The Southwestern Historical Quarterly, Volume 60, July 1956 - April, 1957 Page: 46
616 p. : ill. (some col.), maps, ports. ; 23 cm.View a full description of this periodical.
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Southwestern Historical Quarterly
Alcazar, known presently as Spring Creek. El Gordo's village was
some twenty miles farther up the Santa Rosa. Beyond this point,
perhaps to the northwest was Matio's village. Of all these chiefs
Canos was the only one who maintained friendly relations with
the French, the others being nominally under Spanish influence.27
It appears to Bolton that the Orcoquiza lived more to the west-
ward than was generally believed. This was also true of the Atta-
capa.28
About all that is really known of the Orcoquiza language is
the name of the tribe itself; the term, Yegsa, which the tribe ap-
plied to the Spanish explorers; and Quiselpoo, the name of an
Orcoquiza woman found in one of the mission records. These
three words show a remarkable resemblance to words in the re-
corded Attacapa language. Swanton gives Dr. H. E. Bolton, then
of the University of Texas, credit for these last two words. Until
more evidence is obtained "the Orcoquisac may be classified as
probably Atakapan."29
Probably one of the 'best early accounts of the Orcoquiza In-
dians of the lower Trinity was that relating to the adventures of
Francois Simons de Bellisle, an officer in the service of Louisiana
who lived for several months among some Gulf Coast Indians,
supposedly the Orcoquiza, as a slave. Bellisle was the only sur-
viving member of a party that had gone ashore in Trinity Bay
from the vessel, Mardchal d'Estrde. This was in 172o. The vessel,
for some reason, sailed away and left the landing party stranded
on the coast. All but Bellisle died from hunger and exposure.
He wandered along the shore for two weeks after the death of
27Elias D. Brown, A History of the Spanish Settlement at Orcoquisac (M.A
thesis, University of Texas, Austin, 1909), 20; Swanton, "Indian Tribes of the Lower
Mississippi Valley," Bureau of American Ethnology, Bulletin 43, P. 35; Swanton,
"Source Materials on the History and Ethnology of the Caddo Indians," Bureau of
American Ethnology, Bulletin z32 (Washington, 1942), 59; Hodge, Handbook of
American Indians, I, 87.
28Herbert Eugene Bolton, "Spanish Activities on the Lower Trinity River,
1746-1771," Southwestern Historical Quarterly, XVI, 344n, 345n; Investigation of a
French settlement conducted by Don Joaquin de Orobio, Captain of la Bahia, from
July 1o, 1745, to April 6, 1746, Transcripts of the Bexar Archives, XVII, January 16,
1745-July 31, 1746 (a translation by Helen Marie Honeycutt, University of Texas
Library, 1948), 69-73-
29Swanton, "Indian 'Tribes of the Lower Mississippi Valley," Bureau of American
Ethnology, Bulletin 43, pp. 35-36; Herbert Eugene Bolton, Athanase de Mdzibres
and the Texas-Louisiana Frontier, 1768-178o (2 vols.; Cleveland, 1914), I, 2on.
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Texas State Historical Association. The Southwestern Historical Quarterly, Volume 60, July 1956 - April, 1957, periodical, 1957; Austin, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth101163/m1/59/?rotate=90: accessed April 25, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Texas State Historical Association.