THE GEORGE CATDIN INDIAN GALLERY. 579 



They amused him with the war-dance and the TVa-be-no dance, giving several songs 

 and the war-whoop. * * * 



The duke most kindly took leave of them, presenting to the old chief 10 sovereigns, 

 which he divided equally among the number, and sent them on the following day 10 

 pounds of the choicest smoking tobacco. 



WAITING AN AUDIENCE WITH THE QUEEN. 



The announcement of the arrival of the Ojibbeways, which had been made in the 

 public papers, and tho notice also of their interview with the Duke of Cambridge, were 

 now gaiuiug them a notoriety with the public, and, amongst my personal friends, was 

 announcing that I had returned to London, which altogether brought me a flood of ap- 

 plicants for private interviews with them. We had resolved not to make any exhibition 

 of their modes to the public until after they had seen the Queen, and the month that 

 we remained idle, and waiting for Her Majesty's command, was rendered tedious and 

 troublesome from the above causes. We were daily and hourly importuned for per- 

 missions to seo them, which were in part granted, until it became quite necessary 

 that I should absent myself from them, leaving instructions at the door that no com- 

 munication could be had with them at present. Mr. Rankin during this time staid 

 constantly with them, and I occasionally spent an eveuing of gossip and smoked a 

 pipe with them. We made use of most of the time in endeavoring to show them as 

 much of the great city as possible, driving them out iu a 'bus during the day, and sev- 

 eral times taking them into the country to spend a day running over the fields, for 

 the benefit of their health. 



THE INDIAN'S' IMPRESSIONS OF LONDON. 



After ouo of their first drives about the city, when they had been passed through 

 Regent street, the Strand, Cheapside, Oxford street, and Holborn, I spent the evening 

 in a talk with them in their rooms, and was exceedingly amused with the shrewd- 

 ness of their remarks upon what they had seen. They had considered the " prairies 

 still on fire," from tho quantity of smoke they met; one of the women had under- 

 taken to count the number of carriages they passed, but was obliged to give it up; 

 "saw a great many fine houses, but nobody in the windows; saw many men with a 

 large board on tho back, and another on tho breast, walking in the street— supposed 

 it was some kind of punishment; saw men carrying bags of coal, their hats on wrong 

 side before ; saw line ladies and gentlemen riding in tho middle of the streets in car- 

 riages, but a great many poor and ragged people on the sides of the roads ; saw a 

 great many men and women drinking in shops where they saw great barrels and hogs- 

 heads ; saw several drunk in the streets. They had passed two Indians in the street 

 with brooms, sweeping away the mud ; they saw them hold out their hands to people 

 going by, as if they were begging for money ; they saw many other people begging, 

 some with brooms in their hands and others with little babies in their arms, who 

 looked as if they wero hungry for food to eat. They had much to say about the two 

 Indians they had passed. " It could not be that whito people would dress and paint 

 themselves like Indians m order to beg money, and they could not see how Indians 

 would consent to stand in the streets and sweep the mud away in order to beg for 

 money." They appealed to me to know whether they were really Indians, and I 

 said, "Yes; they are natives from the East Indies, called Lascars. They are natu- 

 rally, most probably like yourselves, too proud to work or to beg ; but they have 

 been left by some cruel fate to earn their living in the streets of London or to starve 

 to death, and, poor fellows, they have preferred begging to starvation." The Indians 

 seemed much affected by the degradation that these poor fellows were driven to, and 

 resolved that they would carry some money with them when they went out, to throw 

 to them, 



