemed to shrink from
it, and said, "Ah, Catlin, that never will do: we are going to spoil
these Indians, as sure as the world; there will be in a little time
nothing but what they will want to see, and we shall have no peace of
our lives with them. They have all gone now, and Daniel and Jeffrey
with them, in their bus, all the way to Blackwall, merely to see how
many _chickabobbooags_ (gin palaces) they can count in the way, going
by one route and returning by another. Their minds are running on
_chickabobboo_ and such things already, and they are in the midst of
such a scene of gin-drinking and drunkenness as they see every day,
that I am almost sorry we ever undertook to drive them out at all. I
am daily more and more afraid that they will all become drunkards, in
spite of all I can do, and I sometimes wish I had them safe home, where
we started from. You have no idea what a charge I have on my hands,
and the annoyance I have about the front of their apartments every
night, from women who are beckoning them down from their windows to
the door, and even into the passages and streets. They seem daily to
be losing their respect for me, and I find it every day more and more
difficult to control them." "And so you will continue to find it," said
I, "unless privileges and freedom to a reasonable extent are granted
to them, while they are strictly adhering to the solemn promises and
restraints we have laid them under. These people have come here under
your promises to show them everything you can, and to teach them
how the civilized world live and act. They have reposed the highest
confidence in you to take care of and protect them, and in return they
have solemnly promised to conduct themselves properly and soberly; and
as long as they adhere to that, you should not let them doubt your
confidence in them, by fearing to show them some parts of the shades as
well as the lights of civilization. They are here to learn the ways of
civilization, and I should deem it wrong to deny them the privilege,
if they ask for it, of seeing such parts of it as you and myself would
go to see. I have been to see the 'hells of London' myself, and would
much sooner take my son there, and there give him the most impressive
lesson in morality, than forbid him to go, expressing to him my fears
of his contamination. These people are like children in some respects,
and they are men in others; and while I fully appreciate all your noble
attachment to them, and your anxieties for them, with the knowledge I
have gained of the Indian character, I feel assured that as they are
brought here to be shown everything of civilization, to restrict them
in seeing the parts of it they desire to see, will be to exhibit to
them a want of confidence which would be apt to lead to worse and more
injurious results before you get home with them. I should have been
very far from mentioning such places to them, or the many other dens
of iniquity which exist in the great city of London and the cities of
our own country, and which I hope they may remain strangers to; but
they having heard of the hells of London, and expressed a desire to see
them, I should feel no hesitation in giving Jim and the Doctor a peep
into them, instead of representing them (as the means of keeping them
away from them) as being a much greater degradation of human nature
than they actually are."
Good, kind Melody looked so much distressed, that I finished my
arguments here, and told him to "rest quite easy; there was a way by
which we could get over it, and I not break my promise with Jim and
the Doctor. That a friend of mine who had been into them recently and
narrowly escaped with his life, would have a talk with them on the
subject in a few days, and all would be right.[24] As for the joke
they are on to-day, about the _gin-shops_, I don't see the least harm
in it. They must have something to laugh at, and while they are getting
their usual daily ride in the open air, they are passing one of the
best comments that ever was made upon one of the greatest vices of the
greatest city in the world."
[24] This unfortunate "friend of mine" called the next day, with a
handkerchief tied over one eye, and one arm in a sling; and
while we _happened_ to be talking of their intended visit to
some of the "hells," he took occasion to exclaim at once, "My
good fellows, let me advise you, go and see everything else in
London, but take especial care you don't go into any of those
infernal regions, and get served as I have been, or ten times
worse, for I was lucky that I didn't lose my life." "Then you
have seen them?" said I. "Seen them? yes, I _saw_, till I was
knocked down three or four times, and my pockets picked, after
I paid out to those infernal demons fifteen pounds; so I lost
about thirty pounds altogether, and have not been able to see
since. Nat B--n of New York was with me, and he got off much
worse than I did; he was carried home for dead and hasn't been
out of his room since. When I get a little better, my good
fellows, I will give you a long account of what we saw, and
I'll venture you never will want to risk your heads there."
My friend here left us, and Jim and the Doctor had evidently
changed their minds about going to see the "Hells of London."
The simple old Doctor, in his curious cogitations amidst the din of
civilised excitements, while he had been ogling the thousands of
ladies and gin-palaces, and other curious things all together, from
the pinnacle of his bus, had brought home one day in round numbers the
total amount of _chickabobbooags_ that he had seen during the hour's
drive on one morning. The enormous amount of these, when added up,
seemed too great for the most credulous; and Jim, seeming to think that
the Doctor had counted the ladies instead of the grog-shops, disputed
the correctness of his report, which had led to the result that was
being carried out to-day, by some pretty spirited betting between the
Doctor, Jim, Daniel, and Jeffrey, as to the number of _gin palaces
(chickabobbooags)_ they should pass on their way from St. James's
Street to Blackwall (where they had curiosity to taste "white bait"),
and back again by a different route, taking _Euston Station_ in their
way as they returned. For this purpose it was arranged that the Doctor
and Jim should take their customary seats with the driver; and _Roman
Nose_ and the _Little Wolf_ inside of the bus, where there was less
to attract their attention, should each take his side of the street,
counting as they passed them, while the old War-chief should notch them
on a stick which they had prepared for the purpose, having Daniel and
Jeffrey by their sides to see that there was no mistake.
The amusements of this gigantic undertaking were not to be even
anticipated until they got back, nor its difficulties exactly
appreciated until they appeared in the prosecution of the design. At
starting off, the _Roman Nose_ and _Little Wolf_ took their positions
on opposite seats, each one appropriating a pane of glass for his
observations, and the old War-chief with his deal stick in one hand
and a knife in the other; and in this way they were ready for, and
commenced operations. Each one as he passed a gin-shop, called out
"_chickabobbooag!_" and the old chief cut a notch. This at first seemed
to be quite an easy thing, and even allowed the old man an occasional
moment to look around and observe the direction in which they were
going, while the two amusing chubs who were outside could pass an
occasional remark or two upon the ladies as they were commencing to
keep an oral account, to corroborate or correct the records that were
making inside. As they gradually receded from the temperate region of
St. James's (having by an ignorant oversight overlooked the numerous
_club-houses_), their labours began to increase, and the old War-chief
had to ply his knife with precision and quickness; the two companions
outside stopped all further conversation, holding on to their fingers
for tens, hundreds, &c. The word _chickabobbooag_ was now so rapidly
repeated at times inside (and oftentimes by both parties at once),
that the old chief found the greatest difficulty in keeping his record
correct. The parties all kept at their posts, and attended strictly to
their reckonings, until they arrived at Blackwall. They cast up none of
their accounts there, but the old chief's record was full--there was
no room for another notch. He procured another stick for the returning
memorandums, and the route back, being much more prolific and much
longer, filled each of the four corners of his new stick, and when it
was full he set down the rest of his sum in black marks, with a pencil
and paper which Daniel took from his pocket.
The reckoning, when they got back, and their curious remarks upon the
incidents of their ride, were altogether very amusing, and so numerous
and discordant were their accounts, that there was no final decision
agreed upon as to the bets.
Their results were brought in thus:
War-chief notches 446
Jim oral 432 doubtful 60
Doctor oral 754 doubtful 0
----
Average 544.
What route they took I never was able to learn, but such were their
accounts as they brought them in; and as it was ascertained that the
Doctor had been adding to his account all the shops where he saw
bottles in the windows, it was decided to be a reasonable calculation
that he had brought into the account erroneously:
Apothecaries and confectioners--say 300
Leaving the average of all together (which was no doubt
very near the thing) Chickabobbooags 450
So ended (after the half-hour's jokes they had about it) this novel
enterprise, which had been carried out with great pains and much
fatigue, and in which, it was suggested by them, and admitted by me,
they had well earned a jug of _chickabobboo_.
The settlement of this important affair was not calculated by any means
to lessen the Doctor's curiosity in another respect, and which has been
alluded to before--his desire to visit some of those places, to see
the manner in which the _chickabobboo_ was made. I put him at rest on
that subject, however, by telling him that there was none of it made
at those shops where it was sold, but that I had procured an order to
admit the whole party to one of the greatest breweries in the city,
where the _chickabobboo_ was made, and that we were all to go the next
day and see the manner in which it was done. This information seemed to
give great pleasure to all, and to finish for the present the subject
of _chickabobboo_.
The night of this memorable day I had announced as the last night of
the Indians at the Egyptian Hall, arrangements having been effected
for their exhibitions to be made a few days in Vauxhall Gardens before
leaving London for some of the provincial towns. This announcement, of
course, brought a dense crowd into the Hall, and in it, as usual, the
"jolly fat dame," and many of my old friends, to take their last gaze
at the Indians.
The amusements were proceeding this evening, as on former occasions,
when a sudden excitement was raised in the following manner. In the
midst of one of their noisy dances, the War-chief threw himself, with a
violent jump and a yell of the shrill war-whoop, to the corner of the
platform, where he landed on his feet in a half-crouching position,
with his eyes, and one of his forefingers, fixed upon something that
attracted his whole attention in a distant part of the crowd. The
dance stopped--the eyes of all the Indians, and of course those of
most of the crowd, were attracted to the same point; the eyes of the
old War-chief were standing open, and in a full blaze upon the object
before him, which nobody could well imagine, from his expression, to be
anything less exciting than a huge panther, or a grizly bear, in the
act of springing upon him. After staring awhile, and then shifting his
weight upon the other leg, and taking a moment to wink, for the relief
of his eyes, he resumed the intensity of his gaze upon the object
before him in the crowd, and was indulging during a minute or two in a
dead silence, for the events of twenty or thirty years to run through
his mind, when he slowly straightened up to a more confident position,
with his eyes relaxed, but still fixed upon their object, when, in an
emphatic and ejaculatory tone, he pronounced the bewildering word of
_Bobasheela!_ and repeated it, _Bobasheela?_ "Yes, I'm _Bobasheela_,
my good old fellow! I knew your voice as soon as you spoke (though
you don't understand English yet)." _Chee-au-mung-ta-wangish-kee,
Bobasheela._ "My friends, will you allow me to move along towards
that good old fellow? he knows me;" at which the old chief (not of a
_hundred_, but) of _many_ battles, gave a yell, and a leap from the
platform, and took his faithful friend _Bobasheela_ in his arms, and
after a lapse of thirty years, had the pleasure of warming his cheek
against that of one of his oldest and dearest friends--one whose heart,
we have since found, had been tried and trusted, and as often requited,
in the midst of the dense and distant wildernesses of the banks of
the Mississippi and Missouri. Whilst this extraordinary interview was
proceeding, all ideas of the dance were for the time lost sight
of, and whilst these veterans were rapidly and mutually reciting the
evidences of their bygone days of attachment, there came a simultaneous
demand from all parts of the room, for an interpretation of their
conversation, which I gave as far as I could understand it, and as far
as it had then progressed, thus:--The old Sachem, in leading off his
favourite war-dance, suddenly fixed his eye upon a face in the crowd,
which he instantly recognized, and gazing upon it a moment, decided
that it was the well-known face of an old friend, with whom he had
spent many happy days of his early life on the banks of the Mississippi
and Missouri rivers in America. The old chief, by appealing to this
gentleman's familiar Indian cognomen of _Bobasheela_, brought out an
instant proof of the correctness of his recognition; and as he held
him by both hands, to make proof doubly strong, he made much merriment
amongst the party of Indians, by asking him if he ever "floated down
any part of the great Mississippi river in the night, astride of two
huge logs of wood, with his legs hanging in the water?" To which
_Bobasheela_ instantly replied in the affirmative. After which, and
several _medicine_ phrases, and masonic grips and signs had passed
between them, the dance was resumed, and the rest of the story, as
well as other anecdotes of the lives of these extraordinary personages
postponed to the proper time and place, when and where the reader will
be sure to hear them.
[Illustration: N^o. 14.]
The exhibition for the evening being over, Bobasheela was taken home
with the Indians, to their lodgings, to smoke a pipe with them; and
having had the curiosity to be of the party, I was enabled to gather
the following further information. This _Bobasheela_ (Mr. J. H., a
native of Cornwall) (Plate No. 14), who is now spending the latter part
of a very independent bachelor's life amongst his friends in London,
left his native country as long ago as the year 1805, and making his
way, like many other bold adventurers, across the Alleghany Mountains
in America, descended into the great and almost boundless valley of
the Mississippi, in hopes by his indefatigable industry, and daring
enterprise, to share in the products that must find their way from that
fertile wilderness valley to the civilized world.
In this arduous and most perilous pursuit, he repeatedly ascended and
descended in his bark canoe--his pirogue or his Mackinaw boat, the
Ohio, the Muskingham, the Cumberland, the Tennessee, the Arkansas,
the Missouri, and Mississippi rivers; and amongst the thousand and
one droll and amusing incidents of thirty years spent in such a sort
of life, was the anecdote which the War-chief alluded to, in the
unexpected meeting with his old friend in my exhibition-room, and which
the two parties more fully related to me in this evening's interview.
The good-natured Mr. H. told me that the tale was a true one, and the
awkward predicament spoken of by the War-chief was one that he was
actually placed in when his acquaintance first began with his good
friend.
Though the exhibition had kept us to a late hour, the greetings and
pleasing reminiscences to be gone over by these two reclaimed friends,
and (as they called themselves) "brothers" of the "Far West," over
repeatedly charged pipes of k'nick k'neck, were pleasing, and held
us to a most unreasonable hour at night. When the chief, amongst his
rapid interrogations to Bobasheela, asked him if he had preserved his
_she-she-quoin_, he gave instant relief to the mind of his friend,
from which the lapse of time and changes of society had erased the
recollection of the chief's familiar name, _She-she-quoi-me-gon_,
by which his friend had christened him, from the circumstance of
his having presented him a _she-she-quoin_(or mystery rattle), the
customary badge bestowed when any one is initiated into the degree of
"doctor" or "brother."
From the forms and ceremonies which my good friend _Bobasheela_ had
gone through, it seems (as his name indicates) that he stood in
the relationship of brother to the chief; and although the chief's
interrogations had produced him pleasure in one respect, one can easily
imagine him much pained in another, inasmuch as he was obliged to
acknowledge that his sacred badge, his _she-she-quoin_, had been lost
many years since, by the sinking of one of his boats on the Cumberland
river. For his standing in the tribe, such an event might have been
of an irretrievable character; but for the renewed and continued good
fellowship of his friend in this country, the accident proved to be one
of little moment, as will be learned from various incidents recited in
the following pages.
In this first evening's interview over the pipe, my friend Mr. H., to
the great amusement of the party of Indians, and of Daniel and the
squaws, who had gathered around us, as well as several of my London
friends, related the story of "floating down the Mississippi river on
two logs of wood," &c., as follows:--
"This good old fellow and I formed our first acquaintance in a very
curious way, and when you hear me relate the manner of it, I am
quite sure you will know how to account for his recognizing me this
evening, and for the pleasure we have both felt at thus unexpectedly
meeting. In the year 1806 I happened to be on a visit to St. Louis,
and thence proceeded up the Missouri to the mouth of the 'Femme
Osage' to pay a visit to my old friend Daniel Boone, who had a short
time before left his farm in Kentucky and settled on the banks of
the Missouri, in the heart of an entire wilderness, to avoid the
constant annoyance of the neighbours who had flocked into the country
around him in Kentucky. The place for his future abode, which he
had selected, was in a rich and fertile country, and forty or fifty
miles from any white inhabitants, where he was determined to spend
the remainder of his days, believing that for the rest of his life
he would be no more annoyed by the familiarity of neighbours. I
spent several weeks very pleasantly with the old pioneer, who had
intentionally built his log cabin so small, with only one room and
one bed for himself and his wife, that even his best friends should
not break upon the sacred retirement of his house at night, but
having shared his hospitable board during the day were referred to
the cabin of his son, Nathan Boone, about four hundred yards distant,
where an extra room and an extra bed afforded them the means of
passing the night.
"The old hunter and his son were thus living very happily, and made
me comfortable and happy whilst I was with them. The anecdotes of his
extraordinary life, which were talked over for amusement during that
time, were enough to fill a volume. The venerable old man, whose long
and flowing locks were silvery white, was then in his 78th year, and
still he almost daily took down his trusty rifle from its hooks in
the morning, and in a little time would bring in a saddle of venison
for our breakfast, and thus he chiefly supported his affectionate
old lady and himself, and the few friends who found their way to his
solitary abode, without concern or care for the future. The stump of
a large cotton-wood tree, which had been cut down, was left standing
in the ground, and being cut square off on the top, and his cabin
being built around it, answered the purpose of a table in the centre
of his cabin, from which our meals were eaten. When I made my visit
to him, he had been living several years in this retired state and
been perfectly happy in the undisturbed solitude of the wilderness,
but told me several times that he was becoming very uneasy and
distressed, as he found that his days of peace were nearly over, as
two Yankee families had already found the way into the country, and
one of them had actually settled within nine miles of him.
"Having finished my visit to this veteran and his son, I mounted my
horse, and taking leave followed an Indian trail to the town of St.
Charles, some thirty or forty miles below, on the north banks of the
Missouri. I here visited some old friends with whom I had become
acquainted on the lower Mississippi in former years, and intending
to descend the river from that to St. Louis by a boat had sold my
horse when I arrived there. Before I was ready to embark, however,
an old friend of mine, Lieutenant Pike, who had just returned from
his exploring expedition to the Rocky Mountains, had passed up
from St. Louis to a small settlement formed on the east bank of
the Mississippi, and a few miles below the mouth of the Missouri,
to attend a wedding which was to take place on the very evening
that I had received the information of it, and like himself, being
intimately acquainted with the young man who was to be married, I
resolved to be present if possible, though I had had no invitation to
attend, it not being known to the parties that I was in that part of
the country. The spot where the wedding was to take place being on
the bank of the river, and on my route to St. Louis, I endeavoured
to procure a canoe for the purpose, but not being able to get such
a thing in St. Charles at that time for love or money, and still
resolved to be at the wedding, I succeeded in rolling a couple of
large logs into the stream, which laid upon the shore in front of
the village, and lashing them firmly together, took a paddle from
the first boat that I could meet, and seating myself astride of
the two logs I pushed off into the muddy current of the Missouri,
and was soon swept away out of sight of the town of St. Charles.
My embarkation was a little before sundown, and having fifteen or
twenty miles to float before I should be upon the waters of the
Mississippi, I was in the midst of my journey overtaken by night, and
had to navigate my floating logs as well as I could among the snags
and sandbars that fell in my way. I was lucky, however, in escaping
them all, though I sometimes grazed them as I passed, and within a
few inches of being hurled to destruction. I at length entered the
broad waters of the Mississippi, and a few miles below on the left
bank saw the light in the cabins in which the merry circle of my
friends were assembled, and with all my might was plying my paddle to
propel my two logs to the shore. In the midst of my hard struggle I
discovered several objects on my right and ahead of me, which seemed
to be rapidly approaching me, and I concluded that I was drifting
on to rocks or snags that were in a moment to destroy me. But in an
instant one of these supposed snags silently shot along by the side
of my logs, and being a canoe with four Indians in it, and all with
their bows and war-clubs drawn upon me, they gave the signal for
silence, as one of them, a tall, long-armed, and powerful man, seized
me by the collar. Having partially learned several of the languages
of the Indian tribes bordering on the Mississippi, I understood him
as he said in the Ioway language, 'Not a word! if you speak you die!'
At that moment a dozen or more canoes were all drawn close around my
two logs of wood, astride of which I sat, with my legs in the water
up to my knees. These canoes were all filled with warriors with
their weapons in their hands, and no women being with them, I saw
they were a war party, and preparing for some mischief. Finding that
I understood their language and could speak a few words with them,
the warrior who still held me by the collar made a sign to the other
canoes to fall back a little while he addressed me in a low voice.
'Do you know the white chief who is visiting his friends this night
on the bank yonder where we see the lights?' to which I replied 'Yes,
he is an old friend of mine.' 'Well,' said he, 'he dies to-night,
and all those wig-wams are to be laid in ashes. _Stet-e-no-ka_ was a
cousin of mine, and _Que-tun-ka_ was a good man, and a friend to the
white people. The pale faces hung them like two dogs by their necks,
and the life of your friend, the white warrior, pays the forfeit
this night, and many may be the women and children who will die by
his side!' I explained to him as well as I could that my friend,
Lieutenant Pike, had had no hand in the execution of the two Indians;
that they were hung below St. Louis when Lieutenant Pike was on his
way home from the Rocky Mountains. I told him also that Lieutenant
Pike was a great friend of the Indians, and would do anything to aid
or please them; that he had gone over the river that night to attend
the wedding of a friend, and little dreamed that amongst the Indians
he had any enemies who would raise their hands against him.
"'My friend,' said he, 'you have said enough: if you tell me that
your friend, or the friend or the enemy of any man, takes the hand
of a fair daughter on that ground to-night, an Ioway chief will not
offend the Great Spirit by raising the war-cry there. No Ioway can
spill the blood of an enemy on the ground where the hands and the
hearts of man and woman are joined together. This is the command of
the Great Spirit, and an Ioway warrior cannot break it. My friend,
these warriors you see around me with myself had sworn to kill the
first human being we met on our war excursion; we shall not harm
you, so you see that I give you your life. You will therefore keep
your lips shut, and we will return in peace to our village, which is
far up the river, and we shall hereafter meet our friends, the white
people, in the great city,[25] as we have heretofore done, and we
have many friends there. We shall do no harm to any one. My face is
now blackened, and the night is dark, therefore you cannot know me;
but this arrow you will keep--it matches with all the others in my
quiver, and by it you can always recognize me, but the meeting of
this night is not to be known.' He gave me the arrow, and with these
words turned his canoe, and joining his companions was in a moment
out of sight. My arrow being passed under my hat-band, and finding
that the current had by this time drifted me down a mile or two below
the place where I designed to land, and beyond the power of reaching
it with my two awkward logs of wood, I steered my course onward
toward St. Louis, rapidly gliding over the surface of the broad
river, and arrived safely at the shore in front of the town at a late
hour in the night, having drifted a distance of more than thirty-five
miles. My two logs were an ample price for a night's lodging, and
breakfast and dinner the next day; and I continued my voyage in a
Mackinaw boat on the same day to _Vide Pouche_, a small French town
about twenty miles below, where my business required my presence. The
wedding party proceeded undisturbed, and the danger they had been in
was never made known to them, as I promised the War-chief, who gave
me as the condition of my silence the solemn promise, that he would
never carry his feelings of revenge upon innocent persons any farther.
"Thus ends the story of 'floating down the Mississippi River on the
two logs of wood,' which the War-chief alluded to in the question he
put to me this evening. On a subsequent occasion, some two or three
years afterwards, while sitting in the office of Governor Clark, the
superintendent of Indian affairs in St. Louis, where he was holding
'a talk' with a party of Indians, a fine-looking fellow, of six
feet or more in stature, fixed his eyes intently upon me, and after
scanning me closely for a few moments, advanced, and seating himself
on the floor by the side of me, pronounced the word '_Bobasheela_,'
and asked me if ever I had received an arrow from the quiver of an
Indian warrior. The mutual recognition took place by my acknowledging
the fact, and a shake of the hand, and an amusing conversation about
the circumstances, and still the facts and the amusement all kept to
ourselves. This step led to the future familiarities of our lives
in the various places where the nature of my business led me into
his society, and gained for me the regular adoption as Bobasheela
(or Brother) and the badge (the _she-she-quoin_, or Mystery Rattle)
alluded to in the previous remarks, and which, it has been already
stated, was lost by the sinking of one of my boats on the Cumberland
River."
[25] St Louis.
There was a burst of laughter and mirth amongst the squaws and others
of us who had listened to this curious tale, and, as the reader will
easily decide, a great deal of pleasure produced by its relation. The
supper-table by this time was ready, and Bobasheela took a seat by the
side of his old friend. The author was also in the humour, and joined
them at their beef-steak and _chickabobboo_, and so did Mr. Melody
and Daniel, and all who had joined in the merriment of the occasion
of _Bobasheela's_ relation of the story of his going to the wedding
astride of the two logs of wood. After the supper was over, and while
the pipe was passing around, a number of other recitals of adventures
in the "Far-West" continued the amusements of the evening to a late
hour, when the author retired and left them to their own jokes and
their night's rest.
The next morning after this was an exciting and bustling one, as all
were preparing, at an early hour, to visit the great brewery on that
day, as had been promised; and on their way back to see the Thames
Tunnel, and the treasures of the Tower of London. One will easily see
that here was a gigantic day's work struck out, and that material
enough was at hand for my note-book. _Bobasheela_ must be of this
party, and therefore was not left behind: with all in (except the two
bucks, who habitually went outside), the Indian bus, with four horses,
was a travelling _music_ box as it passed rapidly through the streets;
and the clouds of smoke issuing from it at times often spread the alarm
that "she was all on fire within" as she went by. At the brewery, where
they had been invited by the proprietors, servants in abundance were
in readiness to turn upon their giant hinges the great gates, and pass
the carriage into the court; and at the entrance to the grand fountain
of _chickabobboo_ there were servants to receive them and announce
their arrival, when they were met, and with the greatest politeness
and kindness led by one of the proprietors, and an escort of ladies,
through the vast labyrinths and mazes, through the immense halls and
courts, and under and over the dry-land bridges and arches of this
smoking, steeping, and steaming wonder of the world, as they were sure
to call it when they got home. The vastness and completeness of this
huge manufactory, or, in fact, village of manufactures, illustrated and
explained in all its parts and all its mysterious modes of operation,
formed a subject of amazement in our own as well as the Indians'
minds--difficult to be described, and never to be forgotten.
When the poor untutored Indians, from the soft and simple prairies of
the Missouri, seated themselves upon a beam, and were looking into
and contemplating the immensity of a smoking steeping-vat, containing
more than 3000 barrels, and were told that there were 130 others of
various dimensions in the establishment--that the whole edifice covered
twelve acres of ground, and that there were necessarily constantly on
hand in their cellars 232,000 barrels of ale, and also that this was
only one of a great number of breweries in London, and that similar
manufactories were in every town in the kingdom, though on a less
scale, they began, almost for the first time since their arrival, to
evince profound astonishment; and the fermentation in their minds,
as to the consistency of white man's teachings of temperance and
manufacturing and selling ale, seemed not less than that which was
going on in the vast abyss below them. The pipe was lit and passed
around while they were in this contemplative mood, and as their ears
were open, they got, in the meantime, further information of the
wonderful modes and operations of this vast machine; and also, in round
numbers, read from a report by one of the proprietors, the quantity of
ale consumed in the kingdom annually. Upon hearing this, which seemed
to cap the climax of all their astonishment, they threw down the pipe,
and leaping into an empty vat, suddenly dissipated the pain of their
mental calculations by joining in the Medicine (_or Mystery_) Dance.
Their yells and screaming echoing through the vast and vapouring halls,
soon brought some hundreds of maltsmen, grinders, firers, mashers,
ostlers, painters, coopers, &c., peeping through and amongst the
blackened timbers and casks, and curling and hissing fumes, completing
the scene as the richest model for the infernal regions.
Every reader will paint (and _must_ paint) this picture for himself,
imagining the steeping vapour everywhere rising in curling clouds
of white towards the blackened walls, and timbers, and wheels, and
stairways, and arches, and bridges, and casks, and from amongst and
between all of these, the blackened faces and glaring eyeballs piercing
through the steam, upon the unusual, and to them as yet unaccountable,
_fermentation_ going on (to the admiration and amusement of those who
were in the secret) in the empty vat!
At the end of their dance, a foaming mug of the _delicious_ was passed
around, enabling them more easily and lightly to comprehend the wonders
of this mighty scene; and after they had finished their round, and seen
its varied mysteries, a huge and delicious beefsteak, and foaming mugs
of the _cream of chickabobboo_, prepared for them by the kind lady of
one of the proprietors of the establishment, soon smoothed off all the
edges of their astonishment; and after the war-dance and the war-whoop,
given to please the ladies, they again passed under the huge arches and
gateways, and took their omnibus for a visit to the _Tower_.
The mood in which these good-natured fellows had left the brewery was a
very merry one; they had got just ale enough for the present emergency,
and seen an abundant and infallible source at the great fountain of
_chickabobboo_ to ensure them a constant supply, and seemed, as they
passed along the streets, to be pleased with everything they saw. They
met the man again with the "big nose," and succeeded in stopping the
bus to take a good look at his wonderful proboscis. As the bus stopped,
he, like many others, came up to catch a glimpse of the red skins, and
they all declared, on close examination, that his nose at least must
have been begot by a potato; for, as the women had before said, they
could distinctly see the sprouts, and Jim and the Doctor both insisted,
that "if it were planted it would sprout and grow."
They stopped the bus again to speak with some poor Lascars sweeping the
streets; it was difficult to get any interpretation from them, though
the Indians tried their own language on both sides, but in vain; they
gave them fifteen shillings, and passed on.
The Tower, from its outward appearance, did not seem to excite in them
any extravagant expectation of what they were to see within its gloomy
walls. They remarked, when going in, that "they were going to prison;"
and they were of opinion, no doubt, that it consisted of little else,
as they had as yet heard no other description of it than that it was
the "_Tower of London_" and they were going to see it. Poor fellows!
they guessed right; they knew not of the illustrious prisoners who had
pined within its gloomy walls, nor of the blood that had been shed
within and around it. They went to _see_, and had enough to engage
all their thoughts and attention without referring to the events of
history. We were kindly conducted through the different rooms, and most
of its curiosities explained to us. The "small-arms room," containing
200,000 muskets, had been burned. The "horse armoury" seemed to afford
them much delight; the thousands of various spears and lances, they
thought, presented some beautiful models for Indian warfare, and
hunting the buffaloes. The _beheading block_, on which Lords Balmerino,
Kilmarnock, and Lovat were beheaded in the Tower in 1746, attracted
their attention, and the axe that severed the head of Anne Boleyn.
In the _Regalia Room_, the crown of her Majesty and four other crowns,
the sceptres and staffs, and orbs, swords of justice, swords of
mercy, royal spurs, salts, baptismal fonts, &c., in massive gold and
brilliant stones, seemed rather to disappoint than to astonish them;
and to us, who knew better than they did the meaning and value of these
magnificent treasures, there seemed a striking incongruity in the
public exhibition of them in so confined and humble an apartment.
The _Thames Tunnel_ was our next object, and a drive of a quarter of an
hour brought us to the dismal neighbourhood of its entrance. Paying our
fees, and descending some hundred or more steps by a spiral staircase,
we were ready to enter the tunnel. Walking through its gloomy halls,
and spending a few shillings for toys protruded under our faces at
every rod we advanced, by young women sitting at their little stalls
under each of its arches, we at length ascended an equal number of
steps, and came to the light of day on the opposite side of the Thames;
and in the midst of one of the most unintelligible, forlorn, and
forsaken districts of London or the world, we waited half an hour or
more for our omnibus to make its circuit across the bridge and take us
up. We sauntered and loitered our way through, and as long as we were
passing this monster speculation of the world, we met, to the best of
our recollection, but four or five persons passing through, who had
paid their penny a-head for the privilege.
While waiting for the bus, some "on-the-spot" remarks were made by the
Indians, which I thought had some sound sense in them. They thought it
must have cost a great deal of money, and believed it was too far out
of London ever to pay; and they did not see that it was any curiosity
for them, as they had passed through several on the railway ten times
as long. They did not think, however, that it need be time and money
thrown away, as "they thought it might make a first-rate place to twist
ropes." These and other remarks they were making about the great tunnel
as we were jogging along towards home, and evidently somewhat surprised
that we should have excited their curiosity so high about it.
On our return, after this fatiguing day's work was finished, their
dinner was ready; and after that their pipe was smoked, a nap taken,
and then their accustomed amusements in the Egyptian Hall. Their supper
was the next thing, and with it their mug of _chickabobboo_, then their
pipe, passing around as they all reclined on their buffalo robes on the
floor, and then began the gossip about the sights they had seen and
incidents they had witnessed during the day.
This extraordinary day's rambling had taken them across more bridges
and through a greater number of crooked and narrow streets than they
had passed on any former occasion, which brought the Doctor to one of
the first and shrewdest remarks of the evening. He said "he thought
from all that he had seen, sitting on top of the bus all day, that the
English people had the best way in the world for crossing rivers, but
he thought their _paths_ were many of them too narrow and much too
crooked."
"The poor people, and those who seemed to be drunk, were much more
numerous than they had seen them in any other of their drives;" and
they were counting the money left in their pouches to see how much they
had thrown out to the poor. They soon agreed that "they had given away
something more than thirty shillings, which they thought would do a
great deal of good, and the Great Spirit would reward them for it."
The _Doctor_ and _Jim_, the everlasting cronies, on the outside, were
comparing their estimates of the numbers they had counted of the
"_Kon-to-too-ags_ (fighters with one horn)[26] that they had seen over
the doors and shops as they had passed along, which they had been
looking at every day since they came to London, but had never yet been
able quite to learn the meaning of," and also "the _totems_ (arms, as
they supposed) of great chiefs, so beautifully painted and put out
between their chamber windows."
[26] The Royal Arms (the Lion and the Unicorn).
The Doctor said "he believed the white people had got this custom from
the Indians, as it was the habit of the great chiefs and warriors to
put their '_totems_' over their wig-wam doors, but when they did so,
they always put out scalps on certain days, to show what they had
done. He had watched these totems in London as he had been riding, in
all sorts of weather, and as he had seen no scalps or anything hung
out by the side of them, he couldn't exactly see how all these people
were entitled to them; still, it might all be right." Daniel put
the Doctor's inquiries all at rest on the subject of totems and the
"one-horn fighters," by telling him that if he would wait a little
until Mr. Catlin and Mr. Melody had gone, he would give him the whole
history of white men's totems, how they got them and the use they made
of them; and he would also tell him all about the "Lion and the Unicorn
fighting for the Crown," &c.
The Doctor here made some comments on the great white war-chief (the
Duke of Wellington) who had been pointed out to them on horseback as
they passed him in the street, and his wig-wam was also shown to them
(_i.e._ to the Doctor and Jim as they sat outside with the driver). He
was disposed to learn something more of him, and Daniel silenced him by
saying, "Let that alone too for awhile, and I will tell you all about
him."
Daniel and Jim I found at this time very busily engaged in a corner
of the room, with a candle on the floor; whilst Daniel was entering
in a little book the astonishing estimates given us at the brewery,
of the quantity of ale on hand, the size and number of the vats, and
the almost incredible quantity consumed in the kingdom each year.
Jim, as I have before said, was the only one of the party who seemed
ambitious to civilize; and as he was daily labouring to learn something
of the English language, he had this day conceived the importance of
instituting a little book of entries in which he could carry home, to
enlighten his people, something like a brief statistical account of
the marvellous things he was seeing, and was to see, amongst the white
people.
Daniel had at this moment finished entering into it the estimates of
the brewery and _chickabobboo_, which had opened their eyes wider,
perhaps, than anything else they had seen; and he had very wisely left
a few blank pages in the beginning of the book for other retrospective
notes and estimates of things they had already seen since the day
they left home. Jim's Journal was thus established, and he was, with
Daniel's aid, to become a sort of historian to the party; and as the
sequel will show, he became stimulated thereby to greater exertions
to see and to understand what was curious and interesting, and to get
estimates of the beauties and blessings of civilization to carry home.
He laboured from that moment indefatigably, not to write or to read,
but to speak; and made rapid progress, as will be seen hereafter,
having known, as he said, but two English sentences when he came to
England, which were, "How do do?" and "God dam."