BULL. 30] 



CAMOA — CAMPING AND CAMP CIRCLES 



197 



situated in Rio Arriba co., N. Mex. 

 (Bandelier in Ritch, N.Mex., 201, 1885). 

 First mentioned by Ofiate in 1598 (Doc. 

 In^d., XVI, 102, 116, 1871) as an inliab- 

 ited village and assigned both to the Tewa 

 and the "Chiguas " (Tigua). 

 Camitre. — Onate, op. cit., 102. Comitria. — Bande- 

 lier in Arch. Inst. Paper.s, i, 19, 18.si (misprint). 



Camoa. A Mayo settlement on the Rio 

 Mayo, 70 m. from the coast, in s. So- 

 nora, Mexico. 



Camoa.— Hard V, Travels, 390, 1829. Canamoo.— 

 Kino, map (1702) in Stocklein, Neue Welt-Bott, 

 172ti. Santa Catalina Cayamoa. — Orozco y Berra, 

 Geog., 3-%, 1864. 



Camoles. A tribe formerly living on the 

 Texas coast "in front" of the Conio; 

 mentioned by Cabeza de Vaca (Smith 

 transl., 137, 1871) in the account of his 

 sojourn in Texas, 1527-34. They cannot 

 be identified with any later liistorical 

 tribe. 

 Camones. — Cabeza de Vaca, op. cit., 113. 



Camping and Camp circles. Each North 

 American tribe claimed a certain locality 

 as its habitat and dwelt in communities 

 or villages about which stretched its hunt- 

 ing grounds. As all the inland people 

 depended for food largely on the gath- 

 ering of acorns, seeds, and roots, the 

 catching of salmon when ascending the 

 streams, or on hunting for meat and 

 skin clothing, they camped in makeshift 

 shelters or portable dwellings during a 

 considerable part of the year. These 

 dwellings were brush shelters, the mat 

 house and birch-bark lodge of the 

 forest tribes, and the skin tent of the 

 plains. The rush mats of different sizes,- 

 woven by the women, were rolled into a 

 long bundle when a party was traveling. 

 The oblong frame was made of saplings 

 tied together with bark fiber. The long- 

 est and widest mats were fastened out- 

 side the frame to form the walls, and 

 smaller ones were overlapped to make a 

 rain-proof roof, an opening being left in 

 the middle for the escape of the smoke 

 from the central fire. For'the skin tent, 

 10 to 20 poles were cut and trimmed by 

 the men and preserved from year to year. 

 To tan, cut, fit, and sew the skin cover 

 and to set up the tent was the special work 

 of women. Dogs formerly transported 

 the long tent poles by means of travois, 

 but in later years they were dragged by 

 pomes. 



Hunting, visiting, or war parties were 

 more or less organized. The leader was 

 generally the head of a family or of a 

 kindred group, or he was appointed to his 

 office with certain ceremonies. He de- 

 cided the length of a day's journey and 

 where the camp should be made at night. 

 As all property, save a man's personal 

 clothing, weapons, and riding horses, be- 

 longed to the woman, its care during a 

 journey fell upon her. On the tribal 



hunt the old men, the women and chil- 

 dren, and the laden ponies formed the 

 body of the slowly moving procession, 

 protected on either side by the warriors, 

 who walked or rode, encumbered only by 

 their weapons. The details of the camp 

 were controlled by the women, except 

 with war parties, when men did the work. 



When a camping place was reached the 

 mat hou.ses were erected as most conven- 

 ient for the family group, but the skin 

 tents were set up in a circle, near of kin 

 being neighbors. If danger from enemies 

 was apprehended, the ponies and other 

 valuable possessions were kept within the 

 space inclosed by the circle of tents. 

 Long journeys were frequently under- 

 taken for friendly visits or for intertribal 

 ceremonies. When traveling and camp- 

 ing the people kept well together under 

 their leader, but when near their desti- 

 nation, the party halted and dispatched 

 one or two young men in gala dress with 

 the little packet of tobacco to apprise the 

 leading men of the village of their ap- 

 proach. While the messengers were gone 

 the prairie became a vast dressing room, 

 and men, women, and children shook off 

 the dust of travel, painted their faces, and 

 donned their best garments to be ready to 

 receive the escort which was always sent 

 to welcome the guests. 



When the tribes of the buffalo country 

 went on their annual hunt, ceremonies at- 

 tended every stage, from the initial rites, 

 when the leader was chosen, through- 

 out the journeyings, to the thanksgiving 

 ceremony which closed the expedition. 

 The long procession was escorted by 

 warriors selected by the leader and the 

 chiefs for their trustiness and valor. 

 They acted as a police guard to prevent 

 any straggling that might result in per- 

 sonal or tribal danger, and they prevented 

 any private hunting, as it might stam- 

 pede a herd that might be in the vicinity. 

 When on the annual hunt the tribe 

 camped in a circle and preserved its po- 

 litical divisions, and the circle was often a 

 quarter of a mile or more in diameter. 

 Sometimes the camp was in concentric cir- 

 cles, each circle representing a political 

 group of kindred. The Dakota call them- 

 selves the " seven council fires,'' and say 

 thatthey formerly camped in two divisions 

 or groups, one composed of 4 and the other 

 of 3 concentric circles. The Omaha and 

 close cognates, when on the annual buf- 

 falo hunt and during the great tribal cer- 

 monies camped in a circle. Each of the 

 10 Omaha gentes had its unchangeable 

 place in the line. The women of each 

 gens knew where their tents belonged, 

 and when a camping ground was reached 

 each drove her ponies to the proper 

 place, so that when the tents of the tribe 



