Before summarizing the results of the investigation of Plains Indian
societies undertaken by the Department of Anthropology for a number of
years, it appeared desirable to secure data from the Kiowa respecting
certain theoretical points that had developed from a study of other
tribes. Though Mr. Mooney's printed Kiowa material seemed to decide
these questions implicitly, it seemed best to take a view of the subject
in the field from the particular vantage ground afforded by the
systematic survey of the region presented in this volume. For this
purpose I made a side trip to Anadarko, Oklahoma, in June, 1915. There I
had the good fortune of enlisting the services of Mr. Andres Martinez, a
Mexican who had been captured by the Apache while a boy, sold to the
Kiowa two years later, and who had lived a large portion of his life as
a Kiowa among Kiowa, marrying native women, entering some of the men's
societies, and so forth. Mr. Martinez became my main informant and acted
as my interpreter in questioning two full-blood Indians on doubtful
points. He also corrected several errors in his published biography,[1]
which he explained were due to his inadequate knowledge of English at
the time of its composition.
It is obvious that several days' work, however intensive, cannot exhaust
such a topic as the military and related organizations of a Plains
tribe: all I attempted was to shed some light on the problems treated in
this series of papers.
February, 1916.