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.



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