Untitled [Courtesy of Colonel Cody] Johnston, Jeremy Christianson, Frank Seefeldt, Douglas, 1964- This project is supported in part by a grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities and the Geraldine W. & Robert J. Dellenback Foundation. 2017 William F. Cody Archive University of Nebraska-Lincoln Center for Digital Research in the Humanities
319 Love Library University of Nebraska–Lincoln Lincoln, NE 68588-4100 cdrh@unlnotes.unl.edu
Lincoln, Nebraska
University of Nebraska-Lincoln Lincoln, NE 68588-4100
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Untitled [Courtesy of Colonel Cody] Quiz Glasgow, Scotland January 20, 1892 collection of Tom Cunningham, 920120_2

Texts Newspapers Buffalo Bill's Wild West in Britain Lakota Performers Actors and actresses American Indians Authors Calumets Characters in literature Cultural relations Indian dance--North America Educators Haunted places Indians of North America--Music Indians of North America Indigenous peoples Lakota dialect Nobility Novels Politicians Powwows Singers Sioux Nation Songs Cooper, James Fenimore, 1789-1851 Haggard, H. Rider (Henry Rider), 1856-1925 Glasgow (Scotland) Weakly, Laura K. Initial encoding Clark, L. Christianson, Frank Proofreading Adams, Deb Transcription

Through the courtesy of Colonel Cody, I had, on Friday last, the privilege of forming an item of one of the most marvellous gatherings that has ever been held in this or any other city. The scene was the magnificent arena of the Wild West Show; the occasion a great Pow Wow (I fancy that is the correct expression), the members of which included stately and stolid red braves from the prairie, dusky warriors and amazons from Darkest Africa, pressmen and professors, authors, actors and artists, clergymen and Glasgow magistrates. Surely as strange a combination as ever was dreamt of. Yet there they were all smoking (metaphorically) the calumet of peace together.

There were Fenimore Cooper's Chingachgook and Uncas there, Rider Haggard's stern Umslopogas there in actual living reality, those whose shadows have peopled our imaginations ever since we read the Leatherstocking novels and the fascinating stories of African travel. There was beating of "tom-toms;" there was shrill singing of wild songs; there was weird dancing by both races, and which dance is the more blood-curdling and eerie I cannot say. I am certain, however, that for pure diablerie the terpsichorean revel which Tom o'Shanter beheld in Alloway's auld haunted kirk was simply "not in it" with either of them.

One of the most interesting events of the meeting was the interview between representative chiefs of both races, who in terms of high-flown courtesy expressed their mutual regard. My knowledge of the Sioux tongue is limited, but it appears to be admirably adapted for eloquence. I fancy that a Sioux chief can convey as much meaning in a sentence as Lord Burleigh's famous head-shake is supposed to do in the "Critic."