eighty men. The fourth band originally resided on the Kanzas and
Arkansaw, but in their wars with the Osages, they were so often
defeated, that they at last retired to their present position on the Red
river, where they form a tribe of four hundred men. All these tribes
live in villages, and raise corn; but during the intervals of culture
rove in the plains in quest of buffaloe.

Beyond them on the river, and westward of the Black mountains, are the
Kaninaviesch, consisting of about four hundred men. They are supposed to
have emigrated originally from the Pawnees nation; but they have
degenerated from the improvements of the parent tribe, and no longer
live in villages, but rove through the plains.

Still further to the westward, are several tribes, who wander and hunt
on the sources of the river Platte, and thence to Rock Mountain. These
tribes, of which little more is known than the names and the population,
are first, the Staitan, or Kite Indians, a small tribe of one hundred
men. They have acquired the name of Kites, from their flying; that is,
their being always on horseback; and the smallness of their numbers is
to be attributed to their extreme ferocity; they are the most warlike of
all the western Indians; they never yield in battle; they never spare
their enemies; and the retaliation of this barbarity has almost
extinguished the nation. Then come the Wetapahato, and Kiawa tribes,
associated together, and amounting to two hundred men; the Castahana, of
three hundred men, to which are to be added the Cataka of seventy-five
men, and the Dotami. These wandering tribes, are conjectured to be the
remnants of the Great Padouca nation, who occupied the country between
the upper parts of the river Platte, and the river Kanzas. They were
visited by Bourgemont, in 1724, and then lived on the Kanzas river. The
seats, which he describes as their residence, are now occupied by the