THE GEORGE CATLIN INDIAN GALLERY. 595- 



tliem ; and they gathered in groups in front of their enemies, whom the warriors had 

 met in battle, and now recognized before them. They looked with great pleasure on 

 a picture of their own village, and examined with the closest scrutiny the arms and 

 weapons of their enemies. One may easily imagine how much there was in this col- 

 lection to entertain these rude people, and how much to command their attachment 

 to me, with w'hom they had already resolved to unite. 



A council was held and the pipe lit under the Crow wigwam, which was standing 

 in the middle of my room ; when Jlr. Melody explained to the Indians that he had now 

 got them safe across the ocean as he had promised, and into the midst of the greatest 

 city in the world, where they would see many curious things, and make many good 

 and valuable friends, if they conducted themselves x>roperly, which he was confident 

 they would do. 



" You have met," said he, " your old friend CMp-pe-ho-la, whom you have talked 

 80 much about on the way ; you are now in his wonderful collection, and he is by the 

 Side of you, and you will hear what he has to say. ( ' How ! ho w ! how ! ') " 



I reminded the "White Cloud of the time that I was in his village, and lived under 

 his father's tent, where I had been kindly treated, and for which I should always feel 

 grateful. That in meeting them here, I did not meet them as strangers, but as friends. 

 ("How ! how! how!") That they had come a great way, and with a view to make 

 something to carry home to their wives and little children ; that Mr. Melody and I 

 had entered into an arrangement by which I was in hopes that my efforts might aid 

 in enabling them to do so. ( " How ! how ! how ! ") That I was willing to devotd all 

 my time, and do all that was in my power, but the continuation of my exertions 

 would depend entirely upon their own conduct, and their efforts to gain respect, by 

 aiding in every way they could, and keeping themselves entirely sober and free from 

 the use of spirituous liquors. (" How ! how ! how ! ") 



Mr. Melody here remarked that they had pledged their words to him and their 

 Great Father (as the condition on which they were allowed to come) that they would 

 drink no ardent spirits while absent, and that he was glad to say they had thus far 

 kept their promise strictly. (" How ! how I how ! ") 



I told them I was glad to hear this, and I had uo doubt but they would keep their 

 word with me on that point, for everything depended on it. We were amongst a 

 peoi)le who look upon drunkenness as low and beastly, and also as a crime ; and as 

 I had found that most white people were of opinion that all Indians were drunkards, 

 if they would show by their conduct that such was not the case they would gain 

 many warm and kind friends wherever they went. ("How! how! how!") I told 

 them that the Ojibbeways whom I had had with me, and who had recently gone 

 home, gave me a solemn promise when they arrived that they would keep entirely 

 sober and use no spirituous liquors, that they kept that promise awhile, but I had 

 been grieved to hear that before they left the country they had taken up the wicked 

 habit of drinking whisky and getting drunk, by which they had lost all the respect 

 that white people had for them when they first came over. (A great laugh, and 

 "How!how! ho.w!") 



Neu-mon-ija (the War Chief) replied to me, that they were thankful that the Great 

 Spirit had kept them safe across the ocean and allowed them to see me, and to smoke 

 the pipe again with me, and to hear my wise counsel, which they had all determined 

 to keep. ("Howl how! how!") He said that they had been very foolish to learn to 

 drink fire-water in their country, which was very destructive to them, and they had 

 promised their Great Father, the President, that they would drink none of it whilst 

 they were abroad. He said ho hoped I would not judge them by the Ojibbeways 

 who had been hero, " for," said he, " they are all a set of drunkards and thieves, and 

 always keep their promises just about as well as they kept them with you." (A 

 laugh, and "How! how! how!")* 



*Some allowance will be made for the freedom with which the lowas occasionally speak of their 

 predecessors, the Ojibbeways, as these two tribes have lived in a state of constant warfare from time 

 immemorial. 



