The Quarterly of the Texas State Historical Association, Volume 1, July 1897 - April, 1898 Page: 27
334 p. : ill., ports., maps ; 23 cm.View a full description of this periodical.
Extracted Text
The following text was automatically extracted from the image on this page using optical character recognition software:
Tribal Society Among Texas Indians. 27
The region of North America which the fortunes of war and
political council have now defined as the State of Texas was in the
early years of this century inhabited by about thirty tribes of In-
dians. Twelve tribes of these spoke dialects of the Caddo language,
which is an offshoot of the Pawnee stock, including the tribes of
the Ricaree and Mandan far up the Missouri river, and farther
north. The intervening region, more than a thousand miles in ex-
tent, was peopled by tribes alien in speech and unconnected with
either. At what time the parent stocks parted company is un-
known. But as their languages had diverged so much as to be not
readily understood by each other, we know that the time had al-
ready been considerable when these tribes were first discovered.
The twelve tribes of the Caddo stock were the Caddos, Adaes,
Bedaes, Keechies, Nacogdoches, Ionies, Anadarkos, Wacos, Tawa-
kanees, Towash, and Texas. All inhabiting east of the Brazos,
from about a hundred miles from the coast, northward nearly to
the Arkansas river. Of course, there was no distinct boundary.
The Indian tribes knew nothing of a country. They believed that
they had a right to the land the same as to the air and water
throughout the universe as known to them. The tribes above
named hunted across the country as far west as the San Antonio
river; but their permanent villages and habitual ranges were within
the vague limits described. They had a tradition that they had for-
merly been confederated together, forming one nation; but wheth-
er they were at that time one tribe, from which smaller ones broke
off, as bees swarm from the parent hive, is unknown. They were
more advanced toward civilization than other tribes north of Mex-
ico, and afford the best examples of tribal government and society.
Of the thirty tribes alluded to as forming our aboriginal popula-
tion, two obscure tribes, the Coushatta and Alibama, occupied vil-
lages on the Neches and Trinity rivers not far from Nacogdoches,
where they still remain. They also are offshoots far removed from
their parent stock, the Muscogee of Georgia and Florida, with
many intervening alien tribes. The Lipans ranged from the Rio
Grande to the Brazos, along the foot of the mountains. They were
an Apache tribe, and their speech a dialect of the Athabascan lan-
guage, prevailing in the far north, from Hudson bay nearly to the
Pacific ocean. They also must have broken off from the parent
:stock in ancient times.
Upcoming Pages
Here’s what’s next.
Search Inside
This issue can be searched. Note: Results may vary based on the legibility of text within the document.
Tools / Downloads
Get a copy of this page or view the extracted text.
Citing and Sharing
Basic information for referencing this web page. We also provide extended guidance on usage rights, references, copying or embedding.
Reference the current page of this Periodical.
Texas State Historical Association. The Quarterly of the Texas State Historical Association, Volume 1, July 1897 - April, 1898, periodical, 1897/1898; Austin, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth101009/m1/38/: accessed April 27, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Texas State Historical Association.