idol, now lost, which was exposed in front of the _taíme_ image at the
annual sun dance.
5. _Semät_, "Thieves," i. e., Apache. Although a distinct tribe, they
have formed an integral part of the Kiowa tribal circle from the
earliest traditionary period.
6. _Koñtä´lyui_, "Black Boys," or _Síndiyúi_, "Sindi's children." No
reason is assigned for either of these names, which are about equally
common, Sindi is the great mythic hero of the Kiowa. They are a small
band, and occupy the last place in the circle.
7. _K'úato_ "Pulling Up." These were exterminated by the Dakota about
1780, as already related. They spoke a peculiar dialect of Kiowa. It is
not now known what position they occupied in the tribal circle.
Clark mentions four of these divisions, under the names of Elk
(_Kogúi_), Shield (_Kiñep_), Cut-Off (_K`at'a_), and Black
(_Koñtälyui_), and adds, "some claim five, the Apache Kiowa band"
(_Clark, 20_).
[Illustration: FIG. 55--The Kiowa camp circle]
MILITARY ORGANIZATION--YÄ`´PÄHE WARRIORS
The Kiowa have an elaborate military organization, now fast becoming
obsolete, known as _Yä´pähe_, "Warriors." A similar organization is
found among most of the prairie tribes, and is commonly known to the
whites as the Dog-soldier society, from an imperfect rendering of the
name of one of the principal bands. The Kiowa organization consists of
six orders, each having its own dance, songs, insignia, and duties. The
members were first enrolled as boys among the "Rabbits," and were
afterward promoted, according to merit or the necessities of war, in
regular progression, to higher ranks. Only the bravest few, however,
ever attained the highest order, that of the _Kâ-itséñko_. Almost every
able-bodied man was enrolled. The orders, beginning with the lowest, are
as follows:
1. _Polä´ñyup_ or _Tsä´ñyui_, "Rabbits." Boys above the age of eight or
ten years, who were drilled in their future duties as warriors by
certain old men. The step of their dance is intended to imitate the
jumping of a rabbit.
2. _Ädaltóyui_ or _Téñbeyu´i_, "Young (wild) Sheep."
3. _Tseñtä´nmo_, "Horse Head-dresses." (?)
4. _Toñkóñko_, "Black Legs."
5. _T'äñpéko_, "Skunkberry People" or _Tséñ-â'dalka-i_, "Crazy Horses."
6. _Kâ´-itsénko_, "Real or Principal Dogs (?)." These were the picked
men of the warriors and were limited to ten in number. According to the
myth, their founder saw in a vision a body of warriors dressed and
painted after the manner of the order, accompanied by a dog, which sang
the song of the Kâ´-itséñko and commanded him, "You are a dog; make a
noise like a dog and sing a dog song." Their peculiar insignia and
obligations will be described in another place (see the calendar, summer
1846.)
Clark gives the names of the Kiowa orders as follows, omitting the
Poläñyup: Raven Soldiers or Black Leggings (_Toñkoñko_); Sheep
(_Ädaltóyui_); Feather Head (_Tseñtä´nmo_); Horse (_Kâ-itséñko_);
Warclub (_T'äñpéko_). He adds, "The Kiowa Apache have only three bands,
viz: 1st, Big Horse; 2d, Raven; 3d, Swift Fox" (_Clark, 6_).
At home the Yä`pähe acted as camp police and leaders in the tribal
ceremonies; abroad they were the warriors and conductors of the hunt.
Battey gives an illustration of the system as he once saw it in
practical operation:
Being determined that none of their thoughtless young men should go
raiding in Texas and thereby bring trouble upon the tribe, the
Kiowas, immediately after the whole tribe got together on Pecon
creek, organized a military system, under the control of the war
chiefs, which was immediately put into operation. By this a strong
guard of their soldiers were continually watching day and night
while in camp to prevent any such enterprise from being undertaken.
In moving from place to place these soldiers marched on each side
of the main body, while a front guard went before and a rear guard
behind, thus preventing any from straggling.
Their buffalo hunts were conducted in the same military order. The
soldiers, going out first, surrounded a tract of country in which
were a large herd of buffalo, and no one might chase a buffalo past
this ring guard on pain of having his horse shot by the soldiers.
Within the ring hundreds of men on horseback were chasing and
shooting the huge creatures with revolvers or bows and arrows until
each had killed as many as his female attendants could skin and
take care of (_Battey, 14_).
HERALDIC SYSTEM
In connection with their military and social organization the Kiowa and
Apache have a system of heraldry, which finds tangible expression in
the painting and ornamentation of their shields and tipis. There were
formerly about fifty shield patterns used in the two tribes, and all the
warriors carrying shields of the same pattern constituted a close
brotherhood, with similar war cries, body paint, and ceremonial taboos
and regulations. Every prominent family also had its heraldic tipi,
which occupied its fixed place in the tribal camp circle. Special taboos
and rules belonged to the tipi as to the shield, and the right of
hereditary descent was as nicely regulated as property ownership among
the whites. This system of heraldry will form the subject of a future
monograph.
NAME SYSTEM
Their system of personal names is also interesting. All the names have
meaning and are as much a part of the owner as his hand or his foot.
Children are usually named soon after birth by one of the grandparents
or other relative not the parent; the name is commonly suggested by some
passing incident, but may be hereditary, or intended to commemorate the
warlike deed of some ancestor. In this way a girl may bear a war name
bestowed by her grandfather to preserve the recollection of his own
achievement. There are no ordinal names as among the eastern Sioux, no
clan names as among the Shawnee, and no names which indicate the band of
the individual. Young men as they grow up usually assume dream names, in
obedience to visions, and these are sometimes superseded in later life
by names acquired on the warpath, the hunt, or in council. Frequently an
aged warrior, who feels that his day is near its close, formally gives
his name to some young man who seems to him to merit the honor; the
older man then assumes a new name, or more frequently lives out his
remaining years without a name, being referred to and addressed simply
as "old man." Sometimes the old warrior, having outlived the need of a
name and not regarding any younger man as worthy to bear it,
deliberately "throws it away" and is henceforth nameless. Should he die
without having bestowed his name upon a successor, the name dies with
him and can not be revived. The name of the dead is never spoken in the
presence of the relatives, and upon the death of any member of a family
all the others take new names--a custom noted by Raleigh's colonists on
Roanoke island more than three centuries ago. Moreover, all words
suggesting the name of the dead person are dropped from the language for
a term of years, and other words, conveying the same idea, are
substituted. The same custom exists among the Comanche and perhaps among
other tribes.
MARRIAGE
[Illustration: FIG. 56--Mäñyi-tén or Woman-heart, a typical Kiowa]
Marriage among the Kiowa, as among the plains tribes generally, is a
simple affair, with none of the elaborate ceremonials found among the
Hopi and other sedentary Indians. About all that is necessary is that
the maiden of the young man's choice shall be willing, and, this having
been ascertained by the lover, he sends some friend as a mediator to her
parents to make an offer of ponies or other property to compensate them
for the loss of their daughter. If both sides come to an agreement, the
match is made, and the young couple, with the assistance of their
friends, set up housekeeping on their own account. Compulsion is no more
brought to bear upon the girl than in civilized communities; the brother
of the girl has as much to do with the decision of the case as her
parents, and continues to claim a sort of guardianship over her even
after her marriage. The marriageable age is about fourteen for girls and
sixteen for boys. In general the husband goes to live among his wife's
people instead of taking her to his own camp. The father seems to
exercise more control over his children than among tribes having the
clan system and mother right. There appears to be no fixed rule of
inheritance, but shield, tipi, and band name usually descend in the male
line. The husband avoids the mother-in-law, but not to the same extent
as among other plains tribes. Polygamy is allowed, but is not frequent,
only a few of the Kiowa now having two wives, and none more than that
number. In the old times it was more common, in consequence of the
surplus of women resulting from the killing off of the men in their
constant wars. The father of T'ebodal is famous for having had ten
wives; Quanah, the present head chief of the Comanche, has six. It was
common to marry sisters of the same family, and according to tribal
custom, which had analogy among the ancient Hebrews, the man who married
the eldest daughter had first claim upon her sisters.
Divorce is easy and without ceremony, but not so common as might be
supposed, there being many couples that have lived faithfully together
for nearly half a century. Adultery is punished by taking or destroying
the property of the guilty man. The woman is simply "thrown away" by her
husband, although in theory her life is forfeited. In former times he
might kill her or cut off her nose, as was done also among the
neighboring tribes, but this latter custom is now only a memory.
TRIBAL GOVERNMENT
The tribal government was formerly committed to the care of a head chief
and the chiefs of the several bands, together with the war chiefs, who
had control in military affairs. Women had no voice in the government.
From the evidences of tradition and the statements of old men, the
chiefs in former times, before tribal customs were demoralized by the
advent of the conquering race, must have exercised almost despotic
powers and were feared as well as respected by their people. Their last
great chief was Dohásän, who died in 1866, since which time no one has
had the unquestioned allegiance of the whole tribe. The present
officially recognized head chief is Lone-wolf, the adopted son of the
hostile leader of the same name in the last outbreak. The elder
Lone-wolf formally bestowed his own name upon the younger man in 1879,
thus publicly recognizing him as his successor. Camp and ceremonial
regulations were enforced and their violation punished by the Yä'´pähe,
acting under direction of the war chiefs. Personal grievances were
avenged by the injured party or by his nearest relatives, without
interference by the tribe.
CHARACTER
[Illustration: FIG. 57--Gaápiatáñ (_alias_ Haitsĭki) or Feathered-lance,
a typical Kiowa]
In character the Kiowa are below the standard. Having been intimately
associated with them for some years, the author would be better pleased
to make a different showing, but truth compels the statement. Tribal
traits are strongly marked among Indians. The Sioux are direct and
manly, the Cheyenne high-spirited and keenly sensitive, the Arapaho
generous and accommodating, the Comanche practical and businesslike, but
the Kiowa, with some honorable exceptions, are deficient in all these
qualities. They have the savage virtue of bravery, as they have
abundantly proven, but as a people they have less of honor, gratitude,
and general reliability than perhaps any other tribe of the plains. The
large infusion of captive blood, chiefly Mexican, must undoubtedly have
influenced the tribal character, but whether for good or evil the
student of heredity must determine.
The report of Captain Alvord, already quoted at length, affords a good
insight into Kiowa character. Gregg in 1844 described them as "one of
the most savage tribes that infest the western prairies" (_Gregg, 7_).
Captain (afterward General) John Pope ten years later called them
deceitful and unreliable and "absolutely destitute of most of the
chivalrous characteristics which distinguish the Comanche brave."
General Pope in 1870 denounced them as being altogether the worst
Indians the government had to deal with, having been for twenty-five
years past "the most faithless, cruel, and unreliable of all the Indians
of the plains." About the same time General Sheridan expressed his
lasting regret that he did not hang Set-t'aiñte and Lone-wolf and punish
the whole tribe when he first met them. The Quaker Battey, a good friend
of theirs, describes them as "the most fierce and desperately
bloodthirsty tribe of the Indian Territory"--a people who had hitherto
resisted all attempts to bring them into friendly relations with the
government or to a knowledge of civilization, still continuing to commit
depredations upon the white settlements, stealing horses and mules,
murdering men and women and carrying their children into captivity. He
says it would probably be difficult to find in the whole tribe a man
whose hands had not been imbrued in blood. Clark states that in personal
appearance, intelligence, and tenacity of purpose he considers them
inferior to the Comanche (_Pacific, 1_; _War, 5_; _Battey, 16_; _Clark,
8_).
POPULATION
It is always difficult to estimate the population of a roving tribe, and
almost invariably first reports are greatly exaggerated. This is
particularly true of the Kiowa, whose restless disposition and
inveterate habit of raiding made them equally at home anywhere along a
frontier of a thousand miles. Excluding some extravagant early
estimates, the statements of the most competent observers, and the
official reports since they have been put upon the reservation, all
indicate that the combined population of the confederated Kiowa and
Apache was never much more than 1,600, or 1,800 at the greatest, of whom
the Apache numbered nearly one-fourth. No really accurate count was ever
made until after their final subjugation in 1875, and it is worth noting
that their numbers, which had been reported at 2,774 and 2,302 in the
preceding two years, at once fell to 1,414, and remained nearly
stationary at that figure until the epidemic of 1892. Battey's estimate
in 1873 (in which he probably means to include the Apache) of 1,600 to
1,650 is probably very nearly correct. In 1892 the Kiowa numbered 1,014
and the Apache 241, a total of 1,255, being a decrease from 1,476 in the
previous year in consequence of the epidemic of measles. In November,
1896, they numbered: Kiowa 1,065, Apache 208, a total of 1,273. The
associated Comanche at the same time numbered 1,545. In each of these
tribes there is a large captive element of which, no separate account is
taken, but investigation would probably show that at least one-fourth of
the whole number have more or less of captive blood. The captives are
chiefly Mexicans and Mexican Indians, with Indians of other tribes, and
several whites taken from Texas when children, including one old man who
still remembers having gone to school in Germany and having crossed the
ocean with his parents (see Pope in _Pacific, 2_).
Some of the estimates are based on the number of tipis or warriors, an
uncertain ratio, which varies greatly in different tribes. With the
Kiowa it may be assumed to equal 2 warriors and 6 or 7 souls to a tipi.
Below are given the various estimates and enumerations, beginning with
the earliest, that of Lewis and Clark in 1805. The estimates of 1807,
1810, 1841--1845, and perhaps of 1850 probably include the Apache.
1805--Kiowa and Wetepahatoe, 70 tipis, 200 warriors, 700 souls (Lewis
and Clark, 5).
1810--1,000 warriors, i. e., about 3,000 souls (Pike, Expedition, 1810).
1814--Wate-pana-toe and Ryuwa, 200 warriors, 900 souls (Brackenridge,
Views of Louisiana, 85, 1814).
1820--Wettaphato, 1,000 souls, 900 souls (Morse, 3).
1828--140 families (i. e., about 950 souls?) (Spanish, doc. of 1828, in
Societa Geog. Mex., 265, 1870).
1829--Keawas, 1,000 souls (Porter, in Schoolcraft, Ind. Tribes, III,
596, 1853).
1836--Kioways, 1,800 (estimate in Schoolcraft, III, 611).
1841-45--1,800 souls (Indian Reports for these years; for the same
period the Comanche are estimated at 19,200).
1846--400 tipis, 2,000 souls (Bent, in Rept., 1846).
1849--300 warriors, 1,500 souls, a "careful estimate" (Neighbors,
Report, 1849; he estimates the Comanche at 4,000 warriors and 20,000
souls).
1850--Kayuguas, 2,000 souls, not to exceed (War, 6).
1851--1,500 souls, probably not more than (Pacific, 3).
1854--2,800 souls (Agent Whitfield, Report, 1855; in the same report we
find another agent estimating the Kiowa and Comanche at 20,000 in 1852).
1865--1,800 (Report, 1865); 1,500 to 1,700 souls, about 280 tipis,
without Apache (Agent Leavenworth, in Report on Condition of Indian
Tribes, 37, 1867).
1866--Kiowa and Comanche, without Apache, 2,800 (Report, 1866).
1867--280 tipis, 1,680 souls, without Apache (estimate in report of
Medicine Lodge treaty, Indian Miscellany).
1867-68--Kiowa and Comanche, without Apache, 4,000 (Report, 1867 and
1868). The peace commission at the same time, 1867, estimates these two
tribes at 14,800.
1869-70--1,896 (Reports for 1869 and 1870).
1871--1,776 (Report).
1872--1,200; 1,930 (Report).
1873--2,000 (Report); 1,600 to 1,650 at 6 to a tipi (Battey, 17).
1874--1,700 (Report; all following are from the official reports).
1875--1,070.
1876--1,090.
1877--same.
1878--1,120.
1879--1,138.
1880--1,139.
1881--1,145.
1882--1,176.
1883--1,167.
1884--1,152.
1885--1,169.
1886--1,164.
1887--1,179.
1888--1,121.
1889--1,142, "a very careful census."
1890--1,140.
1891--1,151.
1892--1,014 (decrease from epidemic).
1893--1,017.
1894--same; taken from preceding.
1895--1,037.
1896--1,065.
[Illustration: BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY
SEVENTEENTH ANNUAL REPORT PL. LXV
PHOTO BY HILLERS, 1894
ANDRES MARTINEZ ("ÄN'DALI")]
RELIGION OF THE KIOWA
SCOPE OF THEIR BELIEF
In religion the Kiowa are polytheists and animists, deifying all the
powers of nature and praying to each in turn, according to the occasion.
Their native system has no Great Spirit, no heaven, no hell, although
they are now familiar with these ideas from contact with the whites;
their other world is a shadowy counterpart of this. There is an
indistinct idea of transmigration, owls and other night birds being
supposed to be animated by the souls of the dead, with a general belief
in ghosts, witches, and various sorts of good and bad "medicine." Dreams
and visions are supernatural revelations, to be trusted and obeyed
implicitly.
A curious instance of the persistence of the Indian beliefs in spite of
educational influences is afforded by the case of the late Kiowa
interpreter, a full-blood Indian, who had been reared and educated in
the east, graduated in theology, and was ordained to the ministry,
married a white woman, and returned as a missionary to his people. The
Indians accused him of deceiving them as to the terms of the treaty, and
told him that he "could not live," and he died shortly afterward in the
belief that he had been bewitched by the medicine-men as a punishment
for his part in the negotiations. The fact is a matter of official
record, as well as of contemporary newspaper publication.
THE SUN
The greatest of the Kiowa gods is the Sun; by him they swear, to him
they make sacrifice of their own flesh, and in his honor they held the
great annual _k'ado_ or sun dance. Next to the sun the buffalo and the
_señi_ or peyote plant claim reverence, and these too may be reduced to
the same analysis, as the buffalo bull in his strength and majesty is
regarded as the animal symbol of the sun, while the peyote, with its
circular disk and its bright center, surrounded by white spots or rays,
is its vegetal representative. The _â'dalbeáhya_ also derives its origin
from the sun. Unlike the agricultural tribes, they pay but little
attention to the rain gods and seem to have no reverence for the snake.
Each shield order prays to some special deity, and every man has also
his own personal "medicine," somewhat like the guardian angel or patron
saint of the Catholic system. There are also supernatural heroes, of
whom the Sun-boy and Sindi are the greatest, with ogres, dwarfs, water
people, monsters, and all the other features of the orthodox fairy book.
OBJECTS OF RELIGIOUS VENERATION
Their most sacred objects of religious veneration are the _Â'dalbeáhya_,
the _Taíme_, the _Gadómbitsoñhi_, and the _señi_ or peyote. Their great
tribal religious ceremony is the _k'ado_ or. sun dance. Their tribal
religion is that which centers around the _â'dalbeáhya_ and the _taíme_.
The worship of the peyote, although now general, excepting among the
oldest men, is comparatively modern with the Kiowa, having been adopted
from the more southern tribes. These two systems are compatible and
auxiliary to each other. In 1890 the new religion of the ghost dance was
introduced among the Kiowa. It is essentially different from the older
Indian systems and antagonistic to them, being based on the doctrine of
one God, although it preaches a return to the old Indian life.