THE CAMANCHES. 231 
speak the same language—nor do the Kioways roam as far 
south as the Camanches. 
The Camanches are the “lords of the plains.” They are 
the most warlike and powerful, and number over twenty 
thousand. They are separated into three grand divisions ; 
the Northern, Middle and Southern, and these sub-divided 
into bands commanded by separate chiefs. They suppose 
that their forefathers came from a country towards the setting 
sun, They acknowledge a supreme ruler and director, whom 
they call the Great Spirit; but in their devotions appeal 
directly to the sun and earth, saying that one is the great cause 
of life, and the other the receptacle and producer of all that 
sustains life ; accordingly when they eat or drink, they sacri- 
fice a good portion to the Great Spirit, saying that otherwise 
he would be angry, and bring upon them ill-fortune. They 
say that they cannot worship God, he is too far off, but they 
can worship the sun, who is between them and the Supreme 
Being. They entertain an inherent dislike for the whites and 
are very suspicions of their motives in visiting them. Some 
of their chiefs have visited Washington, and returned with 
strong impressions of the strength of the whites, but the most 
of them believe the Camanches to be the most powerful 
nation in existence, and any opposition to this idea only sub- 
jects the relator to ridicule and want of confidence. Captain 
Marcy relates a conversation he overheard between a 
Camanche and a Delaware, in which the latter endeavoured 
to prove to the Camanche that the earth was round, and 
