592 THE GEORGE CATLIN INDIAN GALLERY. 



and indispensable customs of his race; for whicli, and for auolber cogent reason 

 (that " his lips were getting very dry after eating so much"), he thought we would 

 be willing (as of course we were) to let Daniel go for a jug of chickahohboo. 



The whole party now seemed to be comj)letely happy, and In the midst of enjoy- 

 ment. They were excited and amused every night in their exhibitions, which afforded 

 them wholesome exercise ; and during the days they took their drives through the 

 city and into the country, and beheld the sights of the great metropolis, or reclined 

 around their rooms on their buffalo robes, enjoying their pipes or counting their 

 money, of which they had received some thirty or forty pounds, presented to them 

 in the room at various times, independent of that received from Her Majesty, and 

 their wages, and trinkets, and other presents. 



THE INDIANS SEE THE PROCESSION AT THE OPENING OF PARLIAMENT, 1845. 



Of theit drives, one of the most exciting and interesting that they had or could have 

 in London was about this time, when Her Majesty rode in state to the opening of Par- 

 liament. They were driven through the immense concourse of people assembled on 

 the line and along Parliament street, and conducted to a jiosition reserved for them 

 on the roof of St. Mary's chapel, near Westminster Abbey. From this elevated posi- 

 tion they had a splendid bird's-eye view of the crowd below, and the progress of the 

 Queen's state carriage, as it rolled along on its massive wheels of gold, and drawn by 

 eight cream-colored horses. So grand a pageant filled their rude, uncultivated minds 

 with the strangest conjectures, which were subjects for several evenings' curious gos- 

 si]i. And what seemed to please them most of all the incidents of the day was, as 

 they said, " that Her Majesty and the Prince both most certainly looked up from their 

 golden carriage to see them on the top of the church. 



A day's shooting "WITH THE ST. GEORGE'S ARCHERY CLUB. 



They were also most kindly invited by the members of the St. George's Archery 

 Club to witness their bow-aud-arrow shooting on one of their prize-days. This was 

 calculated to engage their closest attention; and at night they returned home in 

 great glee. They had been treated with the greatest kindness by the gentlemen of 

 that club. They had i)ut up a gold medal for the Indians to shoot for, which was 

 won by Sah-mali (Tobacco), and other prizes were taken by others of the party.* 

 The first shot made by the young man who bore off" the golden prize was said to have 

 been one of the most extraordinary ever made on their grounds ; but in their subse- 

 quent shooting they fell a great way short of it, and also of that of the young gentle- 

 men belonging to the club. After the shooting of the Indians, and also of the mem- 

 bers of the club, contending for their valuable prizes, the Indians were invited to 

 their table, where a sumptuous dinner was partaken of. Many toasts were drunk, 

 and many speeches made ; and to their agreeable surprise, as they said, they had 

 plenty of the Queen's cliickdbohhoo ! — Pages 169-179, Vol. 1, Catlin's Notes in Europe. 



* It was stated in some of the papers of tlie day that the Indian won the golden prize from the mem- 

 bers of the club, which was not the case. It was put up, most liberally, by the young men of the so- 

 ciety for the Indians to shoot for among themselves, and won in this way, not from the members of 

 the club. 



There are no Indians in North America who can equal the shooting of these young gentlemen, who 

 practice much this beautiful and manly exercise. I have often, at their kind invitations, visited their 

 grounds, and I have had the opportunity of seeing the shooting amongst most of the American tribes. 

 The Indian tribes who use the bow and arrow at the present time are mostly the prairie tribes, who 

 are mounted, and from their horses' backs, at full speed, throw their arrows but a very lew paces, and 

 use a short bow of two feet or two feet and a half in length, and therefore never practice at the target 

 at the distance of one or two hundred yards. Their skill and power, however, in that mode of using 

 the bow is almost incopceivable, and might puzzle the 'gest archers in England or in the world to equal. 



