4. Kiñep—“big shields.” This is the largest division in the tribe and of corresponding importance.
5. Semät—“thieves,” the Apache.
6. Koñtä′lyui—“black boys.” Sometimes also called Si′ndiyu′i, “Sindi’s children.” Said to be of darker color than the rest of the tribe, which, if true, might indicate a foreign origin. Sindi is the great mythic hero of the Kiowa.
7. K̔u′ato—“pulling up from the ground or a hole.” An extinct division, speaking a slightly different dialect, and exterminated by the Sioux in one battle about the year 1780. On this occasion, according to tradition, the Kiowa were attacked by an overwhelming force of Sioux and prepared to retreat, but the chief of the K̔uato exhorted his people not to run, “because, if they did, their relatives in the other world would not receive them.” So they stood their ground and were killed, while the others escaped. Their place in the tribal camp circle is not known.
Fig. 104—Kiowa camping circle.
In the annual sun dance and in other great tribal gatherings the several divisions camped in the order shown in [figure 104].
Although brave and warlike, the Kiowa are considered inferior in most respects to the Comanche. In person they are dark and heavily built, forming a marked contrast to the more slender and brighter-complexioned prairie tribes farther north. Their language is full of choking and nasal sounds, and is not well adapted to rhythmic composition, for which reason they frequently used the Arapaho songs in the Ghost dance, without any clear idea of the meaning or correct pronunciation, although they have quite a number of songs of their own.
THE KIOWA APACHE
A small tribe of Athapascan stock, calling themselves Na′-isha or Na-di′isha-de′na, and popularly known as Apache or Kiowa Apache, has been associated with the Kiowa as far back as the traditions of either tribe go. While retaining their distinct language, they nearly all speak and understand Kiowa and form a component part of the Kiowa camping circle. In dress and general habits of life they are in no way distinguishable. They have come from the north with the Kiowa, and are mentioned under the name of Cataka as living in the Black-hills country in 1805. La Salle speaks of them under the name of Gattacka as early as 1681. There is no reason to suppose that they ever formed a part of the Apache proper of Arizona and New Mexico, but are probably, like the Sarsi, a distinct Athapascan people who have always lived east of the mountains, and who, having been obliged by weakness of numbers to unite themselves with a stronger tribe, have since shared their migratory fortunes southward along the plains. The Na-isha are called Ga′taqka by the Pawnee and sometimes by the Wichita; Cataka by Lewis and Clark, in 1805; Kataka in their first treaty with the government, made jointly with the Kiowa in 1837; Ta′shĭn by the Comanche; Gĭnä′s by the Wichita; Ka′ntsi, “deceivers,” by the Caddo; Kĭri′năhĭs by the Kichais; Tha‛kahinĕ′na, “knife-whetting men (?)” by the Arapaho, and Mûtsiănătä′niuw′, “whetstone people,” by the Cheyenne. They have several names among the Kiowa, but are commonly known by them as Semät, “thieves.” Other Kiowa names for them are Tagu′i, of unknown meaning, and Sa′dălso′mte-k̔iñago, “weasel people.” The tribal sign for them, as for the Apache, Lipan, and Navaho, conveys the idea of “knife whetters.” In 1891 they numbered 325. In 1893 they had been reduced, chiefly by an epidemic of measles, to 224.