INTRODUCTION. 

HE Caddo tales here presented were collected during the years 
1903-1905, tnder the auspices of the Carnegie Institution of 
Washington, and form part of a systematic investigation of the relig- 
ious system and ceremonial organization of the tribes of the Caddoan 
stock. 
The Caddo, numbering 530 in 1903, are of Caddoan stock, and since 
1859 have lived in western Oklahoma between the Washita and Cana- 
dian rivers, where they have been closely associated with the Wichita. 
They retain practically nothing of their ancient culture. Their early 
home was in Louisiana, on the lower Red River. Later they migrated 
toward the Texas border, and still later to Brazos Riverin Texas. They 
met the whites as early as 1540, and throughout their history have 
maintained a friendly attitude toward the whites. Like the Wichita, 
their early habitations were conical grass lodges, and they were agri- 
culturists, hunting the buffalo only within comparatively recent times. 
The comparison of the Caddo tales with those of other tribes is de- 
ferred until the completion of the present investigation. 
GrorGE A. DorSEy. 
Chicago, July 31, 1905. 
