WITCHITA VILLAGE. 77 



command of our interpreter, while one or two galloped away in the 

 direction of the village to give notice of our approach. They proved 

 to be Wacos and Witchitas, and informed us that their villages were 

 about four miles in advance, at the same time inviting us to pay them 

 a visit. We reached the villages (which were situated upon the banks 

 of Rush creek) and encamped about half a mile below them in the 

 valley. 



Immediately on our arrival we were accosted by a large crowd of 

 men who were anxious to learn where we had been, and whether we 

 had seen any Comanches ; and as we were (I think) the first party of 

 whites who had visited them at this place, they appeared very glad to 

 see us — probably in anticipation of presents. 



There are two villages here occupied by the Witchitas and Wacos 

 respectively ; they are situated in the rich and fertile valley of the creek, 

 where they have cultivated corn, pumpkins, beans, peas, and melons. 

 These people have no ploughs, or other agricultural implements, but a 

 small hoe, with which they prepare the ground for the reception of the 

 seed,, and do all other necessary work in its cultivation ; yet the pro- 

 lific soil gives them bountiful returns ; and were it not for their im- 

 provident natures, they might, with little labor, have sufficient for the 

 whole year. Instead of this, they only care for the present, and from 

 the time the corn is fit for roasting, are continually eating and feasting 

 until it is gone. They are then obliged to depend upon the precarious 

 results of the chase during the remainder of the year. 



The village of the Witchitas has forty-two lodges, each containing 

 two families of about ten persons. These lodges are made by erecting 

 a frame-work of poles placed in a circle in the ground, with the tops 

 united in an oval form, and bound together with numerous withes or 

 wattles, the whole nicely thatched with grass ; and when completed, 

 it makes a very commodious and comfortable domicil. The interior 

 arrangements are such, that every person has a bunk, raised from the 

 ground and covered with buffalo hides, forming a couch which is far 

 from being uncomfortable. When seated around their fires in the centre 

 of the lodges, they have an air of domestic happiness about them which 

 I did not expect to find. 



The lodges are about twenty-five feet in diameter at the base, twenty 

 feet high, and in the distance have very much the appearance of a group 

 of hay-stacks. With the exception of a few families that live upon the 

 Canadian, the whole Witchita nation is concentrated at this place ; their 

 numbers do not exceed five hundred souls. They have during the early 

 settlement of Texas given more trouble to the people upon the northern 



