Chapter II: Part 2

Keim, writing in 1870, says that the Kiowa "claim that their primitive country was in the far north," from which they were driven out by wars, moving by the aid of dogs and dog sledges. "From the north they reached a river, now the south fork of the Platte. Their residence upon this river is within the recollection of the old men of the tribe. Not satisfied with the Platte country, they moved on across the Republican and Smoky Hill rivers until they reached the Arkansas. Thence they moved upon the headwaters of the Cimarron. Here they permanently located their council fire, and after much fighting secured control of all the country south of Arkansas river and north of the Wichita mountains and headwaters of Red river" (_Keim, 1_).

There can be no doubt as to the correctness of the main points of this tradition, which is corroborated by the testimony of the northern Arapaho and other tribes of that region. While to the ordinary reader the result of the quarrel may seem out of all due proportion to the cause, it will not appear so to anyone familiar with Indian life and thought. The savage is intellectually a child, and from the point of view of civilized man his history is shaped by trivial things, as will be sufficiently apparent from a study of the calendars. It is said that a war between the Delaware and Shawano originated in a dispute between two children concerning a grasshopper. The Crows themselves, according to their own story, separated from their kinsmen the Hidatsa or Minitari on the Missouri for a reason precisely like that of the Kiowa tradition--a quarrel between two chiefs over the proper division of a buffalo (_Matthews, 1_; _Clark, 2_.) A similar story is related to account for the origin of one of the bands of the Dakota. Among wandering hunters disputes in regard to the possession or division of game have always been the most potent causes of separations and tribal wars.

In regard to the dissatisfied band that went to the north, the Kiowa have a fixed belief that their lost kindred, whom they call _Azä´tañhop_ ("those who went away dissatisfied on account of the udder"), are still in existence beyond the mountains somewhere to the north or northwest of their old home, where they still speak the old Kiowa language. They assert as positively that they have no relatives in any other quarter, east, west, or south. Several stories are current in the tribe in support of this belief. One woman, now about 80 years of age, when a child was taken by her father with others on a visit to their old friends, the Crows, and says that while there they met a white trader from the north, who addressed them in the Kiowa tongue, which he said he learned from a tribe living farther north, which spoke the Kiowa language. Again, they say that when the Nez Percés (_´dalkatóigo_, "people with hair cut round across the forehead"), who had been brought down as prisoners to Indian Territory, visited them in 1883, they told the Kiowa that they knew a people who lived in the "white mountains" west of the old home of the Nez Percés in Idaho, and who spoke a language similar to Kiowa. Whatever weight we may attach to these stories, they at least offer a suggestion concerning the direction in which the linguistic affinity of the Kiowa is to be sought.

Bearing on the subject of the early habitat of the tribe, it may further be stated that, while making a collection among the Kiowa a few years ago, the author obtained from them a small cradle which is essentially different from any now in use among the Kiowa or any other of the well-known prairie tribes, in that the buckskin covering is attached directly to a solid board back, which is elaborately carved and painted in the style characteristic of the tribes of the Columbia and the northwest coast. On asking the old woman who made it, where she had obtained the idea, she replied that it was the kind the Kiowa used to make a very long time ago. On showing it afterward to Dr Washington Matthews, the distinguished ethnologist and anatomist, he expressed the opinion that such a cradle would produce a flattened skull. It is now in the National Museum at Washington.

EARLY ALLIANCE WITH THE CROWS

The leading facts in the traditional history of the Kiowa are those of their early residence at the extreme head of the Missouri and their subsequent removal to the east and alliance with the Crows. It is impossible to assign any definite date to this early migration from the mountain country, but it was probably about or before 1700. It was subsequent to the separation of the Crows from the Hidatsa, an event which probably took place before the end of the seventeenth century (_Matthews, 2_; _Clark, 3_), and it must have been long before the discovery of the Black Hills by the Dakota, which, according to a calendar of that people, occurred in 1775 (_Mallery, 2_). The present _tai-me_ or sun-dance "medicine" of the Kiowa was obtained from the Crows while the two tribes were neighbors in the north, at a date probably very near 1765. It is probable that scarcity of game or severity of climate had much to do with their original removal from the head of the Missouri, but it is worthy of note that in all their wanderings the Kiowa have never, for any long period, entirely abandoned the mountains. After making friends with the Crows, they established themselves in the Black Hills until driven out by the invading Dakota and Cheyenne, and now for seventy years or more they have had their main headquarters in the Wichita mountains.

The northern Arapaho, now living on a reservation in Wyoming, have distinct recollection of this former northern residence of the Kiowa, with whom in the old times they were on terms of intimate friendship. While visiting them in 1892 they informed the author that when they first knew the Kiowa that tribe lived about the Three forks of the Missouri, near where are now Gallatin and Virginia City, Montana. This information, obtained from old men without the use of leading questions, and with the aid of good maps, tallies exactly with the earliest tradition of the Kiowa tribe. They say further that the Kiowa moved down from the mountains and eastward along the Yellowstone in company with the Crows, and then turned southeastward to about the present neighborhood of Fort Robinson, Nebraska, where they parted with the Crows and continued southward. "Plenty-poles," then nearly ninety years of age, first met the Kiowa when he was a small boy on the head of the North Platte, west of the present town of Cheyenne, Wyoming.

The friendship between the Kiowa and the Crows was close and intimate, in spite of occasional quarrels, and continued after the Kiowa had entirely removed from the north and established themselves on the Arkansas. They made common cause against the invading Dakota and Cheyenne from the east, by whom they were finally dispossessed. As already stated, the Kiowa obtained their present _tai-me_ or sundance medicine from the Crows, and the sacred arrow lance of Tängúadal's family came originally from the same source. For a long time after removing from the north it was a frequent occurrence for Kiowa fathers to make visits to the Crows and leave with that tribe their young children for two or three years in order that they might learn the Crow language and thus help to preserve the old friendship. There are still several old people among the Kiowa who have a considerable Crow vocabulary acquired in this way. Conversely, the northern Arapaho state that the Crows refer to the Kiowa as their relatives, and that some of them speak a little of the language acquired during similar visits to the south.

THE ASSOCIATED KIOWA APACHE

Incorporated with the Kiowa, and forming a component part of their tribal circle, is a small tribe of Athapascan stock, commonly known as Apache or Kiowa Apache, but calling themselves _Nadiisha Dena_. They are not a detached band of the Apache tribe proper of Arizona, as has commonly been supposed, but came down with the Kiowa from the north, and neither tribe has any tradition of a time when they were not associated. They will be spoken of at length later on. This ancient Athapascan alliance is another link in the chain connecting the Kiowa with the far north.

THE HISTORICAL PERIOD

POSSESSION OF THE BLACK HILLS

We come now to more definite historic ground. Situated east of the Crows, the Kiowa took possession of the Black Hills (_Sádalkáñi K`op_, "stomach-rind, i. e., 'manifold,' mountains"), and having by this time procured some horses, began to make raids on the Spanish frontiers to the south, while they established a friendly trade and intercourse with the Arikara and Mandan on the Missouri. They are mentioned under the name of Cargua (for Caigua) in a Spanish document of 1732, and again as Caigua in 1735. In 1748 the Spanish historian Villaseñor mentions the "Cayguas," in connection with Comanche, Apache, Navaho, and Ute, as among the hostile tribes of New Mexico (see the synonymy). It will be remembered that the greater portion of what is now Colorado was included with New Mexico under Spanish domination. If, as seems possible, they are identical with the Manrhoat or Manrhout of La Salle, allies of the Gattacka (Kiowa Apache), our knowledge of the tribe would go back to 1682. They continued to occupy the Black Hills until about the close of the last century, when they were driven out by the Dakota advancing from the east, and by the Cheyenne who crossed the Missouri from the northeast. The same pressure drove their old allies, the Crows, farther westward.

The northern Cheyenne informed Grinnell that on first coming into their present country they had found the region between the Yellowstone and Cheyenne rivers, including the Black Hills, in possession of the Kiowa and Comanche (?), whom they drove out and forced to the south. When the author was among the Dakota some years ago, they informed him that they had first known the Kiowa in the Black Hills, and had driven them out from that region. This is admitted by the Kiowa, who continued at war with the Dakota and Cheyenne until about 1840, when a permanent peace was made. It does not appear that the Arapaho had anything to do with this expulsion of the Kiowa, with whom they seem generally to have been on friendly terms, although at a later period we find them at war with the Kiowa, being probably drawn into hostilities through their connection with the Cheyenne. As is well known to ethnologists, the Dakota are comparatively recent immigrants from east of the Missouri. They first reached the Black Hills in 1775, as already stated, so that the final expulsion of the Kiowa must have occurred between that date and 1805, when Lewis and Clark found the Cheyenne in possession of the same region, the Cheyenne being then at war with the Dakota. Curiously enough, there is no note of this war on any of the several Dakota calendars covering this period, described and illustrated by Mallery, although we find a reference to the killing of a Kiowa in the winter of 1814-15.

THE EXTINCT K'ÚATO

The Kiowa have a better memory, and one of their old hero stories relates to the slaughter of an entire band of Kiowa by the Dakota. The ill-fated band was called the _K'úato_, a name signifying "pulling up, or pulling out" from the ground or from a hole, being indicated in the sign language by the motion of "pulling up" with one or both hands. According to the story the Kiowa, apparently nearly the whole tribe together, were attacked by an overwhelming body of the Dakota. Finding resistance hopeless, they fled, but the chief of the K'úato urged his people not to run, "because if they did their relatives in the other world would not receive them." Inspired to desperate courage by his words, the K'úato faced the enemy and were all killed where they stood, excepting one woman who had fled with the others. According to Te'bodal, who was born about 1817 and is now the oldest man in the tribe, this massacre took place when his grandfather was a young man, perhaps about 1770. Te'bodal himself remembered having seen the single woman survivor. It is said that the K'úato spoke a peculiar dialect of the Kiowa language, although recognized as a part of the tribe, and were noted for doing foolish and ridiculous things, a statement borne out by the story of their extermination.

INTERCOURSE WITH THE ARIKARA, MANDAN, AND HIDATSA.

Next to the Crows, the Kiowa have most to say of their friendship in these old days with the Arikara (Ree), Mandan, and Hidatsa or Minitari on Missouri river. For many years these three confederated tribes, now reduced to about 1,100 souls in all, have occupied jointly a single village on the northeastern bank of Missouri river, in the vicinity of old Fort Berthold, about opposite Knife river, in North Dakota. In 1805 the three tribes, with a small subtribe, now extinct, occupied eight villages, with a total population of nearly 6,000 souls. The Arikara were then considerably farther down the river, while the others were nearly in their present position. From the fact that Grand river, South Dakota, is known to the Dakota as Arikara river it is probable that the Arikara formerly had their residence there for a long period. In habits and home life the three tribes are almost identical, being sedentary agriculturists, living in substantial earth-covered log houses; but in language they are quite distinct. The Arikara or Ree are a branch, of the Pawnee and speak a dialect of that language; the Hidatsa, Grosventres, or Minitari were formerly a part of the Crows and speak a dialect of that language; while the language of the Mandan is distinct from either of the others, although remotely cognate with the Hidatsa. They are mentioned prominently by every traveler in that region during the last century, the best description of them being given by Matthews in his work on the Hidatsa.

The definite recollection which the Kiowa have of these tribes shows that they must have been very intimate with them in former times, especially with the Arikara, whom they call _K'át'á_, "biters," designating them in the sign language by a twisting motion of the closed right band, with thumb extended, in front of the month, the allusion being to gnawing corn from a cob. In the north the sign is sometimes made with both hands, the right working against the left, the allusion then being to shelling corn. The Arikara are preeminently distinguished among the northern tribes as the corn-planting Indians, and are usually designated in pictographs by the figure of a man with an ear of corn. It is probable that they taught agriculture to the Mandan and Hidatsa. The Kiowa further identify the K'at'a as being called _Paläni_ by the Dakota and as speaking a language like that of the Pawnee. Stumbling-bear claims to have met and talked with some of them on a former visit to Washington. They have more to say of the Arikara than of the others, probably because then, as now, they were the largest of the three tribes, and also, as the Kiowa themselves say, because the Arikara lived nearest, being probably located then, as at a later period, on Ree or Grand river, in South Dakota, which is called by their name in the various Indian languages. They describe the three tribes as living on the Missouri (_Tsosâ P'a_) river, in earth-covered grass houses (really log houses, filled in between the logs with grass and covered with earth), and cultivating corn and tobacco, which they traded to the Kiowa. One of the principal divisions of the Kiowa tribe, and the one to which the great Dohásän and several other prominent chiefs belonged, is the K`at'a or Arikara band, so called, the Kiowa state, on account of their special intimacy with the Arikara in the old times, and not because of Arikara descent. The name of the band must have originated, of course, subsequently to the first acquaintance of the two tribes.

The Mandan they call _Dóhón_, "the last tipi," assigning as a reason for the name that they lived farthest toward the east. The Mandan, unlike the other tribes, did in fact have one of their villages on the farther (eastern) bank of the Missouri. They also sometimes call them _Dowákohón_, an older form of Dohon, and _Sabă´_, "stingy," perhaps from some trade dispute. In the sign language the Kiowa designate them by indicating tattoo marks, stating that the women, and sometimes the men, tattooed the arms, breast, and around the lips. This agrees exactly with Clark, who says that the proper sign for Mandan is intended to indicate tattooing on the chin and lower part of the face. He states also, on the authority of an old plainsman, that fifty years ago the Mandan women had a small spot tattooed on the forehead, together with a line on the chin, while of the men the chiefs alone were tattooed, this being done on one side, or one-half of the breast, or on one arm and breast (_Clark, 4_). It may be that the small tattooed circle on the foreheads of many Kiowa women is an imitation from their Mandan sisters. Matthews says that he has seen a few old men of the Hidatsa with parallel bands tattooed on the chest, throat, and arms, but not on any other part of the body, or on any young or middle-age persons in the tribe (_Matthews, 3_).

The Hidatsa or Minitari are known to the Kiowa as _Henóñko_, a name which they can not translate. In this word the terminal _ko_ is the tribal suffix, while _Henóñ_ is the root, possibly a derivative from _Herantsa_, another form of Hidatsa, the Kiowa having no _r_ in their language. To designate them in the sign language, they make a gesture as if dipping up water with the hand, referring to their common name of Minitari, "water crossers," or "water people." This sign is probably now obsolete in the north, as it is not noted by either Clark or Mallery. They say that the Henoñko called the Kiowa _Datûmpáta_. The Kiowa describe the three tribes as about the same in regard to house-building methods and the cultivation of corn and Indian tobacco. They have also a distinct recollection of the peculiar "bull boats," tub-shaped and covered with rawhide, used by the Mandan and their allies. They ascribe these boats more particularly to the Mandan, from whom perhaps the Arikara obtained them after moving up to the same neighborhood.

RECOLLECTIONS OF OTHER NORTHERN TRIBES

The old men who have most knowledge of this northern residence and alliance with the Crows and Arikara say, after the Indian style of chronology, that it was in the time when their grandfathers were young men, and when they still had but few horses and commonly used dogs as pack animals in traveling. One of the mythic legends of the tribe accounts for the origin of the Black Hills (_Sádalkañi K`op_, "manifold mountains"), and another deals with the noted Bear Lodge or Devil's Tower (_Tsó-aí_, "tree rock," i. e., monument rock), near Sun Dance, Wyoming, which they claim is within their old country. Beyond the Yellowstone (_Tsósâ P'a_) they say lived the Blackfeet (_Tóñ-kóñko_, "blackleg people") and the Arapaho Gros Ventres (_Bot-k`iägo_, "belly people"). They knew also the Shoshoni (_Sondóta_, "grass houses"), who, they say, formerly lived in houses of interwoven rushes or grass; the Flatheads, the northern Arapaho, and of course the Dakota. It is somewhat remarkable that they knew also the small tribe of Sarsi, living on the Canadian side of the line at the source of the North Saskatchewan, whom they describe accurately as a tribe living with the Blackfeet and speaking a language resembling that of the Apache. They call them _Pák`iägo_, which they render "stupid people," indicating the tribe in the sign language by a sweeping motion of the right hand across the thigh, perhaps from a confusion with _paki_, thigh. It is possible that the name is not really of Kiowa origin, but is derived from _Päki_ or _Päkiani_, the Shoshoni name for the Blackfeet themselves. The Kiowa call the Brulé Dakota _Pakí-gudălkantă_, "red-burnt thigh" people, with the same gesture sign as for the Sarsi. Several prominent men of the Kiowa tribe, among whom may be mentioned Gaápiatañ and Pátádal, are of Sarsi descent. The maternal grandmother of the noted chief Setäñgya, killed at Fort Sill in 1871, was a Sarsi woman who married a Kiowa man during an interchange of friendly visits between the two tribes. By reason of this Athapascan blood, those of Sarsi descent, including Gaápiatañ, who is Setäñgya's nephew, consider themselves in a measure related to the Kiowa Apache.

From the beginning the Kiowa say that they were usually on friendly terms with the Crows, Arapaho, Arikara, Mandan, and Hidatsa, and, so far as they can recollect, with the Shoshoni and Flatheads, the friendship being interrupted, however, by occasional quarrels more or less serious. They were frequently at war with the Cheyenne, and always, from their first acquaintance, with the Dakota, Pawnee, and Ute. Their relations with the southern tribes will be noted hereafter.

ACQUIREMENT OF HORSES

Although the Kiowa had no horses until they came down from the mountains and settled near the Crows, it is probable that they obtained some very soon afterward, probably from their friends the Crows. La Salle, in 1682, states that the Gattacka (Kiowa Apache) and Manrhoat (Kiowa?) had then plenty of horses, which he says they had probably stolen from New Mexico (_Margry, 1_).

The notice in Villaseñor would indicate that they were able to mount some of their warriors as early as 1748, as it is hardly probable that they would have been able to attract attention by their inroads so far south as the Spanish settlements if their warriors had been obliged to travel entirely on foot. With some tribes, however, notably the Pawnee, it was a frequent practice for the warriors to go out on foot, returning, if successful, mounted on the horses taken from their enemies. Horses must also have been taken by the Kiowa from the Comanche, who lived south of them in the territory adjoining the Spanish possessions, and with whom the Kiowa were then at war. In the beginning of the present century we find the Kiowa mentioned as possessing large herds of horses, which they traded with the Arikara and Mandan for European goods.

Horace Jones, interpreter at Fort Sill, states that at a council held at Fort Cobb in 1868, Ten-bears, an old Comanche chief, scored the Kiowa for their constant raids into Mexico and Texas in spite of their promises to the government to cease such practices, saying to the assembled Kiowa, "When we first knew you, you had nothing but dogs and sleds. Now you have plenty of horses, and where did you get them if they were not stolen from Mexico?" This must be interpreted, however, from a point of comparison of the Comanche, who have long been noted for the number of their ponies. It was certainly a case of the pot calling the kettle black, as the principal business of both tribes for generations, until confined to a reservation, was that of raiding their southern neighbors in order to obtain horses and captives. It is unnecessary to dilate on the revolution made in the life of the Indian by the possession of the horse. Without it he was a half-starved skulker in the timber, creeping up on foot toward the unwary deer or building a brush corral with infinite labor to surround a herd of antelope, and seldom venturing more than a few days' journey from home. With the horse he was transformed into the daring buffalo hunter, able to procure in a single day enough food to supply his family for a year, leaving him free then to sweep the plains with his war parties along a range of a thousand miles.

INTERCOURSE AND WAR WITH THE COMANCHE

While the Kiowa still occupied the Black Hills their nearest neighbors toward the south were the Comanche, whose language and traditions show them to be a comparatively recent offshoot from the Shoshoni of Wyoming, and whose war parties formerly ranged from Platte river to central Mexico. In 1724 Bourgmont describes them, under the name of Padouca, as located between the headwaters of Platte and Kansas rivers. Like the other prairie tribes, they drifted steadily southward, and about the middle of last century were established chiefly about the upper Arkansas and its principal tributaries. Long before this time, however, the _Pénätĕka_ division had separated from the main body and gone down into Texas. Pádouca, the name used by Bourgmont, is one form of the name by which the Comanche are known to the Osage, Dakota, and related tribes, and is probably derived from _Pénätĕka_.

As the Kiowa pressed southward before the advancing Dakota and Cheyenne, they encountered the Comanche, resulting in a warfare continuing many years, in the course of which the Comanche were gradually driven south of the Arkansas. The war was finally terminated and a lasting peace and alliance effected between the two tribes through the good offices of the Spaniards of New Mexico.

PEACE WITH THE COMANCHE

Now the Kiowa tradition becomes clear and detailed. According to the story which the old men had from their fathers, who were contemporary with the events, the Kiowa advanced along the base of the mountains and pushed the Comanche from the northern head streams of the Arkansas. When both sides were about worn out with fighting, it happened that a small party of Kiowa on a friendly visit to a Spanish settlement southwestward from that river--perhaps Las Vegas or possibly Santa Fé--stopped to rest at a house, which they particularly state was not a fort or trading post. The house was a large one with several rooms, and by a curious coincidence a party of Comanche had arrived shortly before and were then talking in the next room, all unaware of the near presence of their enemies. Hearing the voices and recognizing the language, the Kiowa at once prepared for battle, and another bloody encounter was about to be added to the long list, when their Mexican host, friendly to both sides, interposed and represented to the Kiowa that now was their opportunity to establish a lasting peace with their foes, offering his own services as mediator. After some debate the Kiowa accepted his proposition, and the kindly Mexican, going into the next room, informed the astonished Comanche that a party of their hated enemies was outside waiting to talk of peace. Being assured that no treachery was intended, they came out and the leaders of the two parties saluted each other. The Kiowa leader, whose name was Guik`áte, "Wolf-lying-down," and who was next in authority to the principal chief of the tribe, assuming to speak for his people, then expressed their desire for peace. To this the Comanche leader, Päréiyä, "Afraid-of-water" (_Toñpeto_ in the Kiowa language), replied that as this was a matter of grave importance, it would have to be considered by the whole tribe, and invited the Kiowa to go back with them to the Comanche country in order that the business might there be fully discussed. The Kiowa hesitated, not yet being quite willing to trust themselves in the lion's den, when Guik`áte, anxious to spare further bloodshed, said, "I am a chief. I am not afraid to die. I will go." A Comanche captive among the Kiowa volunteered to go with him. Turning then to his followers, he said to them, "Go home and tell our tribe that I am gone to make peace with the Comanche. Return for me to this place when the leaves are yellow. If you do not find me here, know that I am dead and avenge my death." He then dismissed them, and the Kiowa started homeward, while he, with the captive and one or two Mexicans accompanied the Comanche to their camps on _Gañta P'a_, the Double-mountain fork of the Brazos, in Texas.

On arriving there with his escort, the Comanche were at first disposed to regard him as an enemy and made a show of preparing to revenge upon him the losses they had suffered at the hands of his people, but finding that he was a brave man not to be easily frightened, they changed their purpose and gave him a friendly welcome. He remained with them all summer, being well entertained by them on the hunt and at their social gatherings, and when at last the leaves began to turn, the tipis were taken down, and the whole band, having long ago decided on peace, moved off to meet the Kiowa at the appointed rendezvous. They had not long to wait, for Indians observe the season changes closely, before the whole warrior body of the Kiowa tribe appeared in sight, prepared either to make a treaty of perpetual friendship or to avenge the death of their chief, as the case might be. As they approached, the Comanche chief and Guik`áte rode out to meet them, somewhat to the surprise of the Kiowa, who had hardly hoped ever again to see their kinsman alive. He told the story of his kind treatment at the hands of the Comanche and their earnest desire for peace, and the result was a treaty of friendship and alliance which endures to this day, the two tribes, with the Kiowa-Apache, having ever since occupied a common territory and acted together on all important occasions, notwithstanding radical differences in language, ceremonies, and temperament. The former condition of hostility is clearly shown by the fact that the common name of the Kiowa for their present allies, the Comanche, is _Gyái'ko_, "Enemies."

This treaty with the Comanche must have been made toward the close of the last century, probably about 1790. As there is no tally date in Kiowa history until we come to "the year when the stars fell," i. e., 1833, a description of the manner in which we arrive at this conclusion may be of interest as a specimen of the ordinary methods of Indian chronology.

Among the oldest men of the tribe are T'ébodal, "One who carries a buffalo's lower leg," Gaápiatañ, "Feathered lance," (commonly known as Heidsick, from his Comanche name of Haí-tsiki), and ´dalpepte, "Bushy-hair" (Frizzle-head), all being prominent men and noted warriors when in their prime. T'ébodal is the oldest man in the tribe, and as he was "a well grown boy when the stars fell," is consequently now just about 80 years of age, as the Indians consider a boy a young warrior at 17 or 18. Gaápiatañ is a few years younger, and ´dalpepte was "old enough, to ride a horse when the stars fell," so that we may assume him to be now (1896) about 70 years of age. It will be noted that, contrary to general opinion, Indians are not remarkably long-lived.

Graápiatañ's estimate seems to place the event farthest back in point of time. He fixes it by "a very old woman," who died eleven winters ago (1885), and whose father had told her that the treaty with the Comanche was made thirty-three years before she was born. Âdalpepte states that it was made "when his father was a young man." T'ébodal says that it was before he was born, but that his father knew both leaders who negotiated the peace, and that he himself knew the Comanche leader, Päréiyä, as a very old man, who was afterward killed by the Cheyenne at a time when T'ébodal was grown to manhood and had already been to war. According to the Kiowa calendar, the allied tribes made peace with the Cheyenne about 1840, so that the chief who negotiated the treaty for the Comanche must have been killed shortly before that time, the Kiowa leader, Guik`áte, being already dead. Balancing all the statements, we get 1790 as the most probable approximate date. The principal chief of the tribe at the time of the treaty was Políakyă, "Hare-lip," alias Kágiätsé, "Thick-blanket." He was succeeded by Tsóñbohón, "Feather-cap," who was succeeded by A'dáte, "Island-man," who was deposed in 1833 in favor of Dohásän, who thenceforth ruled the tribe until his death in 1866.

CONFEDERATION OF THE TWO TRIBES

The peace thus made between the two tribes has never been broken, in which fact there may be a sermon for those who regard the Indian as faithless, when we consider how few European alliances have endured as long. The Pénätĕka Comanche, who lived far down in Texas, were not included in this compact and had very little connection even with the northern bands of their own people until brought together under the reservation system. Immediately after the treaty the Kiowa began to move down and make their camps along and south of the Arkansas, which, until that time, had been considered the northern boundary of the Comanche country and the southern limit of the Kiowa range. In the territory which they thenceforth held in common the Kiowa usually made their home camps more to the northwest, about the Arkansas, while the Comanche kept near to the Staked plains and the Texas frontier. Strengthened by their alliance for war and defense, the confederated tribes were now able to make a successful stand behind the Arkansas against further invasion from the north. The raids of the Kiowa on the Mexican settlements, hitherto desultory and ineffective, now became constant and destructive and continued until both tribes were finally subjugated and confined to their reservation after the outbreak of 1874. In these raiding expeditions they frequently made headquarters in the Sierra Madre, whence they descended upon the lower country on each side. Old men are still living in the tribe who have raided as far south as the city of Durango (which they know by this name) and southwest through Sonora and Sinaloa to the Gulf of California. These war parties would sometimes be absent two years. To the west they reached the great Colorado river and tell of killing some Havasupai in their canyon home. In the east they made captives on Matagorda bay, Texas.

NEUTRAL ATTITUDE OF NEW MEXICANS

According to the Kiowa and Comanche, whose statements are confirmed by abundant testimony from other sources, the inhabitants of New Mexico, from mercenary motives, usually held themselves neutral in this war on their brethren to the south. New Mexican _Comancheros_ and domesticated Pueblo Indians carried on a lucrative trade among these tribes at the same time that Kiowa or Comanche war parties were ravaging the southern provinces or selling horses and mules, taken in these raids, to the inhabitants of Las Vegas and neighboring towns. The lances and tomahawks used by their warriors were of Mexican manufacture, more slender and graceful in design than those supplied to the northern tribes by English and American traders. It was only by such tacit connivance or active aid from the people of New Mexico that these tribes were able to carry on an unceasing warfare of extermination as far south as Tamaulipas and Durango in Mexico.

RELATIONS WITH OTHER SOUTHERN TRIBES

Subsequent to the treaty with the Comanche, and as a consequence of it, the Kiowa made peace with the Mescalero Apache (_Ĕ´sikwita_), with whom they had formerly been at enmity, having driven them from the Staked plains into the mountains west of the Pecos. The friendship, however, was somewhat precarious. They were also on friendly terms with the Wichita and their associated tribes, the Waco, Tawákoni, and Kichai. With the Caddo and the cannibal Tonkawa to the east, and with the Navaho and Ute and presumably also the Jicarilla Apache on the west, they were always at war. They usually carried on a friendly trade with the neighboring Pueblos. Their relations with the Apache of Arizona were too casual to be of a definite nature. They were at war with the Osage until 1834. To all these tribes the confederated Kiowa, Comanche, and Apache held but one and the same relation after the alliance of about 1790.

FIRST OFFICIAL AMERICAN NOTICES, 1805--1807

The earliest official account of the Kiowa is given by the explorers Lewis and Clark, who ascended the Missouri in 1804 and wintered among the Mandan, before proceeding onward across the mountains and down to the mouth of the Columbia. They do not appear to have met any of the Kiowa, but heard of them from the tribes living on the river. By that time the Kiowa, whom the explorers erroneously supposed were distinct from the "Wetepahatoes," had been driven out of the Black Hills, which were then in possession of the Cheyenne, while the Dakota held the country to the eastward. The Kiowa were then on the Padouca or North Platte. This agrees with the statements of old men of the Dakota confederacy, who informed the writer that within their early recollection that tribe had lived between the North Platte and the Niobrara, having been expelled from the Black Hills by the Dakota of the preceding generation.

The official report of Captain Lewis describes the Kiowa ("Kiawas" and "Wetepahatoes") as living in 1805 on the North fork of the Platte, and numbering 70 tipis, 200 warriors, and 700 souls, while the Kiowa Apache ("Cataka") lived somewhat farther north, on the headwaters of the two forks of Cheyenne river, and are estimated at 25 tipis, 75 warriors, and 300 souls. While the figures thus given for the Apache are probably nearly correct, those for the Kiowa are much too low, unless we assume that they had been so greatly reduced by the war with the Dakota. The alliances and wars of the two tribes, Kiowa and Apache, were the same, they carrying on a defensive war with the Dakota and being at peace with all the other tribes of the region, particularly with the Arikara, Mandan, and Hidatsa. The account continues:

They are a wandering nation, inhabit an open country, and raise a
great number of horses, which they barter to the Ricaras, Mandans,
etc, for articles of European manufactory. They are a well-disposed
people, and might be readily induced to visit the trading
establishments on the Missouri. From the animals their country
produces, their trade would no doubt become valuable. These people
again barter a considerable proportion of the articles they obtain
from the Menetares, Ahwahhaways, Mandans, and Ricaras to the
Dotames and Castapanas.... Neither these people ("Kiawas"), the
Wetepahatoes, nor the Chyennes have any idea of exclusive right to
the soil (_Lewis and Clark, 1_).

The Dotames and Castapanas (for Castahanas) here mentioned are described as living back of the Kiowa, between the head streams of the North Platte and the Yellowstone, and were probably bands of the Shoshoni. From this it appears that besides being well supplied with horses, with which they carried on a profitable trade at this period with the tribes on the Missouri, the Kiowa also acted as the trading medium between these tribes and others living in the mountains beyond the Kiowa. The officer suggests the mouth of Cheyenne river as the most suitable place to establish a trading post for them. The Crows are described as having then the same wars and friendships as the Kiowa, excepting that they were at war with the Arikara as well as with the Dakota (_Lewis and Clark, 2_).

The Comanche are described at this period (1805) under the name of the "La Playes" division of "Aliatans" or "Snake Indians," as inhabiting the plains from the headwaters of the Arkansas, and including the sources of Red river, and extending from the mountains eastward indefinitely. They were a wandering people, claiming no particular boundaries, and, although possessing no guns, were brave and warlike. Their country abounded in wild horses, besides great numbers which they raised themselves (_Lewis and Clark, 3_).

In his volume published a few years later the explorer, Zebulon M. Pike, states that the Kiowa, estimated by him to number 1,000 men, had in 1803 been driven by the Dakota into the mountains on the heads of the Platte and Arkansas and north of the Comanche, where they were then wandering. They owned immense herds of horses, were armed with bows, arrows, and lances, hunted the buffalo, and were at war with the Dakota, Pawnee, and "Tetau" (here meaning the Ute). In another place he mentions both Ute and Kiowa as living in the mountains of northern Mexico--the present Colorado and New Mexico--the former being more civilized from contact with the Spaniards. He speaks also of meeting, in 1807, a party of Kiowa and Comanche returning from a trading expedition to the Mandan (_Pike, 1_).

EXPLANATION OF "ALIATAN" AND "TETAU"

As the names Aliatan and Tetau here quoted from Lewis and Clark, with their variants, have been the cause of much confusion in our western tribal nomenclature, some explanation will not be out of place. Although so unlike in appearance, these appellations are really but different forms of the same word. The Ute of the mountain, region at the headwaters of the Platte and the Arkansas, being a powerful and aggressive tribe, were well known to all the Indians of the plains, who usually called them by some form of their proper name, _Yútawáts_, or, in its root form, _Yuta_, whence we get Eutaw, Utah, and Ute. Among the Kiowa the name becomes _Íătä_(_-go_), while the Siouan tribes seem to have nasalized it so that the early French traders wrote it as Ayutan, Iatan, or Ietan. By prefixing the French article it became L'Iatan, and afterward Aliatan, while by misreading of the manuscript word we get Jatan, Jetan, and finally Tetau. Moreover, as the early traders and explorers knew but little of the mountain tribes, they frequently confounded those of the same generic stock, so that almost any of these forms may mean Shoshoni, Ute, or Comanche, according to the general context of the description.

UNSUCCESSFUL OVERTURES OF THE DAKOTA

As an incident of the war in progress during this period between the Kiowa and the Dakota, we find it recorded on a calendar of the latter tribe, under date of 1814-15, that a party of their people visited the Kiowa camp on Horse creek for the purpose of making peace, but their benevolent purpose was defeated by the occurrence of a sudden quarrel between one of their own men and a Kiowa, which ended by the Dakota sinking his tomahawk into the Kiowa's head, thus bringing the peace negotiations to an abrupt close (_Mallery, 3_). The story, which well illustrates the uncertainty of Indian temper, has a striking parallel in Grinnell's story of "The Peace with the Snakes" (_Grinnell, Blackfoot, 1_). The Kiowa camp was at the junction of Kiowa creek with Horse creek, which enters the North Platte from the south in Nebraska, just east of the Wyoming line.

SMALLPOX EPIDEMIC OF 1816

In 1816 the smallpox made terrible ravages among all the tribes in the region of the Red and Rio Grande, being probably communicated from the Spanish settlements. The Comanche especially lost heavily (_Morse, 1_). The Kiowa suffered in proportion, and their old men speak of this as the first epidemic of smallpox within the memory of their tribe. It is probable, however, that they had suffered in the same way some years before, for we know that in 1801 a Pawnee war party, returning from New Mexico, brought the smallpox home with them, with the result that it spread among the tribes from the Missouri to the coast of Texas. The prairie tribes are said to have lost more than half their population at this time, while the Wichita, Caddo, and others in the south suffered almost as severely (_Morse, 2_; _Lewis and Clark, 4_).

THE KIOWA IN 1820

In the account of his expedition up the Arkansas in 1820, Long speaks of the Kiowa as wandering with the Arapaho and others over the prairies of Arkansas and Red rivers, and having great numbers of horses, which they traded to the Cheyenne and other northern Indians, who were not able to rear them so easily in their colder and more barren country. He describes a great gathering of tribes in 1815 on the South Platte, apparently about the junction of Kiowa creek in Colorado, a region which he mentions as frequented by the Kiowa, when the Cheyenne came down with goods from the traders on the Missouri to meet and trade for horses with the Kiowa, Arapaho, and "Kaskaia or Bad Hearts," and a party of traders from St Louis (_James, Long's Ex., 1_). This appears to be the first notice of the Kiowa as living on Red river--which, however, may here mean the Canadian--and is evidence that they were at this time on friendly terms with the Arapaho and Cheyenne, with both of which tribes they were soon after at war. We learn also from this notice that the St Louis traders had already begun to come out to trade with them on the Arkansas, although none were regularly established in their territory until some years later. The "Kaskaias" are probably the Kiowa Apache, or possibly the Wichita.

THE OSAGE MASSACRE AND THE DRAGOON EXPEDITION--1833-34

We come now to the period covered by the Kiowa calendars, the first important event of which is the massacre of a large number of the tribe by a war party of Osage in the early spring of 1833. This led indirectly to the expedition of the First dragoons in 1834, by which the Kiowa, Comanche, Wichita, and associated tribes were first brought into official relations with the United States. The massacre and the expedition will be found treated at length in the proper place. When the troops returned to Fort Gibson, in the eastern part of Indian Territory, in August, they were accompanied by a party of one Waco, one Comanche, three Wichita, and fifteen Kiowa chiefs or headmen, of whom the artist Catlin says they were undoubtedly one of the most interesting groups that had ever visited the frontier. Invitations were sent out to the chiefs of all the neighboring tribes to come in to Fort Gibson and meet their visitors from the west. A number responded, and a council lasting several days was held under the auspices of Colonel Dodge of the Dragoons, Indian Agent Major Armstrong, and Indian Commissioner General Stokes, which paved the way for a friendly understanding between the eastern and western tribes, and for both with regard to the United States (_Catlin, 1_).

A year later, in August, 1835, as a result of the friendly relations thus established, the chiefs of the Comanche and Wichita met the United States commissioners at Camp Holmes, about 5 miles northeast of the present site of Purcell, Indian Territory, and made their first treaty with the government. The principal stipulation was that there should be peace and friendship between the Comanche and Wichita on the one hand, and the United States, Creek, Cherokee, and other immigrant tribes, and the Osage on the other (_Treaties_).

THE TREATY OF 1837

Owing to a delay in the negotiations, the Kiowa who had attended the meeting became impatient and returned home and consequently were not parties to this treaty, but two years later a full delegation of Kiowa, Apache, and Tawakoni went down to Fort Gibson, where the first treaty between the United States and these tribes was made on May 26, 1837, and was formally ratified the following year. In the document the three tribes are called "the Kioway, Ka-ta-ka, and Ta-wa-karo nations of Indians." The general terms of the treaty are the same as in that previously made with the Comanche and Wichita, namely, peace and friendship, with forgiveness of past injuries, and satisfactory settlement of future disputes that might arise between these western tribes and the Osage, Muscogee (Creek), and citizens of the United States. All the tribes concerned were to have equal hunting rights on the southern prairies as far west as the jurisdiction of the government extended, and citizens of the United States were to have free right of travel to and from Mexico and Texas through the Indian hunting grounds.

There was also a stipulation that if "any of the red people belonging to the nations or tribes of Indians residing south of the Missouri river and west of the states of Missouri and Arkansas, not parties to this treaty," should be found in the country of the Kiowa, they should be kindly treated by them. This was probably intended to refer only to the immigrant tribes removed from the east, as it was hardly to be expected that the Kiowa would act very hospitably toward any stray Dakota or Pawnee who might occasionally visit the Arkansas in search of Kiowa scalps or ponies. There was also a distinct understanding that it was the desire of the government that perfect peace should exist between the Kiowa and their allies and the republics of Mexico and Texas. The usual presents were then distributed and everybody was happy (_Treaties_).

The peace thus made with the Osage and Creeks was never broken, although in after years relations with the Osage were somewhat strained in consequence of their serving as scouts against the allied southern plains tribes. The promised friendship was also kept with regard to the citizens of the United States until after the annexation of Texas, which the Kiowa and Comanche never ceased to regard as a distinct and hostile government, making a clear distinction between "Americans," i. e., settlers and emigrants from the north or Kansas side, and "Texans," whom they regarded as a different nation and their enemies, in having driven them from their best hunting grounds in violation of treaties and without compensation.

The treaty commissioners on behalf of the government were General Montfort Stokes and A. P. Chouteau, the latter being a member of the noted pioneer trading company. Clermont and Roly McIntosh, head chiefs of the Osage and Creeks, signed, with others, for their respective tribes. Among the witnesses were a number of officers, stationed at Fort Gibson, including, among others, the commanding officer, Colonel Whistler, the noted Captain Bonneville, and Colonel R. L. Dodge, who had led the dragoon expedition. The treaty was signed by ten Kiowa chiefs and principal men, three Apache (whose Kiowa names only are given), and four Tawakoni. Below are given the names of the Kiowa and Apache, as the earliest on record from these tribes, excepting those given by Catlin, together with the proper forms and translations of those which can be identified.

_Kiowa_

Ta-ka-ta-couche, "Black Bird" (_Couche-kóñigya_, "black"?). Cha-hon-de-ton, "Flying Squirrel." Ta-ne-congais, "Sea Gull" (?) (_T'ené-kóñigyă_, "Black Bird"). Bon-congais, "Black Cap" (_Bohón-kóñigya_, "Black Cap"). To-ho-sa, "Top of the Mountain" (_Dohá-sän_, "Little Bluff"). Sen-son-da-cat, "White Bird." Con-a-hen-ka, "Horned Frog" (_Séhänk`ia_, "Horned Toad Man"?). He-pan-ni-gais, "Night." Ka-him-hi, "Prairie Dog" (_Tséñhi_ ? "Dog"). Pa-con-ta, "My Young Brother."

_Apache_

Hen-ton-te, "Iron Shoe" (_Hâñ-doti_, "Iron Shoe, or Moccasin"). A-ei-kenda, "One who is Surrendered." Cet-ma-ni-ta, "Walking Bear" (_Set-mänte_, "Bear Above? or Walking Bear"?).

At this time the Kiowa were located on the upper waters of Arkansas, Canadian, and Red rivers, in friendship with the Comanche and Wichita, who occupied much of the same territory, but usually ranged more to the east and south. They continued to occupy the same general region until confined to their present reservation. Their war parties extended their raids far beyond these limits, particularly toward the south.

CATLIN'S OBSERVATIONS IN 1834

Catlin, who saw them in 1834, describes them as a much finer race of men than either the Comanche or Wichita, being tall and erect, with an easy graceful gait, long hair reaching often nearly to the ground, with a fine Roman outline of head, of a type common among the northern tribes, but entirely distinct from that usually found in the south (_Catlin, 2_).

TRADERS AMONG THE KIOWA