594 THE GEORGE CATLIN INDIAN GALLERY. 



Mr. Oatlin called upon them at No. 7 St. James street, and thus de- 

 scribes his first visit : 



Mr. Melody called upon me immediately on his arrival in London, and I went 

 with him to see his party, several of whom I at once recognized as I entered their 

 rooms. On seeing me they all rose upon their feet and offered me their hands, 

 saluting me by their accustomed word, " How, how, how ! Chip-pe-ho-la ! ? and evi- 

 dently were prepared for great pleasure on meeting me. White Cloud (No. 256), the 

 head chief of the tribe, was of the party, and also the war-chief Neu-mon-ya (the 

 Walking Rain, No. 258). These two chiefs, whose portraits were then hanging in my 

 collection, had stood before me for their pictures several years previous in their own 

 village, and also one of the warriors now present whose name was TVash-lca-mon-ya 

 (the Fast Dancer). These facts being known, one can easily imagine how anxious 

 these good fellows had been, during a journey of two thousand miles from their coun- 

 try to New York, and then during their voyage across the ocean, to meet me in a for- 

 eign land, who had, several years before, shared the hospitality of their village, and, 

 to their knowledge, had done so much to collect and perpetuate the history of their 

 race. They had come also, as I soon learned, in the full expectation to dance in my 

 collection, which they were now impatient to see. 



This first interview was during the evening of their arrival, and was necessarily 

 brief, that they might get their night's rest and be prepared to visit my rooms in the 

 morning. A few pipes were smoked out as we were all seated on the floor, in a " talk" 

 upon the state of affairs in their country and incidents of their long and tedious jour- 

 ney, at the end of which they now required rest, and I left them. * * # 



Their rooms had been engaged before their arrival, but the good woman [land- 

 lady] "had no idea they were going to look so savage and wild ; she was very much 

 afraid that their red paint would destroy her beds," not yet knowing that they were 

 to wash the paint all off before they retired to rest, and that then they were to spread 

 their buffalo robes upon the floor and sleep by the side of, and under her beds, instead 

 of getting into them. These facts, when they became known, amused her very much ; 

 and Mr. Melody's representations of the harmlessness and honesty of the Indians put 

 her at rest with respect to the safety of her person and her property about her house* 



The objects of these being the same as those of the former party, of seeing the coun- 

 try and making money by their exhibitions, I entered into a similar arrangement with. 

 Mr. Melody, joining with my collection, conducting their exhibitions, and sharing the 

 expenses and receipts of the same, on condition that such an arrangement should be- 

 agreeable to the Indians. 



THE IOWAS VISIT CATLIN'S GALLERY. 



After taking their breakfasts and finishing their toilets, they stepped into carriages 

 and paid their first visit to my collection, then open in the Egyptian Hall. Instead 

 of yelling and shouting as the Ojibbeways did on first entering it, they all walked 

 silently and slowly to the middle of the room, with their hands over their mouths, 

 denoting surprise and silence. In this position, for some minutes (wrapped in their 

 pictured robes, which were mostly drawn over their heads or up to their eyes), they 

 stood and rolled their eyes about the room in all directions, taking a general survey of 

 what was around them, before a word was spoken. There was an occasional u she-e" 

 in a lengthened whisper, and nothing more for some time, when at length a gradual 

 and almost imperceptible conversation commenced about portraits and things which 

 they recognized around the room. They had been in a moment transferred into the 

 midst of hundreds of their friends and their enemies, who were gazing at them from 

 the walls — amongst wigwams and thousands of Indian costumes and arms, and views 

 of the prairies they live in — altogether opening to their view, and to be seen at a glance, 

 what it would take them years to see in their own country. They met the portraits- 

 of their chiefs and other friends upon the walls, and extended their hands towards 



