T lie Field and I ts Workers
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Some are inclined to think that they were closely associated with the Karankawas, who were their closest neighbors to the south, but it has been pointed out that when these Indians apostatized and deserted their mission, they took refuge with the Tonkawas, who occupied the territory immediately north of them.% 7 Speaking of the other small tribes, Bolton says, "In the same general border region, between the upper San Antonio and Colorado Rivers, there were, in earlier times, numerous other trihes or sub-tribes whose affiliation has not yet been definitely determined. Among them the Cantuna, Tojo, Toaja, Emet, and Cava, bands or tribes with some marks of Tonkawan affinity, were prominent. It is even possible that the data which has been more recently accumulated may be sufficient to establish in this region a distinct linguistic family. But by the middle of the eighteenth century most of the bands had disappeared or had been absorbed by their stronger neighbors."% 8 T lie A paclze. Beyond the confines of Texas proper were the Apaches when the curtain of history first rises, although some of the tribes of this nation frequented the great plains. The first to encounter these Indians seems to have been Coronado, during his wanderings in the vast plains of eastern New Mexico and western Texas. They were probably the Querechos or Vaqueros of his account. It was Onate, however, who first referred to them as Apaches in 1598. But the Apaches of Texas, more properly referred to as the Eastern Apaches, were a branch of the great Athapascan family, one of the most widely distributed of the North American Indians. Their name was probably derived from Apaclue, the Zuni name for enemy, applied first to the Navajos of New Mexico. They are in reality a part of the southern division of the Athapascan family, which includes three large groups: the Navajos of New Mexico, as already indicated; the Apache Carlanes, a number of tribes surrounding the Navajos; and the Texas Apaches proper, or Lipanes. Originally found in eastern New Mexico and northwest Texas, they were gradually pushed southward by their inveterate enemies, the 27 Bolton, op. cit. In the presentation of the native tribes and their grouping, the excellent analysis made by Bolton in his introduction to At/1anase De .Jle=ieres has been closely followed as the best guide. Recently, much additional material on the various Indian tribes of Texas has been made available with the publication of Picltardo's Treatise on tl,e Limits of Louisiana and Texas by Dr. Chas. \V. Hackett. For a detailed discussion see Volume II, Chapters XIII-XIX of the work cited. 28 Bolton, op. cit., I, 28.
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