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Kansas and Osage
This nation having been at profound peace with the Osages since the
year 1806, have intermarried freely with them, so that in stature,
features, and customs, they are more and more closely approaching that
people. They are large, and symmetrically well formed, with the usual high
cheek-bones, the nose more or less aquiline, color reddish coppery, the
hair black and straight. The women are usually homely with broad faces. We
saw but a single squaw in the village who had any pretensions to beauty.
She was recently married to an enterprising warrior, who invited us to a
feast, apparently in order to exhibit his prize to us. The ordinary dress
of the men is breech-cloth of blue or red cloth, secured in its place by a
girdle; a pair of leggings made of dressed deer-skin, concealing the leg,
excepting a small portion of the upper part of the thigh; a pair of
mockasins, made of dressed deer, elk, or bison skin, not ornamented, and a
blanket to cover the upper part of the body, often thrown over one arm in
hot weather, leaving that part naked; or it is even entirely thrown aside.
The outer cartilage of the ear is cut through in three places, and
upon the rims thus separated various ornaments are suspended, such as
wampum, string-beads, silver or tin trinkets, etc. The hair of most of
their chiefs and warriors is scrupulously removed from the head, being
careful, however, to leave enough, as in honor they are bound to do, to
supply their enemy with a scalp in case they should be vanquished. This
residuum consists of a portion on the back of the head of about the
breadth of the hand, round at its upper termination, near the top of the
head, the sides rectilinear, and nearly parallel, though slightly
approaching each other towards the origin of the neck, where it abruptly
terminates; on the exterior margin, the hair is somewhat longer, and
erect. This strip of hair is variously decorated; it is sometimes colored
on the margin with vermilion; sometimes a tail-feather of the war-eagle is
attached transversely with respect to the head; this feather is white at
base, and black at tip; but the principal ornament, which appears to be
worn by some of their chief warriors, and
which is at the same time by far the most handsome, is the tail of the
common deer; this is attached by the base near to the top of the patch of
hair, the back of it resting on the hair, and the tip secured near the
termination of the patch; the bristly hair of the tail is dyed red by a
beautiful permanent color, and parted longitudinally in the middle by a
broad silver plate, which is attached at the top, and suffered to hang
loose. Many of them are tattooed on different parts of the body. The young
boys are entired naked, with the exception of a girdle, generally of
cloth, round their protruding abdomen. This part of the body in the
children of this nation is remarkably prominent; it is more particularly
so when they are young, but gradually subsides as they advance in age. In
hot weather the men, whilst in the village, generally use fans with which
they cool themselves, when in the shade, and protect their heads from the
sun whilst walking out; they are made of the wing or tail of the turkey.
The women rarely use them. The dress of the female is composed of a pair
of mockasins, leggins of blue or red cloth, with a broad projecting border
on the outside, and covering the leg to the knees or a little above; many,
however, and perhaps almost a majority of them, do not in common wear this
part of the dress. Around the waist, secured by a belt or cestus, is
wrapped a piece of blue cloth, the sides of which meet, or come
nearly in contact on the outside of the right thigh, and the whole extends
downward as far as the knee, or to the mid-leg; around the left shoulder
is a similar piece of cloth, which is attached by two of the corners, at
the axilla of the right arm, and extends downward as far as the waist.
This garment is often laid aside, when the body from the waist upwards is
entirely exposed. Their hair is suffered to grow long; it is parted
longitudinally on the top of the head, and flows over the shoulders, the
line of separation being colored with vermilion. The females like those of
other aborigines, cultivate the maize, beans, pumpkins and watermelons,
gather and prepare the two former, when ripe, and pack them away in skins,
or in mats for keeping; prepare the flesh of the bison, by drying, for
preservation; attend to all the cooking; bring wood and water; and in
other respects manage domestic concerns, and appear to have over them
absolute sway. These duties, as far as we could observe, they not only
willingly performed as a mere matter of duty, but they exhibited in their
deportment a degree of pride and ambition to acquit themselves well; in
this respect resembling a good housewife among the civilized fair. Many of
them are tattooed.
Both sexes, of all ages, bathe frequently, and enter
the water indiscriminately. The infant is washed in cold water soon after
its birth, and the ablution is frequently repeated; the mother also bathes
with the same fluid soon after delivery. The infant is tied down to a
board, after the manner of many of the Indian tribes.
The chastity of the young females is guarded by the
mother with the most scrupulous watchfulness, and a violation of it is a
rare occurrence, as it renders the individual unfit for the wife of a
chief, a brave warrior, or good hunter. To wed her daughter to one of
these, each mother is solicitous; as these qualifications offer the same
attractions to the Indian mother as family and fortune exhibit to the
civilized parent. In the nation, however, are several courtesans; and
during our evening walks we were sure to meet with respectable Indians who
thought pimping no disgrace. Sodomy is a crime not uncommonly committed;
many of the subjects of it are publicly known, and do not appear to be
despised, or to excite disgust; one of them was pointed out to us; he had
submitted himself to it, in consequence of a vow he had made to his mystic
medicine, which obliged him to change his dress for that of a squaw, to do
their work, and to permit his hair to grow. The men carefully pluck from
their chins, axilla of the arms, eyebrows, and pubis, every hair or beard
that presents itself; this done with a spiral wire, which, when used, is
placed with the side upon the part, and the ends are pressed towards each
other so as to close upon the hairs, which can then be readily drawn out.
Rev. J. Owen Dorsey found that the soul of
a Kansas went at death to that spirit village nearest him at the time.
These spirit villages changed location with the Kansas migrations. The
last ones begin at Council Grove. Then there are spirit villages along the
Kansas River at the sites of the old towns where they had dwelt on that
stream. And on the Missouri their old village-sites from Independence
Creek to the mouth of the Osage are now spirit villages to which the souls
of the Kansa go to live after death.
The orthography of the word Kansa, or
Kansas, has passed through many modifications. This has not been
caused by any change in the word itself, for the word is very little
different in sound from what it was in prehistoric times. The Siouans
generally pronounced the word as indicated by our manner of writing
it—Kansa, or Kä-sa. The Kansas tribe so spoke it. The American has changed
the a in the first syllable from the Italian to the short a. The Indian
form of pronunciation was sometimes distorted by the early traders,
especially the French traders. They made the a to have the sound of
au or aw as in haul or in awl. From this
corruption came the Kau in the later spellings. The word has been
also variously written, and the early explorers were apt to begin with a
C rather than with a K. Indeed, it was sometimes commenced
with Qu. So, it is found as Kansa, Kansas, Kantha, Kances, Kansies,
Kanzas, Konza, Kausa, Kausas, Kauza, Kauzas, Causa, Cansas, Cances,
Canceys, and in perhaps a hundred other forms. The form Kau, or
Kaw, was an abbreviation of the name, originating with the French
traders and spreading abroad to all having dealings with the tribe.
Pike wrote the name Kans. This was not intended by him for an
abbreviation, and it is the belief of this author that an examination of
his original manuscript would reveal the fact that he actually wrote it
Kaus. The mistake was made by the printer.
In pronouncing his own name—that is, the name of his
own tribe—the Kansas Indian did not distinctly sound the n in the
first syllable. As in many others of his words, and even in words in many
tribes of different linguistic families, the n was not a separate
sound, but rather a nasalized prolonged termination of the syllable. This
form of terminating a syllable is common to many Indian languages. This
nasalized termination is the merest approximation of the n sound.
It is often written (and printed in the works of scholars) as in a
coefficient term in mathematics—as Kan-sz. And the Kansas Indian usually
pronounced the word Kä-za, or Kau-za, with the modification above noted.
In many of the old books it is printed Kau-zau, following closely the
native form of pronunciation. But, as said, there is the approximation to
the n sound, and it is fortunate that the sound was retained
[p.205] and strengthened to an equality with the other sounds in the word.
Kansas, as now accepted, written, and spoken, is one of the most
beautiful Indian words adapted to use in the English tongue. As a name for
a state it is unequaled.
The earliest map locating the Kansas Indians is that of Marquette, in
1673. Marquette did not visit the Missouri River country, but made his
maps from information drawn from Indians, or perhaps adventurers who had
wandered far from the feeble settlements. This map shows the Kansas tribe
west of the Missouri, very nearly where it was then in fact located. All
the early maps of the interior of North America are necessarily erroneous.
Their locations of physical features and Indian tribes are invariably
wrong. But their approximations are valuable.3
On previous pages of this work will be found much
concerning the early location and history of the Kansas Indians. For that
reason it is not deemed necessary here to write an exhaustive review of
the tribe in its earliest connection with white men. In the time of
Coronado the Kansas probably lived near the mouth of the Kansas River.
There may have been villages of the tribe below and above the Kansas, and
even on the east side of the Missouri in that vicinity. There is a very
ancient village site on the farm of William Malott, a mile or perhaps a
little more, northeast of White Church in Wyandotte County. George U. S.
Hovey made a collection of several hundred arrowheads, and other weapons
and implements from that site. The village was evidently a large one, and
occupied for a long period. It was most probably an old Kansas town.
Footnote
3 The editors of Volume X, Kansas Historical Collections, made a
compilation of the old maps showing the locations of the Kansas Indians.
The work was carefully done, and it was printed as a footnote on pages
344, 345 of that work. It is set out below: “The earliest map pointing out
the location of the Kansa nation was that of Marquctte, 1673, and
described locations as found by that intrepid missionary explorer and his
companion, Joliet. On it the Kansa were placed west of the Osages and
Southwest of the Panis. Marquette did not visit them, nor any tribe west
of the Mississippi, but had information from well-informed Indians who
stood by while he made the map. At this time the Kansa were probably on
the Missouri river in about the location where visited Bourgmont fifty
years later. “Parkman's map No. 5, in Harvard College Library. ‘La
Manitoumie, 1672-73,’ shows the Kanissi south of the Missouri river and
between the Missouri and Paniassa. (Winsor's Narrative History of America,
vol. 4, p. 221.) “Joliet's map 1674, shows the Kansa southeast of the
Osages and Pani. (Thwaites' Jesuit Relations, vol. 59, p. 86.)
“Franquelin's map of Louisiana, 1679-1682, shows the Cansa on the
Emissourittes river above the mouth of the Kansa river. (Margry, vol. 3;
Thwaites' Jesuit Relations, vol. 63, p. 1.) “Thevenot's map of Louisiana,
1681, locates the Kemissi south of the Missouri and northwest of the Autre
Chaha (Osage) and toward the Panissi. “De 'Lisle's map of Louisiana, 1718,
shows the Grande Rivere des Cansez and a village far out on that stream at
the mouth of the second large tributary from the northwest, near the
country of the Padoucas. It also shows a village of Les Cansez on the
Missouri river, south side, near the mouth of a creek (Independence). (In
French's Louisiana, part 2.) “D'Anville's map of Louisiana, 1732, locates
the Kanza village at the month of Petite river des Kansez. This was the
Grand village at the mouth of Independence creek. This map also shows the
River des Padoucas et Kansez and a village of the Paniouassas on a
northern branch. (Photo map.) “Bellin's map of Louisiana, 1744, marks the
Pays des Canses (country of the Kansa) extending from the Missouri river
almost to the mountains, being quite a part of the present states of
Missouri, Kansas and southern Nebraska. The Canses village is placed at
the mouth of the second large tributary of the Kansas river from its
junction with the Missouri. It shows also the Petite river des Canses (the
Little River of the Kansa). (Shea's Charlevoix History of New France, vol.
6, p. 11.) “Sieur le Rouge's map, 1746, shows River des Canses correctly,
and the Canses villages on the Kansas river, quite a way from its mouth.
“Vangundy's map of North America, 1798, gives Les Canses on their river,
and gives the Pays des Canses as extensive as that of other great Indian
nations, or from the mountains to the Missouri river, over most of the
present state of Kansas. (Winsor's Miss. Basin, p. 205.) “Le Page Du
Pratz's map of Louisiana, 1757, with course of the Mississippi and
tributaries, shows the river of the Cansez with the location of a Cansez
village up that stream about sixty or seventy miles. It also shows the
Grand village Cansez on the Missouri river quite a distance above the
mouth of the Cansez river. This shows that they were again living on both
streams, with permanent villages, as shown by De 'Lisle's map of 1718.
(Photo map.) “Dunn's map, 1774. Source of Mississippi river, shows Kanzes
at mouth of a tributary to the Missouri river. This was doubtless the old
Grand village at the mouth of Independence creek. This copy of Dunn's map
does not show the whole course of the Kansas river, omitting a village at
the mouth of the Blue and would indicate that as late as 1774 they were
still occupying the above-described Grand village. (Winsor's Westward
Movement, page 214.) “Carver's map of North America, 1778, shows Kansez on
the south side of the Missouri, northwest of the Osages. This is about the
last map showing them lingering by the Missouri river. After this they
seem to have entirely established themselves on their own old river, the
Kansas. (Winsor's Westward Movement, page 104.) “French map of date prior
to 1800, used by Lewis and Clark, 1804, marks the junction of Kances
river, upon which the Kansa nation lived at that time. (Map No. 1,
Thwaites' Lewis and Clark.) “Spanish map about 1800, used by Lewis and
Clark, Map No. 2, shows Kansez river with a village of Kansez Indians on
its north bank east of the junction with the Blue. “Pike's map, 1806,
gives Kanses on the river of that name. (Coues' edition.) “Long's map of
the West, 1819, shows Konzas village at the mouth of Blue Earth river,
near the bank of the Konzas river. It also shows the site of the Old
Konzas village on the Missouri river at the mouth of Independence creek,
which had been abandoned by the nation many years before.”
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