PRINCE AMONG INDIANS.

Taranaki Daily News, 3 January 1920, Page 10

PRINCE AMONG INDIANS.

A UNIQUE CEREMONY.

WELCOME IN THE ROCKIES,

Writing from Banff (Rocky Mountains) under date of September 17th a correspondent describes the welcome given to the Prince of Wales bv Red Indians during his tour of Canada. He says:

Still we have ringing in our ears as we sit here the • thrill whoops of the once war-like Stonev tribe of Indians, a band of whom met the Prince at the station and escorted him to an open level space in the vailev among the mountains, where lie received civic and native addresses. Nothing could bo more unlike the conditions of modern hotel life than this throwback into the past. As his procession of motor-cars drove along, it picked up by the way fresh bands of mountain' braves and squaws, all in full Indian dress. A conglomerate variety of eagle feathers and head dresses, some reaching down to the knees, and leather and skin leggings, and warpaint adorning the men and the beautiful bead and shell work and the bright shawls worn bv the women glittering in the clear' sunshine made the most effective and bizarre Kheme of color Canada lias as vet shown the Prince.

The surroundings were also of grand and striking beauty. On both sides of the level stretch on which were erected nearly thirty gaily painted wigwam* with the British flags flying above them the mountains rose majestieallv against the clear blue sky. Most of them were bare rugaod masses of grey twisted rocks, but their lower slopes and the sides of the valley were thickly covered with copses of birch and spruce, and masses of other forest trees already colored with rich tints, yellow, brown ami red. by the hand of autumn. Only one peak shone white with a patch of snow In this setting the Prince met the first considerable bodv of the King's American Indian subjects he has seen and listened to their address, delivered first in the native tongue and then in JMighsh by Chief Young Thunder The address is worth reproducing as a model of brevity, having, too, a certain underlying child-like pathos peculiarly it* own. The chief said:—

"Your Royal Highness,—We are thankful we are allowed to come to J-ianll to meet you and express to you our loyalty to your great father, our King We ask you to accept from us this Indian suit, the best we have emblematic of the clothes we wore in happy days. AVe beg vou also to allow us to elect tou as our chief and to give you the name of Chief Morning Star. We are thankful the war is over and glad to welcome yon to this land of our forefathers as our chief." As the two chiefs fronted each other one with straight black hair, a nreeu silk scarf round his neck, and '10n... haired white wool leggings, the other fair-haired, wearing a grev suit and a Guards tie, the contrast was necessarily remarkable, and not the less so when the Prince, before- replying, put on the eagle feather head-dress which is part of the tribe's gift. Native dances, two bare-backed races bv young men and squaws, and much whooping and cheering made up the rest of the programme One word, in conclusion, about the inhaurtants 0 f Banff. They sent oversea to the war as volunteers 23 per cent of their total population, a record probably unequalled bv anv other community in the British Isles or the Dominions or any of the Allied countri^.