XXXIV ANNUAL RKPOUT OF TllK DIRECTOR 



The Tonkavve is a sonorous and energetic form of speech. The 

 radix of many of the adjectives becomes reduphcated to form a 

 kind of plural, and the same thing is observed in some of the 

 verbs, where iteration or frequency has to be indicated. Case 

 suffixes are observed in the substantive, which can easily be 

 traced to postpositions as their original forms. Very few of the 

 natives were sufficiently conversant with English or Spanish 

 to serve as interpreters, so that it was difficult to secure trust- 

 worthy results. A white man who had lived over six years 

 among them was of material help, and several mythologic and 

 other texts were obtained with tolerable correctness through his 

 aid. 



On October 9 Mr. Gatschet left Fort Griffin and reached 

 Fort Sill, in the Indian Territory, on the 16th. Many Kaiowe 

 and Comanche Indians encamped during the warmer months 

 of the year around this fort, which is situated at the southeast 

 base of the AVichita mountains. He engaged the best help he 

 could find for studj'ing the Kaiowe language, for which there 

 is no Government interpreter. l"'he Comanche is the predomi- 

 nating language on the whole Kaiowe, Comanche, and Apache 

 reservation, although the Comanche exceed the Kaiowe but 

 little in number. The Comanche is more easily acquired, at 

 least to the extent required in conversation, and all the traders 

 and shopkeepers on the reservation have a smattering of it. 



Better interpreters for Kaiowe were obtained at Anadarko, 

 the seat of the agency, where Mr. Gatschet remained from 

 October 31 to December 12. A few Kaiowe were found who 

 had passed some months or years among Americans or at the 

 Indian schools at Carlisle, Chilocco, and elsewhere, and could 

 express themselves intelligibly in English. A few white Mex- 

 icans were found among the Comanche, who were captured by 

 them in infancy, acquired the Comanche language, and have 

 ever since lived among these Indians. Of the Kaiowe, Mr. 

 Gatschet acquired over two thousand terms, phrases, and sen- 

 tences, several historic texts of value, and of the Comanche, 

 eight hundred or a thousand words. The circumstances neces- 

 sitated careful and numerous revisions of everything obtained, 

 by which much of the time was absorbed. 



