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Adai Indian
Tribe
Adai. A tribe of the Caddo confederacy, speaking a dialect
closely related to that of the
Kadohadacho, Hainai, and
Anadarko. The
tribe-was first encountered in 1529 by Cabeza de Vaca, who speaks of them,
under the name Atayos, as living inland from the Gulf of Mexico.
When Iberville ascended Red river of Louisiana in 1699 he heard of the
people and called them Natao, stating that their village was on the river
near that of the Yatasi. According to La Harpe (1719) the tribe was very
useful to the French traders and explorers, particularly when
making portages. At that time the villages of the Adai extended from
Red river southward beyond the Sabine, in Texas, known in the 18th century
as Rio de los Adiais. The trail which from ancient times had connected the
Adai villages became the noted "contraband trail" over which traders and
travelers journeyed between the French and Spanish provinces, and one of
the villages was a station on the road between the French fort at
Natchitoches and the Spanish fort at San Antonio.
As the villages of the villages of the tribe were scattered over a
territory one portion which was under the control of the French and the
other under that of the Spaniards, the Indians were subjected to all of
the adverse influences of the white race and suffered from their wars and
from the new diseases and intoxicants which they introduced, so that by
1778 they were reported by Mezières
(Bancroft, No. Mex. States, I, 661, 1886) as almost exterminated.
About1792,14 families of the tribe together with a number if Mexicans,
emigrated to a region south of San Antonio de Bejar, but they soon melted
away and were lost among other Indians. Those who remained numbered
about 100. In 1805 Sibley reported a small settlement of these Indians on
Lac Macdon, near an affluent of Red River; it contained only 20 men, but a
larger number of women. This Adai remnant had never left their ancient
locality, but
they had not escaped the vicissitudes of their kindred. In 1715 Domingo
Ramon, with a company of Franciscans, traversed the Adai territory and
started settlements. In 1716 the mission of San Miguel de Linares was
founded among them, and there were Adai also in the mission of San de los
Tejas, established in 1690. About 1735 a military post called Nuestra Señora
del Pilar was added, and 5 years later this garrison became the Presidio
de los Adayes. Later, when the country was distracted fro the
jurisdiction of Indians, the Adai tribe was placed under the division
having its official head quarters at Nacogdoches. In all essentials
of living and ceremony they resembled the other Caddo, by whom the remnant
was finally absorbed.
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historical value only and are not the
opinions of the Webmasters of the site.
Handbook
of American Indians, 1906
Index of Tribes or Nations
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