164 , CALENDAR HISTORY OF THE KIOWA [eth.ann.17 



was "old enough to ride a horse wheu the stars fell," so that we may 

 assume him to be now (1890) about 70 years of age. It will be noted 

 that, contrary to general opinion, Indians are not remarkably long- 

 lived. 



Gaapiatafi's estimate seems to place the event farthest back in point 

 of time. He fixes it by "a very old woman," who died eleven winters 

 ago (ISS5), and whose father had told her that the treaty with the 

 Comanche was made thirty-three years before she was born. Adalpepte 

 states that it was made "when his father was a young man." T'ebodal 

 says that it was before he was born, but that his father knew both 

 leatierswho negotiated the peace, and that he himself knew the Coman- 

 che leader, Piireiyii, as a very old man, who was afterward killed by 

 the Cheyenne at a time when T'ebodal was grown to manhood and Jiad 

 already been to war. According to the Kiowa calendar, the allied 

 tribes made i)eace with the Cheyenne about ISiO, so that the chief 

 who negotiated the treaty for the Comanche must have been killed 

 shortly before that time, the Kiowa leader, Guik ate, being already 

 dead. Balancing all the statements, we get 1790 as the most probable 

 approximate date. The principal chief of the tribe at the time of the 

 treaty was Poliakya, " Harelip," alias Ki'igiiitse, "Thick blanket." He 

 was succeeded by Tsofibohon, "Feather-cap," who was succeeded by 

 A'date, "Island-man," who was deposed in 1833 in favor of Dohasiin, 

 who thenceforth ruled the tribe until his death in 18CG. 



CONFEDERATION OF THE TAVO TRIBES 



The peace thus made between the two tribes lias never been broken, 

 in which lact there may be a sermon for those who regard the Indian as 

 faithless, when we consider how few European alliances have endured 

 as long. The Peniiteka Comanche, who lived far down in Texas, were 

 not included in this compact and had very little connection even 

 with the northern bands of their own people until brought together 

 under the reservation sy.stem. Immediately after the treaty the Kiowa 

 began to move down and make their cami)S along and south of the 

 Arkansas, which, until that time, had been considered the northern 

 boundary of the Comanche country and the southern limit of the Kiowa 

 range. In the territory which they thenceforth held in common tlie 

 Kiowa usually made their home camps more to the northwest, about 

 the Arkansas, while the Comanche kept near to the Staked plains 

 and the Texas frontier. Strengthened by their alliance for war and 

 defense, the confederated tribes were now able to make a successful stand 

 behind the Arkansas against further invasion from the north. The raids 

 of the Kiowa on the Mexican settlements, hitherto desultory and inef- 

 fective, now became constant and destructive and continued until both 

 tribes were finally subjugated and confined to their reservation after 

 the outbreak of 1874. In these raiding expeditions they frequently 

 made headquarters in the Sierra Madre, whence they descended upon 



