Karankawa people

There is nearly 300 years of information written about the Karankawa Indians of Texas from La Salle's first landing at Matagorda Bay in 1685 until the close of the Rosario Mission.The first person to document the Karankawa's cannibalism was French Jean Baptiste Talon who lived as a captive among the tribe for several years who stated in 1689: "We all went naked like them, and every morning at daybreak, in any season, they went to plunge into the nearest river."[10] Several years before this, French castaway Henri Joutel, a captain of the La Salle Expedion lived among the Cenis [Tejas] tribe and hunted with their neighboring bands who had an identical culture and langage as the Karankawa.The Lipan Apache called the Karankawa the "people who walk in the water" ("Nda Kun dadehe"), possibly referring to their mode of fishing and catching turtles, or simply their location near the swampy coast.[13] Alternate spellings of the name Karankawa have historically included: Carancahua, Carancagua, Carancaguase, Carancahuare, Caranchuasye, Carancahuase, Carancahuaye, Carancahuaze, Carancohuace, Caray, Carrai, Carray, Saray.Upon landing at their next destination, the women set up wigwams (called ba'ak in their native language) and the men hauled the boats on the shore.After European contact, the Karankawa sought matches or tinderboxes from settlers; otherwise, they resorted to the traditional method of using their firesticks, which they always carried in a package of deerhide thongs.Their household goods and utensils included wooden spoons, ceramic vessels, fishbone needles, and fine deer sinew.[16] In the region that the Karankawa inhabited, numerous small chunks of asphaltum have been found along the coast from oil seepage beneath the Gulf of Mexico.These chunks were used to bind arrowheads to their shafts; as a coating for pottery such as ollas, jars, and bowls; and as a way to waterproof woven baskets.[6][page needed] The Karankawa practiced hatchet throwing, recreational brawls with knives, ball games, and wrestling matches.[6][page needed] The Karankawa were also noted for their remarkable physical feats, such as continuing to fight after being wounded in battle, breaking ice with their bodies, and swimming in freezing water.They have stated that a selection starts from many candidates, and each is injured by a comb created from the spines of a sea fish, long wounds being dug into their skin from the top of their heads to the soles of their feet and then tied to a pole for several days to either emerge thin or emaciated and close to death.While the bride price is assumed to be the generalized system in the Indigenous population found by Cabeza de Vaca where the groom gives presents to the parents of the girl he wishes to marry, to secure their permission, the bride service is based on a ritual where the husband must give every morsel of food he managed to collect or hunt to his wife.[24] Men, women, and children alike rubbed sharks' oil on their entire bodies regularly to deter mosquitoes effectively and to keep their skin soft and supple.[6] When Joutel, an explorer and companion of Robert Cavalier de La Salle, questioned their religious beliefs, the Karankawa only pointed at the sky.After gathering around a central fire, they boiled a strong and bitter brew from the leaves of the yaupon tree and stirred it until the top was covered with a yellowish froth.After having wrapped the corpse in a well-prepared buffalo hide, the same one that he had used in life to cover himself, they bury him with his club, his bow, and his arrows, a quantity of smoked meat, some corn and vegetables, and two pieces of a certain rock that they use instead of gun flint to make fire.Upon his return to Spain, Cabeza De Vaca noted in his written report to the King, "that five Christians quartered on the coast [Galveston, the Island of Doom] came to the extremity of eating each other.Their names were Sierra, Diego Lopez, Corral, Palacios, and Gonzalo Ruiz,"[citation needed]this, after shipwrecking off Galveston Bay.[6] In 1528, one of two barges put together by survivors of the failed Pánfilo de Narváez expedition to Florida struck aground at Galveston Island.[26] From 1527, Cabeza de Vaca subsisted for seven years among the coastal tribes, making a living as a medical practitioner and occasional trader.[6] During his stay, de Vaca reported that a fatal stomach ailment reduced the Karankawa population by roughly one half; the nature and casualties resulting from this illness are unknown.[27] De Vaca reported that extensive trade occurred with inland groups as far as the extent of the entire length of the present-day United States.[16] Henri Joutel, the companion of Robert Cavelier de La Salle on his last expedition in 1687, recorded several tribes living in the coastal area, including the Karankawa (which he spelled as Korenkake and Koinekahe).When they heard of de La Salle's departure and subsequent death, they attacked about 20 French settlers left in the fort and massacred all but five.[7] In 1691, Captain Domingo Teran led a combined land-sea expedition to Texas to strengthen recently established missions and to search for French presence.In 1749, Jose Escandon was made governor and representative of the viceroy, appointed to conquer and settle northern Mexico and the region of Texas, and to map, survey, and acquaint himself with the area and with the natives.[7] In 1779, in response to the killing of Spanish sailors by a group of Karankawas, led by Joseph Maria, along the Texas Gulf Coast, and a later raid on Mission Rosario also masterminded by Maria that led to the mission's abandonment by the Spanish, they planned a series of punitive expeditions against the Karankawa intended to exterminate them, although all of these proved abortive and unsuccessful, and they were abandoned as a strategy by 1786, with the war ending three years later, in 1789.Later that year, Juan Cortina made a surprise attack on the recently returned Karankawa and annihilated what was believed to be at the time, the last members of the tribe.