The Southwestern Historical Quarterly, Volume 60, July 1956 - April, 1957 Page: 48
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Southwestern Historical Quarterly
hard work nor any "arduous undertaking," but depended upon
other tribes for protection, never taking up arms except to kill
game. He said that the Attacapa were "contiguous to and allied
with" other wandering Indians, among whom were the Karan-
kawa. By 1778, according to an official report, the Orcoquiza
numbered about fifty warriors.32
According to Bolton, who made a careful study of these and
other coast Indians, the Orcoquiza lived in relatively fixed vil-
lages but moved back and forth periodically, probably remaining
inland during the winter. Agriculture was practiced to some ex-
tent, but fish, fruit, and game of the forest provided their princi-
pal diet. Deer and bear were plentiful, and trade in the skins
and fat of these animals served as one of the main attractions
to the French. There was a loose tribal organization which was
indicated in part by the friendly leanings of Canos toward the
French and the friendly adherence of the others to the Spanish.
There was no chief over all the tribe. Joaquin de Orobio y Bas-
terra, after his second tour of inspection of the area, reported
a tribe of five villages with three hundred families or perhaps
twelve hundred persons in all.38
Dr. John Sibley, writing in 1805, gave the following sketch of
the Orcoquiza nation and people:
Accokesaws. Their ancient town and principal place of residence,
is on the west side of the Colorado, or Rio Rouge, Red River, about
two hundred miles southwest of Nacogdoches, but often change their
place of residence for a season; being near the bay, make great use of
fish, oysters, etc., and kill a great many deer, which are the largest
and fattest in the province; and their country is universally said to be
inferior to no part of the province in soil, growth of timber, goodness
of water, and beauty of surface; have a language peculiar to them-
selves, but have a mode of cumminication by dumb signs, which they
all understand, Number, about eighty men. ... 4
The neighbors of the Orcoquiza to the north on the Trinity
were the Bidai, a nation of Indians also of Attacapan stock. As
a result of his investigations among the mission archives, Bol-
ton points out that the Bidai, Deadose, and other tribes, which
S2Bolton, Athanase de Mdzibres, I, 261, 377n, and II, 163-170, 172-173, 193n.
aaBolton, "Spanish Activities on the Lower Trinity," Southwestern Historical
Quarterly, XVI, 344-347; Hodge, Handbook of American Indians, II, 437-440o.
s4Sibley, "Historical Sketches," American State Papers, Indian Affairs, IV, 722.
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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/m1/61/?rotate=270: accessed April 25, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Texas State Historical Association.