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found to be the only Cossacks sufficiently skilled to cope with Schamyl's wild mountain horse men on equal terms. The Don Cossacks were lancers, and the Circassians quickly learned to dodge within their guard and cut them down, they being among the most expert swordsmen in the world.
But the descendants of Mazeppa's Cossacks were equally expert with the sword, and so, in the matter of arms, as of horsemanship, met the enemy on equal terms. For many years the Cossacks of the Caucasian line were engaged in perpetual border warfare with the Circassian tribes. Their fighting was a series of little cavalry combats, surprises and raids, similar to the American Indian frontier wars, the finest school for the development of mili tary horsemanship the world has seen since the days of Saladin and Coeur-de-Lion. Graduates from this fierce, wild school of saddle and sabre, the Cossacks of the Caucasian line have long enjoyed the reputation of being the flower of that vast horde of irregular cavalry, the Cossack military colonies, that have been planted along the Southern frontier of the Russian Empire, from the Crimea to the Chinese border on the Pacific.
Circassian blood plainly crops out in the Cossacks of the Buffalo Bill Wild West arena. Indeed, some of them look the Circassian, even more than the Cossack. The infusion of Cir cassian, Georgian and Mingrellian blood began with stirring drama of strife and romance in the days of Schamyl. Part of the policy of Russia was the suppression of the trade in Cir cassian beauties for the harems of Turkey, then carried on in small Turkish vessels in the Black Sea. A Cossack coastguard service was organized for the pur pose, consisting of fleets of rowboats concealed in the creeks and inlets of the Caucasian coast, whence they could pounce out on the slave ships.
The vessels usual ly contained from forty to fifty Circassian, Geor gian and Mingrelian slave girls, lovely creat ures selected for the harems of the Sultan and the wealthy Pashas of Constaninople. The slaves thus captured were given to the Cos sacks of the Kuban for wives; hence the sons and daughters of Schamyl's fierce opponents are as much Circassian as Cossack. The combination is a "strain" of horsemanship that has produced startling and unique results in the form of riders capable of really marvelous feats of a kind never before seen outside of Russia. Visitors to the Wild West who have marveled at the skill of the Indians and the Cow-boys with the bucking mus tangs, will marvel anew at the striking performances of these descendants of the famous "Mazeppa."
SOUTH AMERICAN GAUCHOS AT THE "WILD WEST."
The latest addition to BUFFALO BILL'S "Wild West" makes the sixth delegation to the "Congress of the Rough Riders of the World," which MESSRS. CODY and SALSBURY have organ ized in order to present the different schools of horsemanship to the world.
Having seen the performances of the Cow-boy, the Indian, the Vaquero, and, lastly, of the Cossacks of the Caucasian line, our appetites are considerably whetted at the prospect of seeing how the wild life on the South American pampas contrasts with theirs.
To the student of human progress, of racial peculiarities, of national characteristics, the Gauchos are a subject of investigation as remarkable as anything modern history has to show
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The Gaucho differs in many respects from the other rough riders of the only partially civilized sections of the earth. He is the product of a peculiar scheme of existence, and of savage conditions of life, that obtain in no part of the world save on the boundless Llanos of South America.
The Gauchos are the descendants of the early Spanish colonizers of the South Ameri can wilds. The fiery Hispanian temperament, the infusion of the native Indian blood, together with the wild lonely life on the ocean-like pampas, are the conditions responsible for the production of the Gauchos.
The civilization that the Spanish colonists took with them to the Llanos gradually became subdued by the savagery of the new situation, until their descendants, the Gauchos, were as wild and ferocious as the aborigines, the Indians. They were, forsooth, compelled to adopt in no small degree the manners and customs of these latter as a means of subsist ence.
Like the North American Indian, the Cow-boy, the Vaquero, the Cossack, and the Prairie Scout, now for the first time in history his companion horsemen, the Gaucho is a near approach to the mythical centaur. Like them the Gaucho spends the greater portion of his life on horseback, and is associated with the wild equines of the pampas in even a more in tense degree than any of the equestrian races.
In no ther part of the world has man been so completely dependent on the horse as on the South American plains. The pampas without horses would be, for the uses of man, as an ocean without ships or boats. Hence this Gaucho breed of centaur is the natural growth of peculiar surroundings.
As the Gauchos are reputed to be the most expert lassoers in the world, considerable interest is manifested in their arrival, not only by the public, but by the Cow-boys, Indians, etc. Apart from their wild fantastic personality of dress, manner and equipment, and their horsemanship, the Gauchos will be interesting as the first to introduce to the public the use of the "bolas" for the capturing of wild animals. This instrument of the chase has been adopted by the Gauchos from the South American Indians, who, from time immemorial, used it for the capture of ostrichs, guanacos, and other big game.
The "bolas" consists of a number of rawhide thongs fastened to a central thong, and with an iron ball at each of the ends. The Gaucho can hurl this at a flying horse, cow or ostrich from a distance of sixty feet, and cause it to inextricably entangle about the legs, bringing the victim helplessly to the ground. This, therefore, rather than the lasso, is his favorite weapon for the chase or fighting in war.
When the Dictator Rosas many years ago conquered Buenos Ayres, his success was largely due to the terror inspired by the reputation of his horde of Gauchos and Pampa Indians.
It may be interesting to state that from their primitive mode of existence, the Gaucho makes nearly every thing connected with his "outfit" even the rude saddle, from raw-hide the lasso, the "bolas" and even his boots--which are made from the skin (taken from the knee down, and shpaed to the leg and foot while warm) of a freshly killed colt, sewed at the toe, thus forming gratically a leather stocking without heel or sole. They are fond of music, are good dancers, retaining many repsects the poetic traditions and tendencies of their Castillian ancestors.
Enough has been said here, however, of their peculiarities. They will prove a welcome acquisition to the "Wild West," for they, no less than the Cossacks, have a distinct role of their own to play in this truly gigantic enterprise of a "Congress of the World's Rough Riders."
FOREIGN TOURS AND TRIUMPHS.
Since the visit of "BUFFALO BILL'S" Wild West to England and its remarkable en gagement in London, at West Brompton, in 1887, a history and tour have been made such as no organization of its magnitude and reguirements ever accomplished.
A slight reference to this will be instructive and interesting, and the practical mind can, partially, at a glance, recognize the difficulties and arduous duties involved in its com pletion. A volume would be more fitting to relate its travels, its trials, and triumphant ex periences. After the production in an especially erected mammoth building at Manchester, of an allegorical, pantomimic, and scenic representation of the history of American settlement, a return to the United States was made in a chartered steamship, Persian Monarch, of 6,000 tons
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burden. The arrival of this vessel, outside of the company's reception, was an event of future commercial importance to the port of New York, from the fact of her being the first passenger ship of her size, draught and class to effect a landing (at Bechtel's Wharf) directly on the shores of Staten Island, thus demonstrating the marine value of some ten miles of seashores of what in a few short years must be a part of the Greater New York.
After a successful summer season at Erastina, S. I., and New York (originating there, at Madison Square Garden, a now much-copied style of Leviathan spectacle) twice crossing the Atlantic, visiting respectively Philadelphia, Baltimore, and Washington–an uninterrupted season of 2 years and 7 months, starting at St. Louis, Mo., on the Mississippi River, was finished in conjunction with the successful Richmond Exposition on the James River (Virginia).
The members of the organization returned over the vast continent to their respective localities (ranging from Texas Cow-boy and Vaquero and his southern valley of the Rio Grande, to the Sioux warrior and his weather-beaten foothills of Dakota), to be reunited in the following spring on board S. S. Persia Monarch, bound once more across the Atlantic to Havre, and consigned to the Great Universal Exhibition at Paris.
Sufficiently large grounds were secured from thirty-two small different tenants, at a
JUBILEE YEAR, 1887, EARL'S COURT, LONDON,––FAREWELL, 1892
great expense–two streets being officially authorized to be closed by the municipality so as to condense the whole–in Neuilly (close by the Porte des Ternes, the Bois de Boulogne, and within sight of the Exposition). Expensive improvements were made, grand stand, scenery, a $25,000 electric plant erected, and a beautiful camping ground built.
The opening occurred before an audience said to have equaled any known in the record of Premières of that brilliant Capitale des Deux Mondes. President Carnot and his wife, the Members of his Cabinet, and families, two American Ministers, Hon. Whitelaw Reid, Hon. Louis MacLean, the Diplomatic Corps, Officers of United States Marines, etc., etc.–a representative audience, in fact, of ladies and gentlemen of distinction, known the world over, in society, literature, art, professions and commerce–honored the Inauguration by their presence, and launched, amidst great enthusiasm, a seven months' engagement of such pronounced success as to place the Wild West second only in public interest apparently to the great Exposition itself.
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After the short tour in the South of France in the fall, a vessel was chartered at Marseilles, the Mediterranean crossed to –landing the first band of American Indians, with accompanying associates, scouts, cow-boys, Mexican horses of Spanish descent, and wild buffaloes, etc., on the very spot where on his return to Spain landed the world's greatest explorer, Christopher Columbus. Here the patrons were demonstratively eulogistic, the exhibition seeming to delight them greatly, savoring as it did of an addenda to their national history, recalling, after a lapse of 400 years, the resplendent glories of Spanish conquest under Ferdinand and Isabella, of the sainted hero, Cristobal Colon–1492, Columbus in American–1890, "BUFFALO BILL" and the native American Indian in Spain !
Recrossing the Mediterranean, via Corsica and Sardinia (encountering a tremendous storm) Naples (the placid waters of whose noble bay gave a welcome refuge) was reached, and in the shadow of "Old Vesuvius," which in fact formed a superbly grand scenic background, another peg in history was pinned by the visit of the cow-boy and Indian to the various noted localities that here abound; the ruins of Herculaneum, Pompeii, and the great crater of "the burning mountain," striking wonder and awe as well as giving geological and geographical knowledge to the stoical "Red man."
Then the "famed of the famous cities" of the world, Rome, was next visited, to be con
COLOSSEUM, ROME.
queried through the gentle power of intellectual interest in, and the reciprocal pleasure exchanged by, its unusual visitors, the honor being given to "the outfit," as an organization, of attending a dazzling fête given in the Vatican by His Holiness Pop Leo XIII. and of receiving the exalted Pontiff's blessing. The grandeur of the spectacle, the heavenly music, the entrancing singing, and impressive adjuncts produced a most profound impression on the astonished children of the Prairie. The Wild West in the Vatican !
The company were photographed in the Colosseum, which stately ruin seemed to silently and solemnly regret that its famed ancient arena was too small for this modern exhibition of the mimic struggle between that civilization born and emanating from 'neath its very walls and a primitive people who were ne'er dreamed of in a Rome's world-conquering creator's wildest fights of vivid imaginings.
Strolling through its arena, gazing at its lion's dens, or lolling lazily on its convenient ruins, hearing its interpreted history–of Romulus, of Caesar, of Nero–roamed this band of Wild West Sioux (a people whose history in barbaric deeds equals, if not excels, the ancient Romans), now hand in hand in peace and firmly-cemented friendship with the American frontiersman–once gladiatorial antagonist on the Western Plains. They, listening to the tale on the spot of those whose "Moriture te Salutant" was the short prelude to a savage death, formed a novel picture in historical frame ! the Wild West in the Colosseum !
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Artistic Florence, practical Bologna, grand and stately Milan, and unique Verona were next added to the list. Verona's superb and well-preserved "Arena," excelling in the superficial area of the Colosseum and holding 45,000 people, was specially granted for the Wild West's use; and the home of Shakespeare's love-lorn heroine placed another picture in the Red man's tour of the native land of his discoverer. The Indians were taken by "BUFFALO BILL" to picturesque Venice and there shown the marvelous results of the ancient white man's energy and artistic architectural skill. They were immortalized by the camera in the Ducal Palace, St. Marc's Piazza, and in the strange street vehicle of the Adriatic's erstwhile pride-the gondola-contributing another interesting object lesson tot he distant juvenile members of their tribe-to testify more fully to their puzzled senses the fact of strange sights and marvels whose existence is to be learned of in the breadth of knowledge necessitated by their future existence.
Moving via Innsbruck through the beautifully scenic Tyrol-the Bavarian capital Munich, with its naturally artistic instincts, gave a grand reception to the beginning of a marvelously successful tour through German-land, which included Vienna (with an excursion on the "Blue Danube"), Berlin, Leipsic, Magdeburg, Hanover, Brunswick, Hamburg, Bremen, Dusseldorf, Cologne, along the Rhine past Bonn, Coblenz "Fair Bingen on the Rhine" to Frankfurt, Stuttgart, and Strasburg.
ARENA, VERONA.
At Strasburg, the management decided to close, temporarily the extraordinary tour and winter the whole company. The quaint little village of Benfield furnished an ancient nunnery and a castle with stables and a good range; here the little community of Americans spent the winter comfortably, being feasted and tested by the inhabitants, who esteem they gained to such an extent that their departure was marked by a general holiday.
Leaving the temporary colony under the charge of his partner, MR. NATE SALSBURY (whose energy found occupation in attending to the details of the future), COL. CODY, the Indians, and your humble servant departed to America, arriving safely, and proceeded to the seat of the Indian difficulties in the distant State of Dakota.
After a short, bloody and mixed campaign, peace was restored, the Government authority was secured, and a selected band of Indians-composed equally of the "active friendly" headed by Chiefs "LONG WOLF," "NO NECK," "YANKOTN," "CHARLEY," "BLACK HEART." and the "band of hostages" held by the military under Gen. Nelson A. Miles, at Fort Sheridan, and headed by the redoubtable "SHORT BULL," "KICKING BEAR," "LONE BULL" "SCATTER," and "REVENGE"- were given special permission to come with "BUFFALO BILL" for a short European tour, and left Philadelphia in the chartered Red Star steamer Switzerland