I′măha—a band of Omaha, or perhaps more probably Kwâpâ, who lived with the Kä′dohadä′cho, but retained their own distinct language. There are still a few living with the Caddo, but they retain only the name. It will be remembered that when the Caddo lived in eastern Louisiana the Arkansas or Kwâpâ were their nearest neighbors on the north, and these Imaha may have been a part of the Kwâpâ who lived “up stream” (U′mañhañ) on the Arkansas. The Caddo call the Omaha tribe by the same name.
Yowa′ni—originally a band of the Heyowani division of the Choctaw. They joined the Caddo a long time ago, probably about the time the Choctaw began to retire across the Mississippi before the whites. Some few are still living with the Caddo and retain their distinct language. There is evidence that some Koasati (Cooshatties) were mixed with them.
The Kä′dohadä′cho seem to be recognized as the principal Caddo division, and the generic term Hasi′nai by which the confederates designate themselves is sometimes regarded as belonging more properly to the three divisions first named. According to their own statements some of the dialects spoken by the several divisions were mutually unintelligible. At present the Kädohadächo and Nädäko are the ruling dialects, while the Näbaidächo, Näkohodotsi, Hădai′-i, and Hai′-ĭsh are practically extinct. The Kichai, Bidai, and Akokisa, who formerly lived near the Caddo on the eastern border of Texas, did not belong to the confederacy, although at least one of these tribes, the Kichai, is of the same stock and is now on the same reservation.
The Caddo have ten gentes: Na′wotsi, Bear; Tasha, Wolf; Ta′năhă, Buffalo; Ta′o, Beaver; Iwi, Eagle; Oăt, Raccoon; Ka′g‛aih, Crow; Ka′găhănĭn, Thunder; Kĭshi, Panther; Sûko, Sun. The Bear gens is the most numerous. The Buffalo gens is sometimes called also Koho′ or Alligator, because both animals bellow in the same way. These of a particular gens will not kill the animal from which the gens takes its name, and no Caddo in the old times would kill either an eagle or a panther, although they were not afraid to kill the bear, as are so many of the western tribes. The eagle might be killed, however, for its feathers by a hunter regularly initiated and consecrated for that purpose.
The original home of the Caddo was on lower Red river in Louisiana. According to their own tradition, which has parallels among several other tribes, they came up from under the ground through the mouth of a cave in a hill which they call Cha′‛kanĭ′nă, “The place of crying,” on a lake close to the south bank of Red river, just at its junction with the Mississippi. In those days men and animals were all brothers and all lived together under the ground. But at last they discovered the entrance to the cave leading up to the surface of the earth, and so they decided to ascend and come out. First an old man climbed up, carrying in one hand fire and a pipe and in the other a drum. After him came his wife, with corn and pumpkin seeds. Then followed the rest of the people and the animals. All intended to come out, but as soon as the wolf had climbed up he closed the hole, and shut up the rest of the people and animals under the ground, where they still remain. Those who had come out sat down and cried a long time for their friends below, hence the name of the place. Because the Caddo came out of the ground they call it ină′, mother, and go back to it when they die. Because they have had the pipe and the drum and the corn and pumpkins since they have been a people, they hold fast to these things and have never thrown them away.
From this place they spread out toward the west, following up the course of Red river, along which they made their principal settlements. For a long time they lived on Caddo lake, on the boundary between Louisiana and Texas, their principal village on the lake being called Sha′chidĭ′ni, “Timber hill.” Their acquaintance with the whites began at a very early period. One of their tribes, the Nädäko, is mentioned under the name of Nandacao in the narrative of De Soto’s expedition as early as 1540. The Kädohadächo were known to the French as early as 1687. The relations of the Caddo with the French and Spaniards were intimate and friendly. Catholic missions were established among them, about the year 1700 and continued to exist until 1812, when the missions were suppressed by the Spanish government and the Indians were scattered. In the meantime Louisiana had been purchased by the United States, and the Caddo soon began to be pushed away from their ancient villages into the western territory, where they were exposed to the constant inroads of the prairie tribes. From this time their decline was rapid, and the events of the Texan and Mexican wars aided still further in their demoralization. They made their first treaty with the United States in 1835, at which time they were chiefly in Louisiana, southwest of Red river and adjoining Texas. They afterward removed to Brazos river in Texas, and to Washita river in Indian Territory in 1859. When the rebellion broke out, the Caddo, not wishing to take up arms against the government, fled north into Kansas and remained there until the close of the war, when they returned to the Washita. Their present reservation, which they hold only by executive order and jointly with the Wichita, lies between Washita and Canadian rivers in western Oklahoma, having the Cheyenne and Arapaho on the north and west and the Kiowa, Comanche, and Apache on the south. In 1893 they numbered 507.
In person the Caddo are rather smaller and darker than the neighboring prairie tribes, and from their long residence in Louisiana, they have a considerable admixture of French blood. They are an agricultural tribe, raising large crops of corn, pumpkins, and melons, and still retaining industrious habits in spite of their many vicissitudes of fortune. They were never buffalo hunters until they came out on the plains. They formerly lived in conical grass houses like the Wichita, but are now in log houses and generally wear citizen’s dress excepting in the dance. The old custom which gave rise to the name and tribal sign of “Pierced Nose” is now obsolete. In 1806 Sibley said of them, “They are brave, despise danger or death, and boast that they have never shed white man’s blood.” Their former enemies, the prairie tribes, bear witness to their bravery, and their friendship toward the whites is a part of their history, but has resulted in no great advantage to themselves, as they have been dispossessed from their own country and are recognized only as tenants at will in their present location.
They and the Wichita received the new doctrine from the Arapaho, and were soon among its most earnest adherents, notwithstanding the fact that they were regarded as the most advanced of all the tribes in that part of the country. It may be that their history had led them to feel a special need of a messiah. They have been hard and constant dancers, at one time even dancing in winter when there was nearly a foot of snow upon the ground. Their first songs were those which they had heard from the Arapaho, and sang in corrupted form, with only a general idea of their meaning, but they now have a number of songs in their own language, some of which are singularly pleasing in melody and sentiment.
THE WICHITA, KICHAI, AND DELAWARE
Closely associated with the Caddo on the same reservation are the Wichita, with their subtribes, the Tawakoni and Waco, numbering together 316 in 1893; the Delaware, numbering 94, and the Kichai (Keechies), numbering only 52. Of these, all but the Delaware, who are Algonquian, belong to the Caddoan stock. The Wichita and their subtribes, although retaining in indistinct form the common Caddoan tradition, claim as their proper home the Wichita mountains, near which they still remain. Sixty years ago their principal village was on the north side of the north fork of Red river, a short distance below the mouth of Elm creek, in Oklahoma. They live in conical grass houses and, like the other tribes of the stock, are agricultural. They call themselves Kĭ′tikĭti′sh—they are called Tawe′hash by the Caddo and Kichai—and are known to most of their other neighbors and in the sign language as the “Tattooed People” (Do′kănă, Comanche; Do‛gu′at, Kiowa), from an old custom now nearly obsolete. For the same reason and from their resemblance to the Pawnee, with whose language their own has a close connection, the French called them Pani Pique′s.