Read Ebook: Adventures of the Ojibbeway and Ioway Indians in England France and Belgium; Vol. 1 (of 2) being Notes of Eight Years' Travels and Residence in Europe with his North American Indian Collection by Catlin George

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OF VOL. 1.

Howling of the grizly Bears--Alarm and excitement about the docks--Scuffle for luggage--Scene at the Grecian Hotel--Landing the grizly bears--Author's journey to London--Ibbotson's Hotel--First sally into the streets--First impressions of London--Adventure in the fog and mud--Amusing occurrence in the street--Beggars at the crossings of the streets--Ingenious mode of begging--Rich shops--No pigs in the streets--Soot and smoke of London--Author returns to Liverpool--Daniel's trouble with the bears--Passing the Indian Collection and grizly bears through the Customs--Arrival in London with Collection and bears--Daniel in difficulty--Howling of bears passing through the Tunnel--The "King of New York," and "King Jefferson" 12

Indian Collection arranged for exhibition--Description of it--The Hon. Charles Augustus Murray--Collection opened to private view--Kindness of the Hon. Mr. Murray--Distinguished visitors--Mr. Murray's explanations--Kind reception by the Public and the Press--Kind friends--Fatigue of explaining and answering questions--Curious remedy proposed by a friend--Pleasures and pains of a friendly and fashionable dinner 34

Author's illness from overtalking in his Collection--Daniel's illness from the same cause--Character of Daniel--His labour-saving plan for answering one hundred questions--His disappointment--Daniel travels to Ireland for his health--Author prepares to publish his Notes of Travel amongst the Indians--John Murray --His reasons for not publishing the Author's work--His friendly advice--Author's book published by himself at the Egyptian Hall--Illustrious subscribers--Thomas Moore--Critical notices in London papers 45

The Author dines with the Royal Highland Society--The Duke of Richmond presides--His Grace's compliment to the Author and his country--Sir David Wilkie--His compliment to the Author--Charles Augustus Murray and the Author at the Caledonian Ball in Indian costumes--Their rehearsal--Dressing and painting--Entering the ball--Alarm of ladies--Mr. Murray's infinite amusement amongst his friends--War-dance and war-whoops--Great applause--Bouquets of flowers--Scalp-dance--Brooches and bracelets presented to the chiefs--Trinkets returned--Perspiration carries off the paint, and Mr. Murray recognised--Amusement of his friends--The "Indians" return to Egyptian Hall at seven in the morning--Their amusing appearance 66

Their Royal Highnesses the Duke of Coburg and Prince Ernest visit the Collection--His Royal Highness the Duc de Brabant visits the Collection with the Hon. Mr. Murray--The Author presents him an Indian pipe and pair of mocassins--Visit of His Royal Highness the Duke of Sussex to the Collection--His noble sympathy for the Indians--He smokes an Indian pipe under the wigwam--The Author takes breakfast with the Duke of Sussex in Kensington Palace--The Duke's dress and appearance--John Hunter, the Indian traveller--The Duke's inquiries about him--Monsieur Duponceau--Visit to the Bank of England--To Buckingham Palace--To Windsor Castle--Author visits the Polish Ball with several friends in Indian costumes 79

Consequent troubles for Daniel in the exhibition-rooms--Daniel's difficulty with an artist making copies--Takes his sketch-book from him--Tableaux vivans commenced--List of the groups--Hon. Mr. Murray attends, with His Royal Highness the Due de Brabant--The Author presented to Her Majesty and His Royal Highness Prince Albert, by the Hon. Mr. Murray--Indian Collection removed to Liverpool--Biennial exhibition of Mechanics' Institution--22,000 children admitted free to the Indian Collection in one week--The Indian tableaux vivans in the provincial towns for six months--Collection opened in Sheffield--In Manchester--Nine Ojibbeway Indians arrive, in charge of Mr. Rankin--His proposal to the Author 90

Difficulty of procuring lodgings for the Indians--The Author pays them a visit--Is recognised by them--Arrangement with Mr. Rankin--Crowds around their hotel--First visit of the Ojibbeways to the Author's Collection--Their surprise--Council held under the wigwam--Indians agree to drink no spirituous liquors--The old Chiefs speech to the Author--Names of the Indians--Their portraits--Description of each--Cadotte, the interpreter 103

Indians on the housetops--Great alarm--Curious excitement--People proposing to "take them" with ropes--Railway to London--The "Iron-horse"--"The Iron-horse stops to drink"--Arrive in London--Alarm of the landlady--Visit from the Hon. Mr. Murray--Interview with His Royal Highness the Duke of Cambridge--Old Chief's speech--War-dance--The Duke gives them ten sovereigns and ten pounds of tobacco--Indians ride about the city in an "omnibus and four"--Remarks on what they saw--The smoke--"Prairies on fire"--Lascars sweeping the streets--Visit from the Reverend Mr. S.--Impatience to see the Queen--Great medicine-feast to gain Her Majesty's consent--Curious ceremony--Hon. Mr. Murray's letter comes in--The Queen's appointment to see them--Great rejoicing 123

Exhibition rooms--Great crowd--The "jolly fat dame"--Her interview with Cadotte--She gives presents to all the Indians--Excitement in the crowd--Women kissing the Indians--Red paint on their faces and dresses--Old Chief's dream and feast of thanksgiving--An annual ceremony--Curious forms observed--Indians invited to the St. George's archery-ground--They shoot for a gold medal--They dine with the members of the club--The "jolly fat dame" and Cadotte--She takes him to his lodgings in her carriage--Cadotte gets sick--Is in love with another!--Daniel unfolds the secret to her--Her distress--She goes to the country--The "jolly fat dame" returns--Cadotte's engagement to marry--Rankin promotes the marriage--The Author disapproves of it 167

Opinions of the Press Page 205

Museum of History 246

A Descriptive Catalogue of Catlin's Indian Collection 248

CATLIN'S NOTES IN EUROPE,

In the fall of the year 1839 I embarked at New York on board of the packet-ship Roscius, Captain Collins, for Liverpool, with my Indian collection; having received a very friendly letter of advice from the Hon. C. A. Murray, master of Her Majesty's household, who had formerly been a fellow-traveller with me on the Mississippi and other rivers in America; and who, on his return to London, had kindly made a conditional arrangement for my collection in the Egyptian Hall, in Piccadilly.

Mr. George Adlard, an Englishman, residing in the city of New York, had also exerted a friendly influence for me in procuring an order from the Lords of Her Majesty's Treasury for passing my collection into the kingdom free from the customary duties; and under these auspices I was launched upon the wide ocean, with eight tons freight, consisting of 600 portraits and other paintings which I had made in my sojourn of eight years in the prairies and Rocky Mountains of America--several thousands of Indian articles, costumes, weapons, &c., with all of which I intended to convey to the English people an accurate account of the appearance and condition of the North American tribes of Indians.

The wind was kind to us, and soon drove us across the Atlantic, without more than an incident or two worth recording, which I had minuted down as follows:--About the middle of the ocean, and in the midst of a four or five days' heavy gale, we came suddenly upon a ship, partly dismasted, with signals of distress flying, and water-logged, rolling about at the mercy of the merciless waves. We rounded-to with great danger to our own craft, and, during the early part of the night, succeeded, with much difficulty, in taking off the captain and crew of twenty-eight men, just before she went down. This was a common occurrence, however, and needs no further notice, other than of a feature or two which struck me as new. When the poor, jaded, and water-soaked fellows were all safely landed on the deck of our vessel, they laid down upon their faces and devoutly thanked God for their deliverance; and last of all that was lifted on board from their jolly-boat was their keg of rum, the only thing which they had brought with them when they deserted the ship. "This," good Captain Collins said, "you will not want now, my boys," and he cast it into the sea.

Captain James, a bland and good-natured Scotsman, commander of the Scotia, the unfortunate vessel, was invited by Captain Collins to the cabin of the Roscius, and into his state-room, where he was soon put into a suit of dry and warm clothes, and afterwards seated at the table; where, suddenly, a sullen resistance to food, and contemplative tears rolling over his cheeks, showed his rough shell to contain a heart that was worthy of the fondest affections of a dear wife and sweet little ones--none of which was he blessed with, if I recollect aright. But when his grief found utterance, he exclaimed, "My God! I have left my poor dog tied to the mast of my old craft. There he is, poor fellow! When we took to the jolly-boat I never thought of my poor Pompey!"

The briny tears seemed to burn this veteran's hardened features as they ran over his cheeks; and hunger and fatigue, and all gave way to them and grief, until sleep had dried them up, and taken the edge from his anguished mind.

These two awkward voyageurs from the base of the Rocky Mountains, which I had reared from cubs, and fed for more than four years--for whose roughness in clawing and "chawing" I had paid for half a dozen cages which they had demolished and escaped from, and the prices of as many dogs "used up" in retaking them, had now grown to the enormous size of eight or ten hundred pounds each; requiring a cage of iron so large that it could not be packed amongst the ship's cargo below, but must needs occupy a considerable space on the deck, in the form and size somewhat of a small house.

The front of this cage was formed of huge iron bars, kindly indulging the bruins to amuse themselves with a peep at what was progressing on deck, whilst it afforded the sailors and steerage passengers the amusement of looking and commenting upon the physiognomy and manuvres of these rude specimens from the wilderness of America. This huge cage, with its inmates, had ridden into and partly through the gale with us, when the bears became subjects of more violent interest and excitement than we had as yet anticipated or could have wished. What had taken place amongst the sick and frightened group of passengers during this roaring, whistling, thrashing, and dashing gale, was common-place, and has been a thousand times described; but the sea-sickness, and rage, and fury of these two grizly denizens of the deep ravines and rocky crags of the Rocky Mountains, were subjects as fresh as they were frightful and appalling to the terrified crew and passengers who were about them, and therefore deserve a passing comment.

Here was a sudden check to the familiarity with the bears; the results of which were, a renewal of the orders of non-intercourse from Captain Collins, and a marked coolness between the sailors and steerage passengers and the grizlies during the remainder of the voyage.

The sailor was committed to the care of Dr. Madden, in the cabin, the distinguished traveller in Africa and the West Indies, and now one of our esteemed fellow-passengers, who skilfully replaced and arranged his nose with stitches and splints, and attended to it during the voyage. The poor fellow continued to swear vengeance on the bears when they should reach the land; but I believe that when they were landed in Liverpool, his nose was not sufficiently secure to favour his design. This unlucky affair had happened some days previous to the gale which I have begun to describe; and with the unsociable and cold reserve with which they were subsequently treated by all on board , they had, as I have mentioned, become partakers and sufferers with us in the pangs and fears of the hurricane that was sweeping over the vessel and the sea about us.

The third day of the gale became the most alarming, and the night of that day closing in upon us, seemed like the gloomy shroud amidst the hurrying winds and the cracking spars, that was to cover us in death. Until this day, though swinging from mountains to mountains of waves, the ship and the elements mingled our fears with amusement. When, however, this day's light was gone, curiosity's feast was finished, and fear was no longer chained under our feet--we had reached the climax of danger, and terror seemed to have seized and reigned through every part of the ship. The bears, in contemplative or other vein, had been mute; but at this gloomy hour, seeming to have lost all patience, added, at first their piteous howlings, and then their horrid growls, to the whistling of the winds; and next, the gnashing of their teeth, and their furious lurches, and bolts, and blows against the sides of their cage, to the cracking of spars and roaring of the tempest! Curiosity again, in desperate minds, was resuscitated, and taking in its insatiable draughts even in the midst of this jarring and discordant medley of darkness--of dashing foam, of cracking masts, and of howlings and growlings and raging of grizly bears; for when the lightnings flashed, men were seen crawling and hanging about the deck, as if to see if they could discover the death that was ready with his weapons drawn to destroy them.

The captain had twenty times ordered all below, but to no purpose, until in the indiscriminate confusion of his crew and the passengers, in the jet blackness of the gale, when his ship was in danger, and our lives, his trumpet announced that "the bears were on deck!"

"Good God!" was exclaimed and echoed from one end of the ship's deck to the other; "the grizly bears are out! down with the hatches--down the hatches!" The scrambling that here took place to reach the cabins below can only be justly known to each actor who performed his part in his own way; and of these there were many. Some descended headlong, some sidewise, and others rolled down; and every one with a ghastly glance back upon the one behind him, as a grizly bear, of course, that was to begin his "chawing" the next moment.

When the scrambling was all over, and the hatches all safe, all in the cabin were obliged to smile for a moment, even in the midst of the alarm, at the queer position and manuvres of a plump little Irish woman who had slipped down the wrong hatchway by accident, and left her "other half" to spend a night of celibacy, and of awful forebodings, in the steerage, where she would have gone, but to which her own discretion as well as the united voices of the cabin passengers decided her not to attempt to make her way over the deck during the night.

The passengers, both fore and aft, were now all snugly housed for the rest of the night, and the captain's smothered voice through his trumpet, to his hands aloft, and the stamping of the men on deck, while handling the ropes and shifting the sails, were all caught by our open ears, and at once construed into assaults and dreadful conflicts with the grizly bears on deck.

In the midst of these conjectures some one of the passengers screamed and sprang from near the stairway entering the cabin, when it was discovered, to the thrilling amazement of all, that one of the bears had pawed open the hatchway, and was descending into the cabin! The ladies' salon, beyond the cabin, was the refuge to which the instant rush was making, when the always good and musical sound of the captain's voice was recognized. "Why! you don't think I'm a grizly bear, do you?" The good fellow! he didn't intend to frighten anybody. He had just raised the hatch and came down to get a little breath and a "drop to drink." He is as unlike to a grizly bear as any one else in the world, both in looks and in disposition; but he happened to have on for the occasion a black oil-cloth hood or cap, which was tied under the chin; and a jacket covered with long fur on the outside, making his figure , with a little of the lively imagination belonging to such moments, look the counterpart of a grizly bear. "Where's Catlin?" said he; "damn the bears!" "Are they out?" cried the passengers all together. "Out?--yes; they have eaten one man already, and another was knocked overboard with a handspike; he was mistaken for one of the bears. We are all in a mess on deck--it's so dark we can't see each other--the men are all aloft in the rigging. Steward! give me a glass of brandy-and-water--the ship must be managed, and I must go on deck. Keep close below here, and keep the hatches down, for the bruins are sick of the scene, and pawing about for a burrow in the ground, and will have the hatches up in a moment if you don't look to them. Where's Catlin?" "We don't know," was the reply from many mouths; "he is not in the cabin."

"Will, here, Misther Captain, yer honour, I'll till ye," said a poor fellow, who in the general fright and flight had tumbled himself by accident into the cabin, and observed sullen silence until the present moment; "I'll jist till ye--I saw Misther Cathlin and his mon Dan ; I saw the two, God bliss them, when the bastes was about gettin their hinder parts out of the cage, stannin on the side jisth before 'em, Misther Cathlin with his double-barrel gun, and his mon Dan pointin at 'em in the face, with a pistol in each hand; and this was jist whin I heard they were outh, and I jimped down here jist in the wrong place, as I am after observin when it is too late, and I hope there is no offence to your honour."

"Catlin's gone then," said the captain; "he is swallowed!"

The captain was at his post again, the hatches closed, and in the midst of dozing, and praying, and singing was passed away that night of alarm and despair, until the rays of the morning's sun having chased away the mist and assuaged the fury of the storm, had brought all hands together on the deck, and in the midst of them the cheerful face of our good captain; and in their huge cage, which had been driven from one side of the deck to the other, but now adjusted, sitting upon their haunches, with the most jaded and humiliating looks imaginable, as they gazed between their iron bars, their two grizly majesties, who had hurt nobody during the night, nor in all probability had meditated anything worse or more sinful than an escape, if possible, from the imprisonment and danger they considered themselves unfortunately in.

In the general alarm and scramble on deck in the forepart of the night, the total darkness having been such that it was impossible to tell whether the bears were out of their cage or not, and quite impossible to make one's way to the quarter-deck, unaccustomed to the shapes of things to be passed over, "Misther Cathlin" had dropped himself into the steerage as the nearest refuge, just before the hatch was fastened down for the night. Any place, and anything under deck at that time, was acceptable; and even at so perilous a moment, and amidst such alarming apprehensions, I drew a fund of amusement from the scenes and conversations around me. The circumstance of sixty passengers, men, women, and children, being stowed into so small a compass, and to so familiar an acquaintance, would have been alone, and under different circumstances, a subject of curious interest for a stranger so suddenly to be introduced to; but to be dropped into the midst of such a group in the middle of the night, in the thickest of a raging tempest, and the hour of danger, when some were in bed--some upon their knees at their prayers--others making the most of the few remaining drops of brandy they had brought with them, and others were playing at cards and enjoying their jokes, and all together just rescued from the jaws and the claws of the bears over their heads, was one of no common occurrence, and worthy at least of a few passing remarks.

The wailings of the poor fellow whose wife had got into the cabin were incessant, and not much inferior to the howlings of the grizlies on deck. She had been put into my berth, and I had had the privilege of "turning in" with her disconsolate husband, if I had seen fit to have done so, or if his writhings and contortions had not taken up full twice the space allotted to him. It was known and told to him by some of his comrades, that they saw his wife go into the cabin, and that she was safe. "Yis," said he, "but I'm unasy, I'm not asy about her, d'ye see; I don't fale asy as she's there, God knows where, along with those jintlemen."

Amongst the passengers in this part of the vessel I at once found myself alongside of at least two very eccentric characters. The one, I afterwards learned, was familiarly called by the passengers "the little Irishman in black," and the other "the half-Englishman, or broken-down swell."

This eccentric and droll, but good-natured gentleman, with the aid of porter made much amusement in the steerage, even in the hour of alarm; and though I did not at that time know his calibre, or exactly what to make of him, I afterwards learned that he was an English cockney who had been on a tour through the States, and was now on his way back to his fatherland. He had many amusing notions and anecdotes to relate of the Yankees, and in his good-natured mellowness told a very good one of himself, much to the amusement of the Yankees on board, and the little Irishman in black, and my man Daniel. He said that "the greatest luxury he found in New York were the hoisters, and much as he liked them he had eaten them for two years before he had learned whether they were spelled with a haitch or a ho." Much valuable time would be lost to the reader if I were to chain him down to the rest of the incidents that happened between the middle of the ocean and Liverpool; and I meet him there at the beginning of my next chapter.

Howling of the grizly Bears--Alarm and excitement about the docks--Scuffle for luggage--Scene at the Grecian Hotel--Landing the grizly Bears--Author's journey to London--Ibbotson's Hotel--First sally into the streets--First impressions of London--Adventure in the fog and mud--Amusing occurrence in the street--Beggars at the crossings of the streets--Ingenious mode of begging--Rich shops--No pigs in the streets--Soot and smoke of London--Author returns to Liverpool--Daniel's trouble with the Bears--Passing the Indian Collection and grizly Bears through the Customs--Arrival in London with Collection and Bears--Daniel in difficulty--Howling of Bears passing through the Tunnel--The "King of New York," and "King Jefferson."

The arrival of the Roscius on that occasion was of course a conspicuous one, and well announced; and we entered the dock amidst an unusual uproar and crowd of spectators. After the usual manner, the passengers were soon ashore, and our luggage examined, leaving freight and grizly bears on board, to be removed the next morning. From the moment of landing on the wharf to the Custom-house, and from that to the hotel where I took lodgings, I was obliged to "fend off," almost with foot and with fist, the ragamuffins who beset me on every side; and in front, in the rear, and on the right and the left, assailed me with importunities to be allowed to carry my luggage. In the medley of voices and confusion I could scarcely tell myself to which of these poor fellows I had committed my boxes; and no doubt this delightful confusion and uncertainty encouraged a number of them to keep close company with my luggage until it arrived at the Grecian Hotel. When it was all safely landed in the hall, I asked the lad who stood foremost and had brought my luggage in his cart, how much was to pay for bringing it up? "Ho, Sir, hi leaves it to your generosity, Sir, has you are a gentleman, Sir; hit's been a werry eavy load, Sir."

I was thus very comfortable for the night, having no further annoyance or real excitement until the next morning after breakfast, when it became necessary to disembark the grizly bears. My other heavy freight had gone to Her Majesty's Custom-house, and all the passengers from the cabin and steerage had gone to comfortable quarters, leaving the two deck passengers, the grizlies, in great impatience, and as yet undisposed of. My man Daniel had been on the move at an early hour, and had fortunately made an arrangement with a simple and unsuspecting old lady in the absence of her "good man," to allow the cage to be placed in a small yard adjoining her house, and within the same inclosure, which had a substantial pavement of round stones.

This arrangement for a few days promised to be an advantageous one for each party. Daniel was to have free access and egress for the purpose of giving them their food, and the price proposed to the good woman was met as a liberal reward for the reception of any living beings that she could imagine, however large, that could come within her idea of the dimensions of a cage. Daniel had told her that they were two huge bears; and in his reply to inquiries, assured her that they were not harmless by any means, but that the enormous strength of their cage prevented them from doing any mischief.

The kind old lady agreed, for so much per day, to allow the cage to stand in her yard, by the side of her house, at least until her husband returned. With much excitement and some growling about the docks and the wharf, they were swung off from the vessel, and, being placed on a "float," were conveyed to, and quietly lodged and fed in, the retired yard of the good woman, when the gate was shut, and they fell into a long and profound sleep.

The grizly bears being thus comfortably and safely quartered in the immediate charge of my man Daniel, who had taken an apartment near them, and my collection being lodged in the Custom-house, I started by the railway for London to effect the necessary arrangements for their next move. I had rested in and left Liverpool in the midst of rain, and fog, and mud, and seen little else of it; and on my way to London I saw little or nothing of the beautiful country I was passing through, travelling the whole distance in the night. The luxurious carriage in which I was seated, however, braced up and embraced on all sides by deep cushions; the grandeur of the immense stations I was occasionally passing under; the elegance and comfort of the caf?s and restaurants I was stumbling into with half-sealed eyes, with hundreds of others in the middle of the night, with the fat, and rotund, and ruddy appearance of the night-capped fellow-travellers around me, impressed me at once with the conviction that I was in the midst of a world of comforts and luxuries that had been long studied and refined upon.

I opened my eyes at daylight at the terminus in the City of London, but could see little of it, as I was driven to Ibbotson's Hotel, in Vere-street, through one of the dense fogs peculiar to the metropolis and to the season of the year in which I had entered it. To a foreigner entering London at that season, the first striking impression is the blackness and gloom that everywhere shrouds all that is about him. It is in his hotel--in his bed-chamber--his dining-room, and if he sallies out into the street it is there even worse; and added to it dampness, and fog, and mud, all of which, together, are strong inducements for him to return to his lodgings, and adopt them as comfortable, and as a luxury.

I am speaking now of the elements which the Almighty alone can control, and which only we strangers first see, as the surface of things, when we enter a foreign land, and before our letters of introduction, or the kind invitations of strangers, have led us into the participation of the hospitable and refined comforts prepared and enjoyed by the ingenuity of enlightened man, within. These I soon found were all around me, in the midst of this gloom; and a deep sense of gratitude will often induce me to allude to them again in the future pages of this work.

I succeeded quite well in wending my way down the Haymarket, the Strand, and Fleet-street, slipping and sliding through the mud, until I was in front or in the rear of the noble St. Paul's, whose black and gloomy walls, at the apparent risk of breaking my neck, I could follow up with my eye, until they were lost in the murky cloud of fog that floated around them. I walked quite round it, by which I became duly impressed with its magnitude below, necessarily leaving my conjectures as to its elevation, for future observations through a clearer atmosphere.

I then commenced to retrace my steps, when a slight tap upon my shoulder brought me around to look upon a droll and quizzical-looking fellow, who very obsequiously proceeded , "The lining of your cloak, sir; hit don't look very well for a gentleman, sir; hexcuse me, hif you please, sir." "Certainly," said I; "I am much obliged to you," as I adjusted it and passed on. In my jogging along for some distance after this rencontre, and while my eyes were intent upon the mud, where I was selecting the places for my footsteps, I observed a figure that was keeping me close company by my side, and, on taking a fairer look at him, found the same droll character still at my elbow, when I turned around and inquired of him, "What now?" "Ho, sir, your cloak, you know, sir; hit didn't look well, for a gentleman like you, sir. Your pardon, sir; ha sixpence, hif you please, sir." I stopped and gave the poor fellow a sixpence for his ingenuity, and jogged on.

The sagacity of this stratager in rags had detected the foreigner or stranger in me at first sight, as I learned in a few moments, in the following amusing way. I had proceeded but a few rods from the place where I had given him his sixpence and parted company with him, when, crossing an intersecting street, I was met by a pitiable object hobbling on one leg, and the other twisted around his hip, in an unnatural way, with a broom in one hand, and the other extended towards me in the most beseeching manner, and his face drawn into a triangular shape, as he was bitterly weeping. I saw the poor fellow's occupation was that of sweeping the crossing under my feet, and a sixpence that I slipped into his hand so relaxed the muscles of his face, by this time, that I at once recognised in him the adjuster of the lining of my cloak; but I had no remedy, and no other emotion, at the instant, than that of amusement, with some admiration of his adroitness, and again passed on.

"Where, sir?" asked the cab-driver as he mounted his seat. "Vy, sir, didn't you ear the gentleman?" said a man with a large bronze medal hanging on his breast, who had one hand on the door; "drive im to Hibbotson's Otel, Were-street, Hoxford-street." "Who are you?" said I, as we were moving off, and he held the door open with one hand and his hat raised with the other; "what do you want?"

"I'm the vaterman, sir; you'll recollect the vaterman?" "Yes, I'll not forget you in a long time." So I shut the door without giving the poor man his ha'penny, not knowing the usual custom yet, and too much pressed for time to learn it at that moment.

I observed, in passing several equestrian and other statues in the streets, that they were all black; which seemed curious; and also, in every street, I saw what was new to me, and not to be seen in the streets of the American cities--meat-shops and fishmongers indiscriminately mingled along the same side-walks with dry goods--hosiers, china, and hardware--and fancy shops; and also performed the whole route, outward and homeward, without having seen a solitary pig ploughing the gutters, as we too familiarly meet them in many of the American cities, though the gutters, much of the way, would seem to have offered a tolerably rich field for their geological researches.

I met with evidences enough, however, that I was not out of the land of pigs, though they were not seen promenading or ploughing the streets. I passed several shops, all open in front, where poor piggies were displayed in a much less independent way--hanging by their hind legs at full length, and the blood dripping from their noses upon the sills of the shops and pavements, to amuse the eyes of the silken and dazzling throng that was squeezing and brushing along by them; and whilst I easily decided which was the most cruel to the poor brutes, I was much at a loss to decide which mode was calculated to be the most shocking to the nerves that would be weak enough to be offended by either.

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