TEXAS INDIAN PAPERS, 1846-1859
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I have, in writing my notes out, illustrated traits of charac- ter, etc., among the tribes, by appropriate stories or anecdotes; and, also, their customs, by some of their legends and oral tra- ditions. Hoping to hear from you soon-I am
With much respect,
Your obed't servant,
WM. B. PARKER.
H. R. Schoolcraft, Esq.
Traditions, etc. The Caddo, Ioni, and Ah-mau-dah-ka [Anadarko], have a tradition, that they issued from the hot springs of Arkansas, and from that went to Red River, near Natchitoches, and finally came to the Brazos. They (with the Waco and Tawakoni) live in houses built of a framework of poles, in a conical shape, thatched with long prairie grass, with low doors; the fires built in the centre of the lodge; the lodge C'ircular, about twenty-five feet in diameter, and twenty high. They live in great harmony together, on the Brazos, below Fort Belknap; speak the Caddo language, as a general means of communication ; intermarry; and raise corn, beans, melons, squashes, etc., and keep up their stock of horses and mules by stealing from the whites. The Wichita live in the Choctaw territory, on Kush Creek; are the greatest horse thieves known, and have given more trouble to the settlers in Texas than any other tribe. These tribes are all of pure blood, and though their women are notoriously unchaste, they do not mingle with white men. The Tonkawa have a tradition, that their progenitor come into the world by the agency of a wolf, and commemorate the event by the wolf dance, which is conducted with great secresy, and which white men are only allowed to witness after great solicitation, and then by stealth. When the specatator is admitted to the interior of the dance lodge-a long, low building, appropriated specially to this cere- mony-he sees a number of performers, all dressed in wolf skins, so as perfectly to represent the animal. They go around on all-fours; howl, and make other demon- strations peculiar to the wolf.
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