BULL. 30] 



COAMA COAQUE 



315 



says: "I call this language Tejano or 

 Coahuilteco, because, according to the 

 missionaries, it was the one most in use 

 in the provinces of Coahuila and Texas, 

 being spoken from La Candela to the 

 Eio San Antonio." The tribes speaking 

 this language were known under the 

 names of Pajalates, Orejones, Pacaos, 

 Pacoas, Tilijayos, Alasapas, Pausanes, 

 Pacuaches, I\Iescales, Pampopas, Tacames, 

 Venados, Paniaques, Pihuicjues, Borrados, 

 Sanipaos, and Manos de Perro. The only 

 book known to treat of their language is 

 the Manual para administrar los santos 

 sacramentos, by Fray Bartholome Garcia, 

 Mexico, 1760. Other names have been 

 mentioned as possibly those of tribes 

 belonging to the same family group, 

 chiefly because they resided in the same 

 general region: Aguastayas, Cachopos- 

 tales, Carrizos (generic), Casas Chiquitas, 

 Comecrudo, Cotonam, Pacaruja, Pakawa, 

 Pastancoya, Patacal, Payaya, Pihuique, 

 Tejones, and Tilijaes. In addition to 

 these the following may possibly belong 

 to the family, as the names where men- 

 tioned are given in connection with those 

 of some of the preceding tribes: Mesqui- 

 tes, Parchinas, Pastias, Pelones, and Sali- 

 nas. How many of the names given are 

 applicable to distinct tribes and how many 

 are synonyms is not known on account of 

 the insufficiency of data. See Gatschet, 

 Karankawa Inds., 1891. (a. s. g. c. t.) 

 =Coahuiltecan.— Powt'll in 7th Rep. B. A. E.. 68, 

 1891. =Coahuilteco. — Orozco v Berra, Geog., map, 

 1864. =Tejano.-Pimentel, Lenguas, n, 409, 1865 

 (or Coahuilteco). 



Coama. An Indian settlement of which 

 Alarcon learned from natives of the Gulf 

 of California region, and described as be- 

 ing in the vicinity of Cibola (Zufii), but 

 which was afterward found by him on 

 his voyage up the Rio Colorado, or Buena 

 Guia. See Alarcon (1540) in Hakluyt, 

 Voy., Ill, 514, 1600; Ternaux-Compans, 

 Voy., IX, 326, 1838. 

 Coana. — Ternaux-Compans, op. cit. 



Coanopa. A tribe, apparently Yuman, 

 residing probably on or in the vicinity of 

 the lower Rio Colorado earl}' in the 18th 

 century. They visited Father Kino while 

 he was among the Quigyuma and are 

 mentioned by hi^n in connection with the 

 Cuchan (Yuma) and other tribes ( Vene- 

 gas. Hist. Cal., i, 308, 1759; Coues, Garces 

 Diary, 551, 1900). Possiljly the Cocopa. 



Coapites. An unidentified tribe or band 

 formerly living in the coast region of the 

 present State of Texas. — Rivera, Diario y 

 Derrotero, leg. 2602, 1736. 



Coaque. A tribe formerly living on 

 Malhado id. , off the coast of Texas, where 

 CabezadeVaca suffered shipwreck inl527. 

 This was almost certainly Galveston id. 

 Cabeza de Vaca found two tribes, each 

 with its own language, living there — one 



the Han, the other the Coaque. The peo- 

 ple subsisted from November to Febru- 

 ary on a root taken from the shoai water 

 and on lish which they caught in weirs; 

 they visited the mainland for berries and 

 oysters. They displayed much affection 

 toward theirchildren and great ly mourned 

 their death. For a year after the loss of 

 a son the parents wailed each day before 

 sunrise, at noon, and at sunset. As soon 

 as this cry was heard it was echoed by all 

 the peoj)le of the tribe. At the end of the 

 year a ceremony for the dead was held, 

 after which " they wash and purify them- 

 selves from the stain of smoke." They 

 did not lament for the aged. The dead 

 were buried, all but those who had ' ' prac- 

 tised medicine," who were burned. At 

 the cremation a ceremonial dance was 

 held, beginning wlien the tire was kin- 

 dled and continuing until the bones were 

 calcined. The ashes were preserved, and 

 at the expiration of a year they were 

 mixed with water and gi ven to the relatives 

 to drink. During the period of mourn- 

 ing the immediate family of a deceased 

 person did not go after food, but had to 

 depend on their kindred for means to 

 live. When a marriage had been agreed 

 on, custom forbade the man to address 

 his future mother-in-law, nor could he do 

 so after the marriage. According to Ca- 

 beza de Vaca this custom obtained among 

 tribes "living 50 leagues inland." The 

 houses of the Coacjue were of mats and 

 were set up on a "mass of oyster shells." 

 The men wore a piece of cane, half a 

 linger thick, inserted in the lower lip, 

 and another piece two palms and a half 

 long thrust through one or both nipples. 

 Gwing to the starvation which faced the 

 vSpaniards after their shipwreck, they were 

 forced to eat their dead; this action gave 

 the natives such great concern that 

 "they thought to kill " the strangers, but 

 were dissuaded by the Indian who had 

 Cabeza de Yaca in charge. 



Gatschet (Karankawa Inds., i, 34, 1891) 

 is correct in identifying these Indians 

 with the Cokes of Bollaert, but he is 

 probably wrong in supposing the Cujanos 

 are also the same. That the Coaques and 

 the Cujanos or Cohani (q. v.) were dis- 

 tinct seems to be indicated by the state- 

 ment of an earlv Texan settler (Texas 

 Hist. Quar., vi, 'l903) that "the Cokes 

 and Cohannies" were "but fragments of 

 the Carancawa tribe." Probably the 

 latter are Cabeza de Vaca's Quevenes. 

 That the Coaque spoke a dialect of Karan- 

 kawa is indicated as well by Bollaert 

 (Jour. Ethnol. Soc. I.ond., ii, 265, 1850), 

 since he refers to them as a branch of the 

 "Koronks," a variant of Karankawa. 

 In 1778, according to Mezieres, about 20 

 families of Mayeyes and Cocos lived be- 



