TAMA. Tama (Tamma) was a name adopted by the Spaniards of Texas to apply to messengers, policemen, and overseers; it had originally been the native name of one of the administrative officials of the Hasinai Indians. The Spaniards used it to apply generally to similar officers among other Indians.

BIBLIOGRAPHY: Mattie Austin Hatcher, "Description of the Tejas or Asinai Indians," Southwestern Historical Quarterly 30 (January 1937). Frederick Webb Hodge, ed., Handbook of American Indians North of Mexico (2 vols., Washington: GPO, 1907, 1910; rpt., New York: Pageant, 1959).