The upper basin of the Canadian branch of the Arkansas River was the home
of the _Kioways_. At the middle of this century they were estimated to
be over three thousand, all given to a wild hunting life over the great
plains on which they lived. In close proximity to the Comanches and other
tribes of Shoshonian lineage, their language presents many affinities to
the Shoshonian stock, but not sufficient in the opinion of those who have
examined both to justify classing them together as from a common source.
The Kioways are light in color, broad shouldered and strong armed, and
for generations were the Arabs of the Great American Desert, depending
on hunting and robbery for a subsistence. Their homes were light skin
lodges, which they spread on poles about twelve feet long. With plenty
of ponies and without fixed habitations, it was easy for them to
move rapidly over the Plains. According to their traditions they came
originally from the North, from some cold country, where they had to
walk on snow shoes, definitely located near the Black Hills, Dakota,
where they were associated with the Apaches. They were idol worshippers,
their priesthood consisting of ten medicine-men. The dead were buried
in deep graves. At present they have been reduced to about one thousand
souls.[117]