- 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.
BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY— SEVENTEENTH ANNUAL REPORT PL. LXVI
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.