TEXAS INDIAN PAPERS, 1846-1859
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they have rather diminished than ·increased in numbers, as they are generally engaged in depredating upon the proximate Mex- ican settlements, by which they often suffer loss of life; are also occasionally at war with other tribes; and have within a few years sustained some abatement of numbers in their forays upon our settlements. The Comanche have no definite idea of their own or1gm. Their loose tradition is, that their ancestors came from the North; but they have no precise conception of the time when, or .from what particular region. They are nomadic in their manner of life; their cattle consisting of horses and mules, which they rob, for the most part, from the imbecile Mexicans, who hold them in great dread. They have no knowledge of agriculture, but depend entirely on game for subsistence, and chiefly on the buffalo, which descend in large herds to their region on the approach of winter. During the summer months, when the buffalo return to their northern pastures, these Indians are often exposed to suffering, and find it difficult to procure adequate sustenance; but they have a rare capacity for enduring hunger, and manifest great patience under its infliction. After long abstinence they eat voraciously, and without apparent in- convenience. I do not believe the Comanche,-by which term I intend the entire tribe,-have any traditions of the slightest verisimilitude, running farther into bygone time than the third generation. Their means of knowledge of the past are altogether oral; un- aided by monuments of any description. I could never discover that they had any songs, legends, or other mementoes, to per- petuate the fetes of arms, or other illustrious deeds of their pro- genitors; and I question if the names of any of their chiefs of the fourth generation ascending are retained among them. They perish with but little more note of remembrance than does a favorite dog among the enlightened of the people. In 1819 their principal chief, who was generally recognised as the head of the three bands, was called Parrow-a-kifty; by interpretation, Little Bear. He was a Tenawa, and was a brave, enterprising, and intelligent savage; superior to his tribe in general. He was celebrated for his taciturnity and sedateness; it was said of him, that he never laughed, except in battle. His habitual taciturnity was not of that affected kind which is sometimes adopted among the more enlightened, as a convenient substitute for, and type of, wisdom.
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