ceremony, he came at once, followed by an admiring train, chiefly of
women, to pay me a visit of state.

The solemn gravity of his countenance, as he motioned away those who
would approach too near and finger his newly-received finery--the
dignity with which he strutted along, edging this way and that to avoid
any possible contact from homely, every-day wardrobes--augured well for
a continuance of propriety and self-respect, and a due consideration of
the good opinion of all around. But, alas for Pawnee! late in the day we
saw him assisted towards his lodge by two stout young Indians, who had
pulled him out of a ditch, his fine coat covered with mud, his hat
battered and bruised, his spear shorn of its gay streamers, and poor
Pawnee himself weeping and uttering all the doleful lamentations of a
tipsy Indian.

* * * * *

Among the women with whom I early made acquaintance was the wife of
Wau-kaun-zee-kah, _the Yellow Thunder_. She had accompanied her husband,
who was one of the deputation to visit the President, and from that time
forth she had been known as "the Washington woman." She had a pleasant,
old-acquaintance sort of air in greeting me, as much as to say, "You
and I have seen something of the world." No expression of surprise or
admiration escaped her lips, as her companions, with childlike, laughing
simplicity, exclaimed and clapped their hands at the different wonderful
objects I showed them. Her deportment said plainly, "Yes, yes, my
children, I have seen all these things before." It was not until I put
to her ear a tropical shell, of which I had a little cabinet, and she
heard its murmuring sound, that she laid aside her apathy of manner. She
poked her finger into the opening to get at the animal within, shook it