MISCELLANEOUS PAPERS RELATING TO ANTHROPOLOGY. 615 



of the "dunes," and very near the bay, arc of much greater antiquity. 

 All these trees must have grown up since the Gulf retreated behind 

 Matagorda Island, which at this point is about 8 miles distant from the 

 mainland. From all of which it follows as highly probable that the 

 human remains, which I have described, were inhumed at a period 

 when the broad waves of the sea resounded along the shore of the 

 mainland, and before the sail of a ship had gleamed on the Gulf of 

 Mexico. 



Both history and tradition preserve the names of several tribes of 

 Texas Indians, which had become extinct or had been blended with 

 other tribes before the State was first colonized by Anglo-Americans, 

 at which i^eriod, A. D. 1821, the only tribes with w^hich the settlers 

 came in contact were the Comanches, Wacos, Tawacanies, lonies, Keech- 

 ies, Lipans, Tonkaways, and Carancawaj^s. Of all these tribes the last 

 named was the most remarkable. They inhabited the coast, and ranged 

 from Galveston Island to the Eio Grande. The men were of tall stature, 

 generally G feet high, and the bow of every warrior was as long as his body. 

 These Indianl^ navigated the bays and inlets in canoes, and subsisted, 

 to a considerable extent, on fish. They were believed by many of the 

 early settlers to be cannibals ; but it is probable that the only cannibal- 

 ism to which they were addicted was that which was occasionally 

 practised by the Tonkaways, if not by all the tribes of Texas. This con- 

 sisted in eating bits of an enemy's flesh at their war dances to inspire 

 them with courage. A dance and feast of this kind I once witnessed at 

 a settlement on the Colorado, where the Tonkaways were temporarily 

 camped. A party of its braves on a war tramp slew a Comanche, and 

 upon their return to their tribe brought with them a portion of the dried 

 flesh of their slain foeman. This human "tasajo," after being boiled, 

 was partaken of by the warriors of the tribe Avith cries and gestures of 

 exultation. Their thievish and murderous propensities early involved 

 them in war with the settlers of Austin Colony, by whom they were re- 

 peatedly defeated with severe loss,#n consequence of wliicb, about the 

 year 1825, they fled west of San Antonio Eiver, whither tUey were pur- 

 sued by Austin at the head of a strong party of his colonists. When 

 he arrived at the Manahuila Creek, C miles east of Galliad — then called 

 La Bahia — he was met by a Catholic ])ricst of that place, who bore a 

 proposition from the Caraucaways, that if Austin would desist from 

 hostilities they would never in future range east of the San Antonio. 



Austin agreed to this proposition and countermarched his force. The 

 Caraucaways, however, did not long keep their promise. A few years 

 afterwards several parties of them returned to the Colorado, their favor- 

 ite resort, and committed divers thefts and atrocious nuirders, for which 

 they weie again severely scourged by the colonists. 



Efforts were long made by the Catholic missionaries to christianize 

 these savages, and the mission of Befugio, 30 miles south of Galliad, 

 was, I believe, founded for that special purpose. But the Caraucaways 



