Handbook of American Indians North of Mexico . Edited by Frederick Webb Hodge . (Bulletin 30, Bureau of American Ethnology.) Part I, A-M, p. ix+972, with Map; Part II, N-Z, p. iv+1221. 2 vols., 8vo. Illustrated. Washington: Government Printing Office, 1907 and 1910.

The appearance of this work marks an epoch in the study of the North American Indian. The knowledge which has been collected by numerous students and investigators during several decades, as well as the notes and observations of explorers, travelers, etc., are here summarized and compressed into two volumes. The work is encyclopedic in character and treatment; it “contains a descriptive list of the stocks, confederacies, tribes, tribal divisions, and settlements north of Mexico, accompanied with the various names by which these have been known, together with biographies of Indians of note, sketches of their history, archaeology, manners, arts, customs, and institutions, and the aboriginal words incorporated into the English language.” The various topics are treated in brief articles arranged in alphabetical order. To many of the articles are appended brief bibliographies. The map shows the location of the various linguistic families of American Indians.

This brief notice of the general character of the work must suffice in order that more particular attention may be given to the treatment of those topics dealing with the tribes formerly resident within the limits of what is now Texas. The editor in his preface to the work states that “the lack of completeness of our present knowledge of the tribes was, perhaps, never better shown than when an attempt was made to carry out the enlarged plan of the Handbook.” These words, although not intended for any particular State, nevertheless express precisely the impression resulting from an examination of the data for Texas tribes presented in Part I. Part I contains about 140 entries dealing with Texas tribes; most of the entries are brief—seven or eight lines of a two-column octavo page. If all the Texas data in Part I were grouped together they would, perhaps, cover less than forty pages. Brevity is not the only fault; the data have been gleaned from such records as have appeared in print, chiefly in English and French; manuscript sources, and particularly manuscript sources in Texas and Mexico, having scarcely been touched. With the possible exception of those tribes residing on the Louisiana frontier, the sources consulted are inadequate to furnish any satisfactory degree of accuracy or completeness in the sketches of Texas tribes. This fact was clearly recognized by the authorities of the Bureau of American Ethnology; in the summer of 1906, therefore, they engaged the service of Dr. H. E. Bolton, who had made extensive researches among the archives in Texas and Mexico, to write a history of the Texas tribes. He also began at once to contribute information and some articles for the Handbook; a number of his articles appear toward the end of Part I. The long delay in the publication of Part II has resulted in a marked improvement in many of the articles dealing with Texas subjects. It contains about 250 entries for Texas, and the space devoted to them would fill, perhaps, 60 pages.

Among the longer articles in Part I relating to Texas subjects that are more or less satisfactory may be named the following: Adai, Anadarko, Arkokisa, Caddo, Eyeish, Kadohadacho, Kichai, Lipan and Mayeye. A number of the articles in Part I receive corrections or amplification in articles in Part II. For example, in the article on the Adai it is stated that the presidio of Nuestra Señora del Pilar was established in 1735; the correct date is given in the article on Nuestra Señora del Pilar. The article on Candelaria mission on San Gabriel river is rewritten under the title of Nuestra Señora de la Candelaria. The article on the Deadoses is corrected in that on San Francisco Xavier de Horcasitas. The brief sketch of the Hainai is amplified in the article on Nuestra Señora de la Purísima Concepción. The article on the Karankawas receives corrections in that on Nuestra Señora del Rosario. The only reference to the Alibamu tribe in Texas is the statement that in 1890 “a party of about 200 resided in Polk county.” An interesting report on this tribe was made December 6, 1910, in which they are characterized as self-sustaining, peaceable, honest, industrious and absolutely civilized (House Document No. 1232, 61st Congress, 3rd Session). The biographical sketches of Texas Indians include those of The Bowl, Big Mush, Big Jim, Big Tree or Adoeette and El Mocho, but no mention is made of Richard Fields, John Dunn Hunter and Flaco.

The facts of Texas history used in the sketches are not always correctly stated. In the article on the Karankawas, Austin is said to have founded his colony on the Brazos in 1823. In the article on the Caddos reference is made to the “governor of the republic of Texas” treating with the Indians in 1843. A graver error is the statement in the article on the Cherokees that these Indians had “obtained a grant of land in the eastern part of [Texas] from the Mexican government,” and that the Texans refused to recognize the rights of the Indians. The claim of the Cherokees to land under a grant from the Mexican government is fully discussed in The Quarterly, VII, 95-165. The reasons for the rejection of the treaty concluded by Sam Houston with the Cherokees, February 23, 1836, and for their expulsion in 1839, rested mainly on the intriguing and traitorous conduct of these Indians subsequent to the date of Houston's treaty with them. Nor should the fact be overlooked that they were intruders, regarded as such by Mexico and the Republic of Texas, and that force of arms was resorted to after efforts to secure their peaceful removal by the United States had failed. The statement concerning the policy of the Republic of Texas in dealing with the Indians (Part I, p. 501, column 2) is also full of errors.

While there are many unsatisfactory articles in Part II, there is also a number of articles that are very good; some may be called notable. Among the more important sketches of tribes the following deserve mention: Nabedache, Nacogdoche, and Neche of the Hasinai confederacy; Orejone, Pachalaque, Pakawa, Pamaque and Pampopa of the Coahuiltecan family; Sana, Tankawa and Yojuane of the Tonkawan linguistic family; Tawakoni, Tawehash, Waco and Wichita of the Wichita confederacy. Biographical sketches of Quana Parker, Satanta, and Satank or Setangya are supplied. Special mention is deserved by the sketches of the missions. At first mention one is surprised to find them in a volume of this kind; upon closer examination, however, one finds that it is the first attempt to treat them in the proper environment. They have so long been known as “The Spanish missions” that their true character as Indian missions has been obscured. The article on the term “Texas”—its meaning, its use by the Indians and by early writers and later by Spanish officials—is the best discussion of the subject in print.

E. W. W.

How to cite:
"Handbook of American Indians North of Mexico", Volume 015, Number 2, Southwestern Historical Quarterly Online, Page 167 - 169. http://www.tsha.utexas.edu/publications/journals/shq/online/v015/n2/review_24.html
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