Newcastle-on-Tyne--Indians' alarms about jails--Kind visits from
Friends--Mrs. A. Richardson--Advice of the Friends--War-Chiefs
reply--Liberal presents--Arrive at Sunderland--Kindness of
the Friends--All breakfast with Mr. T. Richardson--Indians
plant trees in his garden--And the Author also--The Doctor's
superstition--Sacrifice--Feast--Illness of the Roman
Nose--Indians visit a coalpit--North Shields--A sailors' dinner
and a row--Arrive at Edinburgh--A drive--First exhibition
there--Visit to Salisbury Crag--To Arthur's Seat--Holyrood
House and Castle--The crown of Robert Bruce--The "big
gun,"--"Queen Mab"--Curious modes of building--"Flats"--Origin
of--Illness of Corsair, the little _pappoose_--The old Doctor
speaks--War-chief's speech--A feast of ducks--Indians'
remarks upon the government of Scotland--"The swapping of
crowns"--The Doctor proposes the crown of Robert Bruce for
Prince Albert--Start for Dundee--Indians' liberality--A noble
act--Arrival at Dundee--Death of little Corsair--Distress of the
Little Wolf and his wife--Curious ceremony--Young men piercing
their arms--Indians at Perth--Arrival in Glasgow--Quartered in
the Town-hall--The cemetery--The Hunterian Museum--The Doctor's
admiration of it--Daily drives--Indians throw money to the
poor--Alarm for _Roman Nose_--Two reverend gentlemen talk with
the Indians--War-chief's remarks--Greenock--Doctor's regret at
leaving.
Newcastle-on-Tyne was the next place where we stopped, and when I
arrived there I found Mr. Melody and his friends very comfortably
lodged, and all in excellent spirits. The Indians, he told me, had been
exceedingly buoyant in spirits from the moment they left York, and the
old Doctor sang the whole way, even though he had been defeated in his
design of riding outside on the railway train, as he had been in the
habit of doing on the omnibus in London. I told them I had remained a
little behind them in York to enjoy a few hours more of the society of
an excellent and kind lady of the Society of Friends,[29] whom they
would recollect to have seen in the exhibition room when they had
finished their last night's exhibition, who came forward and shook
hands in the most affectionate manner, and left gold in their hands as
she bade them good bye, and commended them to the care of the Great
Spirit.
[29] Miss E. Fothergill.
I told them that this good lady had only returned from the country
on the last evening of their exhibiting in York, and was exceedingly
disappointed that she could not have the pleasure of their society at
her house. I then sat down and amused them an hour with a beautiful
manuscript book, by her own hand, which she had presented to me,
containing the portraits of seven Seneca chiefs and braves, who were
in England twenty-five years before, and whom she entertained for
three weeks in her own house. This interesting work contains also some
twenty pages of poetry glowing with piety, and written in a chaste and
beautiful style; and an hundred or more pages in prose, giving a full
description of the party, their modes, and a history of their success,
as they travelled through the kingdom. This was a subject of much
pleasure to them, but at the same time increased their regret that they
had not seen more of this kind lady before they left the town of York.
Their first inquiries after their arrival in Newcastle were whether
they would meet any of the "good people" in that town, and whether
that was a place where they had prisons and a gallows like those in
London and in York. I answered that they would no doubt find many of
the Friends there, for I knew several very kind families who would call
upon them, and also that the good lady who gave me the book in York had
written letters to several of the Friends in Newcastle to call on them;
and that, as to the jails, &c., I believed they were much the same.
In a sort of council which we held there, as we were in the Indian
habit of convening one whenever we were leaving an old lodging or
taking possession of a new one, it was very gravely and diffidently
suggested by the Doctor, as the desire of the whole party, that they
presumed _Chippehola_[30] had money enough left in London (in case
they should fail in this section of the country to make enough to
pay their debts) to keep them clear from being taken up and treated
like white men who can't pay what they owe. I approved this judicious
suggestion, and assured them they might feel quite easy as long as
they were in the kingdom. I told them I was quite sure they had a
good and faithful friend in Mr. Melody, and, if anything happened to
him, they would be sure to find me ready to take care of them, and
that, if we were both to die, they would find all the English people
around them their friends. This seemed to satisfy and to cheer them
up, and our few days in Newcastle thus commenced very pleasantly. From
their first night's exhibition they all returned to their lodgings
with peculiar satisfaction that they had observed a greater number of
Friends in the crowd than they had seen in any place before, and many
of these had remained until everybody else had gone away, to shake
hands and converse with them. They found roast beef and beef-steaks and
_chickabobboo_ also, the same as in other places, and altogether there
was enough around them here to produce cheerful faces.
[30] The Author.
I need not describe again to the reader the nature and excitement of
the dances, &c., in their exhibitions, which were nightly repeated
here as they had been in London; but incidents and results growing out
of these amusements were now becoming exceedingly interesting, and
as will be found in the sequel of much importance, I trust, to those
poor people and their descendants. Very many of the Society of Friends
were nightly attending their exhibitions, not so much for the purpose
of witnessing or encouraging their war-dances and customs, as for
an opportunity of forming an acquaintance with them, with a view to
render them in some way an essential good. With this object a letter
was addressed to me by Mrs. Anna Richardson (with whom I had formerly
corresponded on the subject of the Indians), proposing that a number of
the Friends should be allowed to hold a conversation with them in their
apartments, on some morning, for the purpose of learning the true state
of their minds relative to the subjects of religion and education, and
to propose some efforts that might result to their advantage, and that
of their nation. Mr. Melody and myself embraced this kind proposal at
once, and the Indians all seemed delighted with it when it was made
known to them. The morning was appointed, and this kind and truly
charitable lady came with fifteen or twenty of her friends, and the
Indians listened with patience and apparent pleasure to the Christian
advice that was given them by several, and cheerfully answered to the
interrogatories which were put to them.
The immediate appeal and thanks to the "Great Spirit, who had sent
these kind people to them," by the War-chief in his reply, seemed to
impress upon the minds of all present the conviction of a high and
noble sentiment of religion in the breasts of these people, which
required but the light of the Christian revelation. His replies as to
the benefits of education were much as he had made them on several
occasions before, that, "as for themselves, they were too far advanced
in life to think of being benefited by it, but that their children
might learn to read and write, and that they should be glad to have
them taught to do so." Here seemed to dawn a gleam of hope, which that
pious lady, in her conversation and subsequent correspondence with me,
often alluded to, as the most favourable omen for the desire which the
Friends had of rendering them some lasting benefit. Mr. Melody on this
occasion produced a little book printed in the Ioway language, in the
missionary school already in existence in the tribe, and also letters
which he had just received from the Rev. Mr. Irvin, then conducting
the school, giving an encouraging account of it, and hoping that the
Indians and himself might return safe, and with means to assist in
the noble enterprise. This information was gratifying in the extreme,
and all seemed to think that there was a chance of enlightening these
benighted people. The heart of this Christian woman reached to the
American wilderness in a letter that she directed to this reverend
gentleman, believing that there, where were the wives and children of
the chiefs and warriors who were travelling, was the place for the
efforts of the Society of Friends to be beneficially applied; and
thus, I believe, formed the chain from which I feel confident the most
fortunate results will flow.[31]
[31] See in Appendix (A) to this volume Correspondence, &c.,
relative to Ioway Mission.
Several subsequent interviews were held with the Indians by these kind
people, who took them to their houses and schools, and bestowed upon
them many tangible proofs of their attachment to them, and anxiety
for their welfare. The Indians left Newcastle and these suddenly made
friends with great reluctance, and we paid a visit of a couple of days
to Sunderland. Here they found also many of the "good people" attending
their exhibitions, and received several warm and friendly invitations
to their houses. Amongst these kind attentions there was one which
they never will forget: they were invited to breakfast at the table
of Mr. T. Richardson, in his lovely mansion, with his kind family
and some friends, and after the breakfast was over all were invited
into his beautiful garden, where a spade was ready, and a small tree
prepared for each one to plant and attach his name to. This ceremony
amused them very much, and, when they had all done, there was one left
for _Chippehola_, who took the spade and completed the interesting
ceremony. This had been kindly designed for their amusement, and for
the pleasing recollections of his family, by this good man; and with
all it went off cheerfully, except with the Doctor, who refused for
some time, but was at length induced to take the spade and plant his
tree. I observed from the moment that he had done it that he was
contemplative, and evidently apprehensive that some bad luck was to
come from it--that there was _medicine_ in it, and he was alarmed.
He was silent during the rest of the interview, and after they had
returned to their rooms he still remained so for some time, when he
explained to me that "he feared some one would be sick--some one of
those trees would die, and he would much rather they had not been
planted." He said "it would be necessary to make a great feast the next
day," which I told him would be difficult, as we were to leave at an
early hour. This puzzled him very much, as it was so late that, "if
they were to try to give it that night, there would not be time for the
ducks to be well cooked." They all laughed at him for his superstition,
and he got the charm off as well as he could by throwing some tobacco,
as a sacrifice, into the fire.
We travelled the next day to North Shields, and the gloom that was
still evidently hanging over the old man's brow was darkened by the
increased illness of the _Roman Nose_, who had been for some weeks
slightly ailing, but on that day was attacked for the first time with
some fever. The Doctor's alarm was such that he stayed constantly
by him, and did not accompany his friend Jim and one or two others
with Daniel to the coalpit. This, from the repeated representations
of Daniel and their old friend _Bobasheela_, was one of the greatest
curiosities in the kingdom, and they were not disappointed in
it. In this enterprise I did not accompany them, but from their
representations ascertained that they descended more than two thousand
feet and then travelled half a mile or so under the sea--that there
were fifty horses and mules at that depth under the ground, that
never will come up, drawing cars loaded with coal on railways, and
six or seven hundred men, women, and children, as black as negroes,
and many of these who seldom come up, but sleep there at nights. This
scene shocked them even more than the sights they had seen in York,
for they seemed to think that the debtors' cells in a prison would be
far preferable to the slavery they there saw, of "hundreds of women
and children drawing out, as they said, from some narrow places where
the horses could not go, little carriages loaded with coal; where the
women had to go on their hands and knees through the mud and water, and
almost entirely naked, drawing their loads by a strap that was buckled
around their waists; their knees and their legs and their feet, which
were all naked, were bleeding with cuts from the stones, and their
hands also; they drew these loads in the dark, and they had only a
little candle to see the way." This surprising scene, which took them
hours to describe to their companions, became more surprising when
Daniel told them of "the vast number of such mines in various parts of
the kingdom, and of the fact that many people in some parts have been
born in those mines, and gone to school in them, and spent their lives,
without ever knowing how the daylight looked."
Daniel reminded them of the hundreds of mines he had pointed out to
them while travelling by the railroads, and that they were all under
ground, like what they had seen. Here was rich subject for Jim, for
another entry in his book, of the statistics of England; and Daniel,
always ready, turned to the page in his own note-book, and soon got for
Jim's memorandum the sum total of coalpits and mines in the kingdom,
and the hundreds of thousands of human _civilized_ beings who were
imprisoned in them.
It happened, on the second day that we were stopping in North Shields,
much to the amusement of the Indians, that there was a sailors' dinner
prepared for an hundred or more in the large hall of the hotel where we
were lodging; and, from the rooms which the Indians occupied, there was
an opportunity of looking through a small window down into their hall,
and upon the merry and noisy group around the table. This was a rich
treat for the Indians; and, commencing in an amusing and funny manner,
it became every moment more and more so, and, finally (when they began
to dance and sing and smash the glasses, and at length the tables,
and from that to "set-to's," "fisticuffs," and "knockdowns," by the
dozens, and, at last, to a general _mélée_, a row, and a fight in the
street) one of the most decidedly exciting and spirited scenes they had
witnessed in the country.
It afforded them amusement also for a long time after the day on which
it took place, when they spoke of it as the "great fighting feast."
Two days completed our visit to North Shields, and on the next we
were in comfortable quarters in Edinburgh. The Indians were greatly
delighted with the appearance of the city as they entered it, and more
so daily, as they took their omnibus drives around and through the
different parts of it.
The Doctor, however, who was tending on his patient, _Roman Nose_,
seemed sad, and looked as if he had forebodings still of some sad
results to flow from planting the trees; but he took his seat upon
the bus, with his old joking friend Jim, by the side of the driver,
smiling occasionally on whatever he saw amusing, as he was passing
through the streets. Their novel appearance created a great excitement
in Edinburgh; and our announcements filled our hall with the most
respectable and fashionable people.
Their dances called forth great applause; and, in the midst of it, the
War-chief, so delighted with the beauty of the city, and now by seeing
so numerous and fashionable an audience before him, and all applauding,
arose to make a speech. As he straightened up, and, wrapping his
buffalo robe around him, extended his long right arm, the audience gave
him a round of applause, occasioned entirely by the dignified and manly
appearance he made when he took the attitude of the orator, and he
commenced:--
"My friends, I understand by the great noise you have made with your
hands and feet, that something pleases you, and this pleases us, as
we are strangers amongst you, and with red skins. (Applause.)
"My friends, we have but just arrived in your beautiful city, and
we see that you are a different people from the English in London,
where we have been. In going into a strange place, amongst strange
people, we always feel some fear that our dances and our noise may
not please--we are showing you how we dance in our own country, and
we believe that is what you wish to see. (Applause and '_How, how,
how!_')
"My friends, we are delighted with your city, what we have seen of
it--we have seen nothing so handsome before--we will try to please
you with some more of our dances, and then we will be happy to shake
hands with you. ('_How, how, how!_')
"This is all I have to say now." (Great applause.)
We were now in the most beautiful city in the kingdom, if not one of
the most beautiful in the world; and the Indians, as well as ourselves,
observed the difference in the manners and appearance of the people.
The Indians had been pleased with their reception in the evening, and,
in their drive during the day, had been excited by the inviting scenery
overtowering the city,--the castle, with its "big gun," gaping over the
town--the _Salisbury Crag_, and _Arthur's Seat_--all of which places
they were to visit on that day; and, having swallowed their breakfasts
and taken their seats in their carriage, seemed to have entered upon a
new world of amusement. Their views from, and runs over, these towering
peaks afforded them great amusement; and the castle, with its crown of
Robert Bruce, and other insignia of royalty--its mammouth gun, and the
little room in which King James I. of England was born; and in Holyrood
House,--the blood of Rizzio upon the floor, and the bed in which Queen
Mary had slept--were all subjects of new and fresh excitement to them.
Nor was their amusement less whilst they were riding through the
streets, at the constant variety and sudden contrasts--from the low
and poverty-stricken rabble of High-street and its vicinity, to the
modern and splendid sections of the city--of crossing high bridges over
gardens, instead of rivers; of houses built upon the sides of the hills
and on rocks; and many other amusing things that they talked about when
they got back.
To Mr. Melody and Jeffrey also, and to Daniel, all these scenes were
new; and the Indians, therefore, had companions and guides enough, and
enough, also, to explain to them the meaning of all they saw.
I had been in Edinburgh on a former occasion, and was now engaged in
looking up and conversing with old friends, whose former kindness now
claimed my first attention; and in hunting for one of them, I found
his office had been removed to another part of the city; and, making
my way towards it as well as I could, I was amused at the instructions
given to me when I inquired of a man whom I met in the street, and
who, it happened, was acquainted with my friend and his location, and
who relieved me instantly from further embarrassment by the following
most lucid and simple direction, as he pointed down the street:--"You
have only to take the first turning to the right, Sir, and it is the
top flat at the bottom." This seemed queer and amusing to me, though
not in the least embarrassing, for I had been long enough in Edinburgh
before to learn that a "flat" was a "story" or floor; and long enough
in London to know that one _end_ of a street is the "top" and the other
the "bottom."
To a stranger, however, such an answer as the one I received might have
been exceedingly bewildering, and increased his difficulties rather
than diminished them.
The old law maxim of "_Cujus est solum, ejus est usque ad coelum_,"
would scarcely apply to real estate in the city of Edinburgh; for
houses are not only _rented_ by floors or _flats_, but titles, in fee
simple and by deed, are given for floor above floor, oftentimes in the
same house; a custom that is difficult to account for, unless from the
curious fact that so many of the houses in Edinburgh are built so high,
by the sides of hills and precipitous ledges, that an adjoining tenant
may oftentimes step from the surface of his cultivated fields into the
tenth or twelfth story of his neighbour's back windows, and, by this
singular mode of conveyance, able to walk into a comfortable dwelling
without the expense of building, and without curtailing the area of his
arable ground. By thus getting, for a trifle, the fee simple for the
upper story, and of course the privilege of building as many stories
on the top of it as he should require, when he could afford the means
to do it, his neighbour below was called a "flat." The law, which is
generally cruel to most flats, relinquished one of its oldest and most
sacred maxims, to support the numerous claims of this kind which the
side-hills and ledges in the building-grounds of the city had produced;
and so numerous were the _flats_, and so frequent the instances of
this new sort of tenure, that the term "flat" has become carelessly
and erroneously applied to all the floors or stories of buildings in
Edinburgh that are to be let or sold separately from the rest of the
house.
It was arranged that our stay in Edinburgh was to be but for a few
days; and, with this view, we had begun to see its sights pretty
rapidly during the two first since our arrival. Many fashionable
parties were calling on the Indians in their apartments, and leaving
them presents; and at their second night's exhibition the room was
crowded to great excess with the fashion and nobility of the city. The
Indians discovered at once that they never before were in the midst of
audiences so intellectual and genteel. There was nothing of low and
vulgar appearance in any part of the room; but all had the stamp of
refinement and gentility, which stimulated their pride, and they did
their utmost.
In the midst of their amusements on that evening there was a general
call upon me from the ladies, to explain why the little "pappoose in
its cradle" was not shown, as announced in the bills; to which I was
sorry to reply that it was so ill that it could not be seen. This
having been interpreted to the Indians by Jeffrey, and also heard by
the Little Wolf's wife, the mother of the child, and then nursing it
in the room behind their platform, she suddenly arranged it, sick as
it was, in its beautifully ornamented little cradle, and, having slung
it upon her back, and thrown her pictured robe around her, walked into
the room, to the surprise of the Indians, and to the great satisfaction
of the gentlemen as well as the ladies of the whole house. Her
appearance was such, when she walked across the platform, that it
called forth applause from every quarter. Many were the ladies who
advanced from their seats to the platform, to examine so interesting a
subject more closely; and many presents were bestowed upon the mother,
who was obliged to retire again with it, from the feeble state it was
then in. This fine little child, of ten or twelve months old, and the
manner in which it was carried in its Indian cradle upon its mother's
back, had formed one of the most interesting parts of the exhibition
the whole time that the Indians were in London, and since they had
left. Its illness now becoming somewhat alarming, with the increasing
illness also of the _Roman Nose_, was adding to the old Doctor's
alarms, growing out of the _planting of the little trees_, which he had
insisted was ominous of something that would happen, but what, he did
not attempt to predict.
He was daily prescribing and attending his patients, but, being without
the roots which he uses in his own country, he was evidently much at a
loss; and the ablest advice was procured for both of the patients while
in that city.
The Doctor, on this occasion, (though somewhat depressed in spirits,
owing to his superstitious forebodings about the sick, seeing such a
vast concourse of ladies present, and all encouraging him with their
applause as he made his boasts in the eagle dance,) made an effort for
a _sensation_, as he did on his first night in London. When the dance
was done, he advanced to the edge of the platform, and, with his usual
quizzical look and smile from under his headdress of buffalo horns and
eagle quills, addressed the audience. His speech was translated by
Jeffrey, and, though it was highly applauded, fell much short of the
effect amongst the ladies which he had produced on former occasions.
He sat down somewhat in a disappointed mood, when his cruel companion,
Jim, told him that his attempt "was an entire failure, and that he
would never take with the ladies in Edinburgh." The old man replied
to him that he had better try himself, and, if he would lie flat on
his back and make a speech, perhaps _he_ might please the ladies of
Edinburgh. After another dance, and amidst the roar of applause, old
_Neu-mon-ya_ (the War-chief) arose, and, in the best of his humour,
said,--
"My friends, I thank the Great Spirit who conducted us safe across
the Great Salt Lake that His eye is still upon us, and that He has
led us to your city. No city that we have seen is so beautiful as
yours; and we have seen a great deal of it as we have been riding in
our carriage to-day. ('_How, how, how!_')
"My friends, the Great Spirit has made us with red skins, and, as
all our modes of life are different from yours, our dances are quite
different, and we are glad that they do not give any offence when we
dance them. Our dresses, which are made of skins, are not so fine and
beautiful as yours, but they keep us warm, and that we think is the
great thing. ('_How, how, how!_' Applause and 'Hear, hear.')
"My friends, we have been to-day to see your great fort. We were
much pleased with it, and the 'big gun;' we think it a great pity
it is broken. We saw the room where the king of England was born,
and we feel proud that we have been in it. ('_How, how, how!_' Much
laughter.)
"My friends, we saw there the crowns of your kings and queens as we
were told. This we don't think we quite understand yet, but we think
_Chippehola_ will tell us all that,--it may be all right. (Laughter
and 'Hear.')
"My friends, we went to another great house where we saw many things
that pleased us--we saw the bed in which your Queen slept: this was
very pleasing to us all; it was much nearer than we got to the Queen
of England. (Great laughter.)
"My friends, this is all I have to say." ('Bravo!')
After this night's exhibition, and the sights of the day which had
pleased them so much, there was subject enough for a number of pipes of
conversation; and to join them in this Mr. Melody and I had repaired to
their room, where we found them in the midst of a grand feast of ducks,
which they said it was always necessary to give when they entered a
new country, and which in this case they had expended some of their
own money in buying. Daniel and Jeffrey were seated with them, and
we were obliged to sit down upon the floor, and take each a duck's
leg at least, and a glass of the _Queen's chickabobboo_ (champagne),
which had been added at the expense of Daniel and Jeffrey, as the
ordinary _chickabobboo_ did not answer the object of a feast of that
description. After the feast was over, and the War-chief had returned
thanks to the Great Spirit, according to their invariable custom, the
pipe was lit, and then the gossip for the evening commenced. They had
already learned from Daniel that there were jails and poorhouses here
as in other places, and were now remarking that they had not yet seen
any of the "good people" here, and began to fear they had lost all
chance of meeting any of them again. They seemed to be much at a loss
to know how it was that here were the crowns and swords of kings and
queens, and the houses they had lived in, and the beds they had slept
on, and that there are none of them left. They believed, though they
were not yet quite certain of it, that this country must have been
conquered by England. These inquiries were all answered as nearly as
I could explain them; and the result was, that "it was a great pity,
in their estimations, that so fine a country and people should not
continue to have a king of their own to put on the crown again, instead
of leaving it in the castle to be shut up in a dark room." They seemed
to think it "very curious that the Scotch people should like to keep
the crown for people to look at, when they could not keep the king
to wear it;" and they thought "it would be far better to take out
the beautiful red and green stones and make watch-seals of them, and
melt the gold into sovereigns, so that some of it might get into poor
people's pockets, than to keep it where it is, just to be looked at and
to be talked of."
They thought "the crown was much more beautiful than the one they saw
in London belonging to the Queen, and which was kept in the great
prison where they saw so many guns, spears, &c."[32] The joker, Jim,
thought that "if he were the Queen he should propose to _swap_, for he
thought this decidedly the handsomest crown." The old Doctor said, that
"if he were the Queen of England he should be very well suited to wear
the one they had seen in London, and he would send and get this one
very quickly, and also the beautiful sword they saw, for Prince Albert
to wear." In this happy and conjectural mood we left them, receiving
from Daniel further accounts of the events and history of the country
which they had seen so many evidences of during their visits in the
early part of the day.
[32] The Tower.
Our stay in this beautiful city was but four days, contemplating
another visit to it in a short time; and at the close of that time
the party took a steamer for Dundee, with a view to make a visit of a
few days to that town, and afterwards spend a day or two in Perth. I
took the land route to Dundee, and, arriving there before the party,
had announced their arrival and exhibition to take place on the same
evening. An accident however that happened on the steamer compelled it
to put back to Edinburgh, and their arrival was delayed for a couple of
days.
During this voyage there was an occurrence on board of the steamer,
which was related to me by Mr. Melody and Daniel, which deserves
mention in this place. It seems that on board of the steamer, as a
passenger, was a little girl of twelve years of age and a stranger
to all on board. When, on their way, the captain was collecting his
passage-money on deck, he came to the little girl for her fare, who
told him she had no money, but that she expected to meet her father in
Dundee, whom she was going to see, and that he would certainly pay her
fare if she could find him. The captain was in a great rage, and abused
the child for coming on without the money to pay her fare, and said
that he should not let her go ashore, but should hold her a prisoner on
board, and take her back to Edinburgh with him. The poor little girl
was frightened, and cried herself almost into fits. The passengers, of
whom there were a great many, all seemed affected by her situation,
and began to raise the money amongst them to pay her passage, giving
a penny or two apiece, which, when done, amounted to about a quarter
of the sum required. The poor little girl's grief and fear still
continued, and the old Doctor, standing on deck, wrapped in his robe,
and watching all these results, too much touched with pity for her
situation, went down in the fore-cabin where the rest of the party
were, and, relating the circumstances, soon raised eight shillings, one
shilling of which, the Little Wolf, after giving a shilling himself,
put into the hand of his little infant, then supposed to be dying, that
its dying hand might do one act of charity, and caused it to drop it
into the Doctor's hand with the rest. With the money the Doctor came on
deck, and, advancing, offered it to the little girl, who was frightened
and ran away. Daniel went to the girl and called her up to the Doctor,
assuring her there was no need of alarm, when the old Doctor put the
money into her hand, and said to her, through the interpreter, and in
presence of all the passengers, who were gathering around, "Now go to
the cruel captain and pay him the money, and never again be afraid of a
man because his skin is red; but be always sure that the heart of a red
man is as good and as kind as that of a white man. And when you are in
Dundee, where we are all going, if you do not find your father as you
wish, and are amongst strangers, come to us, wherever we shall be, and
you shall not suffer; you shall have enough to eat, and, if money is
necessary, you shall have more."
Such acts of kindness as this, and others that have and will be named,
that I was a witness to while those people were under my charge,
require no further comment than to be made known: they carry their own
proof with them that the Doctor was right in saying that "the hearts of
red men are as good as those of the whites."
As I was in anxious expectation of their arrival, I met the party with
carriages when they landed, and I was pained to learn that the babe
of the Little Wolf, which he had wrapped and embraced in his arms,
was dying, and it breathed its last at the moment they entered the
apartments that were prepared for them. My heart was broken to see
the agony that this noble fellow was in, embracing his little boy,
and laying him down in the last gasp of death, in a foreign land,
and amongst strangers. We all wept for the heartbroken parents, and
also for the dear little "Corsair," as he was called (from the name
of the steamer on which he was born, on the Ohio river in the United
States). We had all become attached to the little fellow, and his death
caused a gloom amongst the whole party. The old Doctor looked more sad
than ever, and evidently beheld the symptoms of _Roman Nose_ as more
alarming than they had been.
A council was called, as the first step after their arrival, and a
pipe was passed around in solemn silence; after which it was asked by
the War-chief if I knew of any of the "good people" in that town; to
which I answered that "I was a stranger there, and did not know of any
one." It seemed it was an occasion on which they felt that it would be
an unusual pleasure to meet some of them, as the Little Wolf and his
wife had expressed a wish to find some. It occurred then to Mr. Melody
that he had a letter to a lady in that town, and, on delivering it,
found she was one of that society, and, with another kind friend, she
called and administered comfort to these wretched parents in the midst
of their distress. They brought the necessary clothes for the child's
remains, and, when we had the coffin prepared, laid it out with the
kindest hands, and prepared it for the grave; and their other continued
and kind offices tended to soothe the anguished breasts of the parents
while we remained there.
It is a subject of regret to me that I have lost the names of those two
excellent ladies, to whom my public acknowledgments are so justly due.
After they had laid the remains of the child in the coffin, each of the
young men of the party ran a knife through the fleshy part of their
left arms, and, drawing a white feather through the wounds, deposited
the feathers with the blood on them in the coffin with the body. This
done, the father and mother brought all they possessed, excepting
the clothes which they had on, and presented to them, according to
the custom of their country, and also all the fine presents they
had received, their money, trinkets, weapons, &c. This is one of
the curious modes of that tribe, and is considered necessary to be
conformed to in all cases where a child dies. The parents are bound to
give away all they possess in the world. I believe, however, that it is
understood that, after a certain time, these goods are returned, and
oftentimes with increased treasures attending them.
There now came another pang for the heart of this noble fellow, the
Little Wolf, and one which seemed to shake his manly frame more than
that he had already felt. His child he could not take with him, and the
thought of leaving it in a strange burying-ground, and "to be dug up,"
as he said he knew it would be, seemed to make his misery and that of
his wife complete. However, in the midst of his griefs, he suggested
that, if it were possible to have it conveyed to their kind friends in
Newcastle-on-Tyne, he was sure those "good people," who treated them
so kindly, would be glad to bury it in their beautiful burying-ground
which he had seen, where it would be at home, and he and his wife
should then feel happy. Mr. Melody at once proposed to take it there
himself, and attend to its burial, which pleased the parents very much,
and he started the next day with it. He was received with the greatest
kindness by Mrs. A. Richardson and their other kind friends, who
attended to its burial in the society's beautiful cemetery.[33]
[33] The reader is referred to the fervent breathing pages of a
little periodical, entitled the 'Olive Branch,' for a most
feeling and impressive account of the reception of this little
child's remains, and its burial in their beautiful cemetery,
by the Friends in Newcastle-on-Tyne.
Our visit to the delightful little town of Perth was made, where we
remained, and the Indians astonished and pleased with their wild and
unheard-of modes, for two days. We then were within fifteen miles
of Merthyl Castle, the seat of Sir William Drummond Stewart, the
well-known and bold traveller of the prairies and Rocky Mountains
of America, whose friendly invitation we received to visit his noble
mansion, but which I shall long regret came so late that other
engagements we had entered into in Edinburgh and Glasgow prevented us
from complying with it.
Our way was now back, and, having repeated their exhibitions a few
nights longer in Edinburgh, and, as before, to crowded and fashionable
houses, we commenced upon our visit to the noble city of Glasgow. On
our arrival, the party were taken in an omnibus from the station to the
town-hall, in which it was arranged their exhibitions were to be given,
and in a private room of which the Indians were to lodge.
They were pleased with the part of the city they saw as they entered
it, and were in good spirits and cheer, and prepared for the few days
they were to stop there. The same arrangement was at once made by
Mr. Melody, as in other places, to give them their daily ride in an
omnibus for their health, and for the purpose of giving them a view of
everything to be seen about the town. In their drives about the city of
Glasgow there was not so much of the picturesque and change to amuse
them as they saw in Edinburgh, yet everything was new and pleasing.
The beautiful cemetery attracted their highest admiration of anything
they saw, with all the party but the Doctor, whose whole and undivided
admiration was withheld from everything else to be centred in the noble
Hunterian Museum: the vapour-baths, conservatories, &c., which had
before arrested his attention, were all sunk and lost sight of in this.
After each and every of his visits to it he returned dejected and cast
down with the conviction of his own ignorance and white man's superior
skill. He wished very much to see the great man who made all those
wonderful preparations of diseases, and the astonishing models in wax,
as he would be so proud to offer him his hand; but, being informed that
he had been dead for many years, he seemed sad that there was no way
of paying him the tribute of his praise.
Their exhibitions, which were given nightly, as they had been given
in the Egyptian Hall, were nightly explained by me in the same way,
and fully and fashionably attended. The same kind of excitement was
repeated--speeches were made, and rounds of applause--young ladies
falling in love--Indians' talks at night, and their suppers of
beef-steaks and _chickabobboo_.
Another present of Bibles, equal in number to the number of Indians,
was handed on to the platform from an unknown hand, and each one had
the Indian name of its owner handsomely written in its front.
Scarcely a day or an evening passed but they received more or less
Bibles from the hands of the kind and Christian people who were
witnessing their amusements or inviting them to their houses; and from
the continued access to their stock during their whole career, together
with toys, with cloths and knives, and other presents, their baggage
was becoming actually of a troublesome size.
In taking their daily drives about town they had several times passed
through some of the most populous and at the same time impoverished
parts of the city; and the great numbers of poor and squalid-looking
and barefooted creatures they saw walking in the snow had excited their
deepest pity, and they had got in the daily habit of throwing pennies
to them as they passed along. The numbers of the ragged poor that they
saw there they represented as surpassing all they had seen in their
whole travels. They inquired whether there were any poor-houses there,
and, being informed that there were a number, and all full, they seemed
to be yet even more surprised. They were in the habit daily, until Mr.
Melody and myself decided it was best to check it, of each getting some
shillings changed into pennies before they started on their ride, to
scatter among the poor that they passed. Their generosity became a
subject so well known in a few days, that their carriage was followed
to their door, where gangs of beggars were stationed great part of
the day to get their pennies "when the savages went out." Some pounds
of their money they thus threw out into the streets of this great and
splendid city, in spite of all we could do to prevent them.
Our apprehensions were now becoming very great, and of course very
painful, for the fate of the poor _Roman Nose_: he seemed daily to
be losing flesh and strength, and one of the most distinguished
physicians, who was attending on him, pronounced his disease to be
pulmonary consumption. This was the first decided alarm we had about
him, and still it was difficult to believe that so fine and healthy
a looking man as he appeared but a few months before should be thus
rapidly sinking down with such a disease. He was able to be walking and
riding about, but was weak, and took no part in the exhibitions.
About this time, as I was entering the Indians' room one morning, I met
two gentlemen coming down the stairs, who recognised me, and said they
had proposed to the interpreter and the Indians to have had a little
time with them to talk upon the subjects of religion and education,
and to know whether missionaries could not be sent into their country
to teach and christianise them; and they were afraid they might not
have been understood, for they were answered that the Indians did not
wish to see them. At that moment Jeffrey was coming up the stairs, and,
as it could not have been him whom they saw, I presumed it might have
been Daniel who refused them admittance, as he might have been unable
to understand the Indians. Jeffrey told them that they had got almost
tired of talking with so many in London, but still they could go up,
and the Indians, he thought, would be glad to see them. Mr. Melody
happened at the moment to be passing also, and he invited them up. They
were introduced to the Indians and their object explained by Jeffrey.
The War-chief then said to them, as he was sitting on the floor in a
corner of the room, that he didn't see any necessity of their talking
at all, for all they would have to say they had heard from much more
intelligent-looking men than they were, in London, and in other places,
and they had given their answers at full length, which _Chippehola_ had
written all down.
"Now, my friends," said he, "I will tell you that when we first came
over to this country we thought that where you had so many preachers,
so many to read and explain the good book, we should find the white
people all good and sober people; but as we travel about we find this
was all a mistake. When we first came over we thought that white
man's religion would make all people good, and we then would have
been glad to talk with you, but now we cannot say that we like to
do it any more." ('_How, how, how!_' responded all, as Jim, who was
then lying on a large table, and resting on one elbow, was gradually
turning over on to his back, and drawing up his knees in the attitude
of speaking.)
The War-chief continued:--
"My friends--I am willing to talk with you if it can do any good
to the hundreds and thousands of poor and hungry people that we
see in your streets every day when we ride out. We see hundreds
of little children with their naked feet in the snow, and we pity
them, for we know they are hungry, and we give them money every
time we pass by them. In four days we have given twenty dollars to
hungry children--we give our money only to children. We are told
that the fathers of these children are in the houses where they sell
fire-water, and are drunk, and in their words they every moment abuse
and insult the Great Spirit. You talk about sending _black-coats_
among the Indians: now we have no such poor children among us; we
have no such drunkards, or people who abuse the Great Spirit. Indians
dare not do so. They pray to the Great Spirit, and he is kind to
them. Now we think it would be better for your teachers all to stay
at home, and go to work right here in your own streets, where all
your good work is wanted. This is my advice. I would rather not say
any more." (To this all responded '_How, how, how!_')
Jim had evidently got ready to speak, and showed signs of beginning;
but White-cloud spoke to him, and wished him not to say anything. It
was decided by these gentlemen at once to be best not to urge the
conversation with them; and Mr. Melody explained to them the number of
times they had heard and said all that could be said on the subject
while in London, and that they were out of patience, and of course a
little out of the humour for it. These gentlemen, however, took great
interest in them, and handed to each of the chiefs a handsome Bible,
impressing upon them the importance of the words of the Great Spirit,
which were certainly all contained in them, and which they hoped the
Indians might have translated to them. And as I was descending the
stairs with them, one of them said to me that he never in his life
heard truer remarks, or a lesson that more distinctly and forcibly
pointed out the primary duties of his profession.
A few days more, the incidents of which I need not name, finished our
visit to the city of Glasgow; and an hour or more by the railway, along
the banks of the beautiful Clyde, and passing Dumbarton Castle, landed
us in the snug little town of Greenock, from which we were to take
steamer to Dublin.
The Indians gave their dances and other amusements there for three
or four evenings before we took leave. They were looked upon there
as great curiosities, but scarcely formed any acquaintances or
attachments, except in one branch of our concern. All were anxious to
leave and be on the way to Dublin, except the Doctor, who thought it
was bad policy to leave so quick; and though he got on to the steamer
with all the rest, he did it very reluctantly, without assigning any
reason for it until we were on the voyage, when he acknowledged to
Daniel that the reason why he disliked to leave so soon was, that "one
of the little maids in the hotel where they lodged used to come in
every night, after all were asleep, and lie by the side of him on his
buffalo robe." For this simple acknowledgment all seemed rather to
sympathise with the polite old gentleman; but it was now too late for a
remedy, for we were near to the desired city of Dublin.