The Quapaw Or Kwapa
When the Kwapa were discovered by the French they dwelt in five villages,
described by the early chroniclers as the Imaha (Imaham, Imahao), Capaha,
Toriman, Tonginga (Doginga, Topinga), and Southois (Atotchasi,
Ossouteouez). Three of these village names are known to all the tribe: 1,
U{~LATIN SMALL LETTER TURNED K~}a'qpa-qti, Real Kwapa; 2, Ti'-u-a'-dci-man (Toriman), Ti'-u-a-dci' man
(of Mrs Stafford); 3, U-zu'-ti-u'-we (Southois,
etc). The fourth was
Tan'wan ji'{~LATIN SMALL LETTER TURNED K~}a, Small village. Judging from analogy and the fact that the
fifth village, Imaha, was the farthest up Arkansas river, that village
name must have meant, as did the term Omaha, the upstream people.
The following names of Kwapa gentes were obtained chiefly from Alphonsus
Valliere, a full-blood Kwapa, who assisted the author at Washington, from
December, 1890, to March, 1891:
Nan'panta, a Deer gens; Onphun enikaci{~LATIN SMALL LETTER TURNED K~}a, the Elk gens; Qidc e'nikaci'{~LATIN SMALL LETTER TURNED K~}a,
the Eagle gens; Wajin'{~LATIN SMALL LETTER TURNED K~}a enikaci'{~LATIN SMALL LETTER TURNED K~}a, the Small-bird gens; Han'{~LATIN SMALL LETTER TURNED K~}a
e'nikaci'{~LATIN SMALL LETTER TURNED K~}a, the Han'{~LATIN SMALL LETTER TURNED K~}a or Ancestral gens; Wasa' e'nikaci'{~LATIN SMALL LETTER TURNED K~}a, the
Black-bear gens; Mantu' e'nikaci'{~LATIN SMALL LETTER TURNED K~}a, the Grizzly-bear (?) gens; Te
e'nikaci'{~LATIN SMALL LETTER TURNED K~}a, the Buffalo gens (the ordinary buffalo); Tuqe'-nikaci'{~LATIN SMALL LETTER TURNED K~}a, the
Reddish-yellow Buffalo gens (answering to Nuqe of the Ponka, Yuqe of the
Kansa, cuqe of the Osage); Jawe' nikaci'{~LATIN SMALL LETTER TURNED K~}a, the Beaver gens; Hu
i'nikaci'{~LATIN SMALL LETTER TURNED K~}a, the Fish gens; Mika'q'e ni'kaci'{~LATIN SMALL LETTER TURNED K~}a, the Star gens; Pe'tan
e'nikaci'{~LATIN SMALL LETTER TURNED K~}a, the Crane gens; Can{~LATIN SMALL LETTER TURNED K~}e'-nikaci'{~LATIN SMALL LETTER TURNED K~}a, the Dog (or Wolf?) gens;
Wakan'{~LATIN SMALL LETTER TURNED T~}a e'nikaci'{~LATIN SMALL LETTER TURNED K~}a, the Thunder-being gens; Tandcan' e'nikaci'{~LATIN SMALL LETTER TURNED K~}a or
Tan'dcan tan'{~LATIN SMALL LETTER TURNED K~}a e'nikaci'{~LATIN SMALL LETTER TURNED K~}a, the Panther or Mountain-lion gens;
Ke-ni'kaci'{~LATIN SMALL LETTER TURNED K~}a, the Turtle gens; Wes'a e'nikaci'{~LATIN SMALL LETTER TURNED K~}a, the Serpent gens; Mi
e'nikaci'{~LATIN SMALL LETTER TURNED K~}a, the Sun gens. Valliere was unable to say on which side of the
tribal circle each gens camped, but he gave the personal names of some
members of most of the gentes.
On visiting the Kwapa, in the northeastern corner of Indian Territory, in
January, 1894, the author recorded the following, with the assistance of
Mrs Stafford, a full-blood Kwapa of about 90 years of age: Among the Hanka
gentes are the Han'{~LATIN SMALL LETTER TURNED K~}a tan{~LATIN SMALL LETTER TURNED K~}a, Large Han{~LATIN SMALL LETTER TURNED K~}a or Mancka' e'nikaci'{~LATIN SMALL LETTER TURNED K~}a, Crawfish
people; Wajin{~LATIN SMALL LETTER TURNED K~}a e'nikaci'{~LATIN SMALL LETTER TURNED K~}a, Small-bird people; Jin'{~LATIN SMALL LETTER TURNED K~}a e'nikaci'{~LATIN SMALL LETTER TURNED K~}a,
Small-bird people; Te ni'kaci'{~LATIN SMALL LETTER TURNED K~}a, Buffalo people, or Han'{~LATIN SMALL LETTER TURNED K~}a ji'{~LATIN SMALL LETTER TURNED K~}a, Small
Han{~LATIN SMALL LETTER TURNED K~}a; An'pan e'nikaci'{~LATIN SMALL LETTER TURNED K~}a, Elk people; Qidca' e'nikaci'{~LATIN SMALL LETTER TURNED K~}a, Eagle people;
Tuqe'-nikaci'{~LATIN SMALL LETTER TURNED K~}a, Reddish-yellow Buffalo people; and Can{~LATIN SMALL LETTER TURNED K~}e'-nikaci'{~LATIN SMALL LETTER TURNED K~}a, Dog
(or Wolf?) people. Mrs Stafford knew that five gentes were not on the
Han{~LATIN SMALL LETTER TURNED K~}a side, three of them, Hu i´'nikaci'{~LATIN SMALL LETTER TURNED K~}a, Fish people, Ni'kia'ta
(meaning unknown), and Ke-ni'kaci'{~LATIN SMALL LETTER TURNED K~}a, Turtle people, being on the same
side; Mantu' e'nikaci'{~LATIN SMALL LETTER TURNED K~}a, Lion people; and Ti'ju (answering to the Osage
Tsi{~LATIN SMALL LETTER OPEN O~}u, the Kansa Tciju, and the Ponka Tcinju), meaning not obtained, which
last is extinct. Mrs Stafford could not tell on which side camped any of
the following gentes given by Valliere: Maqe, Wes'a, Wasa, Jawe, Mikaq'e,
Mi, etc. The only persons capable of giving the needed information are
among those Kwapa who reside on Osage reservation. According to George
Redeagle and Buffalo Calf, two full-blood Quapaw, the Maqe-nikaci'{~LATIN SMALL LETTER TURNED K~}a,
Upper World people, were identical with the Wakan{~LATIN SMALL LETTER TURNED T~}a e'nikaci'{~LATIN SMALL LETTER TURNED K~}a,
Thunder-being people, of Valliere. These two men said, also, that there
was no single gens known as the Han{~LATIN SMALL LETTER TURNED K~}a, that name belonging to a major
division, probably a half-tribe.