36 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [bull. 43 



Quiselpoo, the native name of a woman contained in one of the mission 

 records.'* Although little enough to prove anything, these certainly 

 show remarkable points of similarity Avith words in the recorded Ata- 

 kajDa tongue. The term for ' people ' in Atakapa is icak^ formed 

 from the root ea,^' which means ' somebody,' ' anybody.' Consulting 

 Doctor Gatschet's Atakapa vocabulary, we find that the final k of ioak'' 

 is sometimes omitted, showing that it was not always pronounced, or 

 was not always prononnced clearly enough to be caught by a hearer 

 neAv to the language. The name of this people occurs in several 

 difi'erent forms — Orcoquisac, Orcoquiza, Arkokisa, Horcoquisa, Hor- 

 caquisac, etc., in which it will be noted that some do and some do 

 not have a final r. In Spanish this c must have been prononnced like 

 p]nglish /.■, therefore the endings isac^ iza, isa, may be assumed wath 

 reasonable probability to represent the Atakapa word for ' people.' 

 We may suspect this again in the word Tegsa, although here the sa 

 is perhaps the indefinite ca. Although an ingenious interpretation 

 might l)e suggested for the first part of the w^ord Orcoquisac, it would 

 have no real value, yeg, however, may be from the stem yik, ' to 

 trade; for there are some cases in which white men were known as 

 ' traders.' The first part of the feminine name Quiselpoo may, 

 perhaps, be the Atakapa Avr-,'' ' woman,' and the whole might plaus- 

 ibly be interpreted ■• Fnll-moon woman.' While too much confidence 

 can not be placed on such explanations as these, it is interesting to 

 find that explanations can be so easily suggested, and it is certain 

 that the words have an Atakapan aspect. Until more evidence is 

 forthcoming the Orcoquisac may be classified as probably Atakapan. 

 Investigations among the mission archives by Professor Bolton seem 

 to indicate, furthermore, that the Bidai, heretofore supposed to be 

 Caddoan, the Deadoses, and some other tribes of which we know 

 little more than the names, were related to the Orcoquisac. and there- 

 fore, if our classification of the Orcoquisac is correct, they also belong 

 to the Atakapan stock. 



A few names other than those already given are found here and 

 there in the narratives of early writers as applied to tribes in the 

 region under consideration, but it is probable that they are synonyms 

 of some of the tribal names already discussed Avhich have become dis- 

 torted almost beyond recognition. Thus Daniel Coxe mentions " Sam- 

 boukia" as a tribe on Yazoo river, but while it is possibly a bad 

 misprint, the name varies so widely from that of any Yazoo tribe 

 known to us that there is no certainty regarding it.'" In the journal of 

 Iberville's second vessel, Le Marin, people called the Scouquas are men- 



« For these last two we are indebted to the investigations of Prof. H. E. Bolton, of the 

 University of Texas. 



>• In tliose words r^rOnglisli s/(. 

 « French, Hist. Coll. La., 21.'7, 1.S50. 



