BULL. 30] 



WIATIAC WICHITA 



947 



Wiatiac. A former Mahican village 

 near the present Salisbury, Litchfield co., 

 Conn. The Moravians had some converts 

 there about 1743. 



Wehtak.— Ruttenber, Tribes Hudson R., 197, 

 1872. Wiatiac— Kendall, Trav., 1, 22S, 1809. Wia- 

 tiacks.— Macrtuley, N. Y., II, Ifrl, 1829. Wya- 

 tiack.— Ruttenber, op. cit. 



Wiattachechah. An unidentified Sioux 



village. 



Wi-atta-che-chah.— Prescott in Schoolcraft. Ind. 

 Tribes, ii, 171, 1852 (trans, 'bad'; chc-cha may = 

 shicha, ' bad'). 



Wichita. A confederacy of Caddoan 

 stock, closely related linguistically to the 

 Pawnee, and formerly ranging from about 

 the middle Arkansas r., Kansas, south- 

 ward to Brazos r., Texas, of which gen- 

 eral region they appear to be the aborigi- 

 nes, antedating the Comanche, Kiowa, 

 Mescaleros, and Siouan tribes. They 

 now reside in Caddo co., w. Okla., with- 

 in the limits of the former Wichita res. 



The name Wi'rJiita^, by which they are 

 commonly known, is of uncertain origin 

 and etymology. They call themselves 

 A'?<(l-/<i^s/t (Kirikirish), a name also of un- 

 certain meaning, but probably, like so 

 many proper tribal names, implying pre- 

 eminent men. They are known to the 

 Siouan tribes as Black Pan-nee (Paniwa- 

 saba, whence " Paniouassa," etc.), to the 

 early French traders as Pani Pique, 'Tat- 

 tooed Pawnee,' to the Kiowa and Co- 

 manche by names meaning 'Tattooed 

 Faces,' and are designated in the sign 

 language by a sign conveying the same 

 meaning. They are also identifiable with 

 the people of Quivira met by Coronado 

 in 1541. The Ouachita living in e. 

 Loui.'jiana in 1700 are a different people, 

 although probably of the same stock. 



Among the tribes composing the con- 

 federacy, each of which prul)ably spoke 

 a slightly different dialect of the common 

 language, we have the names of the 

 Wichita proper (?), Tawehash (Tayova- 

 yas), Tawakoni (Tawakarehu), Waco, 

 Yscani, Akwesh, Asidahetsh, Kishkat, 

 KorisTikitsu. A considerable part of the 

 Panimaha, or Skidi Pawnee, also appear 

 to have lived with them al)out the mid- 

 dle of the 18th century, and in fact the 

 Pawnee and Wichita tribes have almost 

 always been on terms of close intimacy. 

 It is possible that the Yscani of the ear- 

 lier period may be the later Waco (Bol- 

 ton). The only divisions now existing 

 are the Wichita proper (possil)ly synony- 

 mous with Tawehash), Tawakoni, aiid 

 Waco. To these may be added the in- 

 corporated Kichai remnant, of cognate 

 but different language. Just previous to 

 the annexation of Texas to the United 

 States, about 1840-5, the Tawakoni and 

 Waco resided chiefly on Brazos r., and 

 were considered as belonging to Texas, 

 while the Wichita proper resided n. of 



Red r., in and n. of the Wichita mts., 

 and were considered as belonging to the 

 United States. According to tlie liest 

 estimates for aboat 1800, the Wichita 

 proper constituted more than two-thirds 

 of the whole body. 



The definite history of the Wichita — 

 more particularly of the Wichita proper 

 — begins in 1541, when the Spanish ex- 

 plorer Coronado entered the territory 

 known to his New Mexican Indian guides 

 as the country of Quivira. There is some 

 doubt as to their exact location at the 

 time, probably about the great beml of 

 the Arkansasr. and northeastward, in cen- 

 tral Kansas, but the identity of the tribe 

 seems established (consult Mooney in 

 Harper's Mag., June 1899; Hodge in 

 Brower, Harahey, 1899; see Quivira). 



WICHITA MAN 



On the withdrawal of the expedition after 

 about a month's sojourn the Franciscan 

 father Juan de Padilla, with several com- 

 panions, remained behind to undertake 

 the Christianization of the tribe, this 

 being the earliest missionary work ever 

 undertaken among the Plains Indians. 

 After more than three years of labor with 

 the Wichita he was" killed by them 

 through jealousy of his spiritual efforts 

 for another tribe. 



In 1719 the French commander La 

 Harpe visited a large camp of the confed- 

 erated Wichita tribes on Soutli Canadian 

 r. , in the eastern Chickasaw Nation, Okla. , 

 and was well received by them. He es- 

 timated the gathering, including other 

 Indians present, at 6,000 souls. They 

 had been at war with another tribe and 



