NABEDACHE 



[b. a. b. 



Pedro, was allied to the latter, and it 

 seems probable that it belonged to the 

 same tribe. The Naouydiche mentioned 

 by La Harpe in 1719, however, are not so 

 easily identified with the Nabedache, 

 since he associates them with the Ton- 

 kawa, calls them a wandering tribe which 

 until La Salle's coming had been at war 

 with the Kadohadacho, and on the same 

 page mentions the Amediche ajiparently 

 as a distinct tribe (Margry, Dec, vi, 262, 

 277, 1886 ) . Yet the f acts'that the ' ' great 

 chief" of the Naouydiches, of whom 

 La Harpe writes, spoke the language of 

 the Nassonites, i. e., Caddoan, and that 

 the Nouadiche of Bienville's account 

 were the Nabedache, make it probable 

 that those of La Harpe' s account were the 

 same people. Concerning the NaVje- 

 dache of San Pedro, always in historic 

 times the chief village of the tribe, the 

 information is relatively full and satisfac- 

 tory. They are the first Texas tribe of 

 which there is a definite account, and be- 

 cause of their location on the western 

 frontier of the Hasinai group and on the 

 highway from Mexico to Louisiana they 

 are frequently mentioned during the 18th 

 century. La Salle passed through this 

 village in 1686 on his way to the southern 

 Nasoni, and by "the great Coenis village" 

 of Douay's account of this expedition is 

 meant specifically the Nabedache village 

 w. of Neches r. and the Neche village just 

 on the other side (Douay in French, Hist. 

 Coll. La., IV, 204-205, 1852). Joutel's 

 description of the Cenis ( Hasinai) , as dis- 

 tinguished from the southern Nasoni and 

 the Kadohadacho, is based on his sojourn 

 at the Nabedache and Neche villages 

 (Margry, Dec, iii, 339-356, 1878); like- 

 wise Jesus Marfa's invalualjle account of 

 the Hasinai was written at his mission 

 near the Nabedache village (Francisco de 

 Jesus Maria, MS. Relacion, Aug. 15, 1691 j. 

 The political, social, and economic or- 

 ganization, as well as the general exterior 

 relations of this tribe, were much the 

 same as those of the confederate tribes, 

 and are described under Nedie (q. v.). 

 Joutel, in 1687, informs us that from the 

 western edge of the Nabedache village to 

 the chiefs house it was a "large league" 

 (Margry, Dec, in, 341, 1878). The houses 

 on the May were grouped into "ham- 

 lets" of from 7 to 15, and surrounded by 

 fields. Similar ' ' hamlets ' ' were scattered 

 all the way to the Neches. In the mid- 

 dle of the settlement was a large assem- 

 bly house, or town house (ibid., 343). 

 Father DamianMassanet (Tex. Hist. Assn. 

 Quar., II, 303, 1899) thus describes the 

 caddi's or chief's house as he saw it in 

 1690: "We came to the governor's house, 

 where we found a number of Indians — 

 men, women, and children. . . The 



house is built of stakes thatched over with 

 grass; it is about 20 varas high, is round, 

 and has no windows, daylight entering 

 through the door only; this door is like 

 a room door such as we have here [in 

 Mexico]. In the middle of the house is 

 the fire, which is never extinguished by 

 day or by night, and over the door on the 

 inner side there is a little mound of peb- 

 bles very prettily arranged. Ranged 

 around one-half of the house, inside, are 

 10 beds, which consist of a rug made of 

 reeds, laid on 4 forked sticks. Over the 

 rug they spread buffalo skins, on which 

 they sleep. At the head and foot of the 

 bed is attached another carpet, forming 

 a sort of arch, which, lined with a very 

 brilliantly colored piece of reed matting, 

 makes what bears some resemblance to 

 a very pretty alcove. In the other half 

 of the house, where there are no beds, 

 there are some shelves about 2 varas 

 high, and on them are ranged large round 

 baskets made of reeds (in which they 

 keep their corn, nuts, acorns, beans, etc.), 

 a row of very large earthen i^ots like our 

 earthen jars, . . . and 6 wooden mortars 

 for pounding corn in rainy weather (for 

 when it is fair they grind it in the court- 

 yard ) . " Besides what is learned of Has- 

 inai foods in general we are told by Soli's, 

 who visited San Pedro in 1768, that the 

 Nabedache used a root called tuqiii, which 

 was somewhat like the Cuban cassava. 

 They ground it in mortars and ate it with 

 bear's fat, of which they were partic- 

 ularly fond. Soli's also tells us that res- 

 ident there at this time was an Indian 

 woman of great authority, named Sanate 

 Adira, meaning 'great woman', or 'chief 

 woman'; that she lived in a house of 

 many rooms; that the other tribes brought 

 her presents, and that she had 5 hus- 

 bands and many servants ( Diario, Mem. 

 de Nueva Espaiia, xxvii, 280, 281, MS.). 

 Though the Nabedache were a peace- 

 able people, they had many enemies, and 

 in war they were high-spirited and cruel. 

 In 1687 they and the Neche, aided by 

 some of Joutel's party, made a success- 

 ful campaign against the "Canohatinno." 

 On the return one female captive was 

 scalped alive and sent back to her people 

 with a challenge (Joutel in Margry, Dec, 

 III, 377, 1878), while another was tortured 

 to death by the women (ibid., 378). La 

 Harpe reported that in 1714 the Nabe- 

 dache (Amediches) and other Hasinai 

 tribes ^were at war with the lower Natchi- 

 toch (ibid., vi, 193, 1886). In 1715 a 

 party of Hasinai, including Nabedache, 

 joined St. Denis in an expedition to 

 Mexico. On the way a fierce battle was 

 fought near San Marcos r. (apparently the 

 Colorado) with 200 coast Indians, "always 

 their chief enemies " (San Denis, Declara- 



