, 1935-06-28

AUSTIN, June 10. 80 texas mas
been under the flags Of seven ruling
nations instead Of six as heretofore
recorded In history. This discovery
was made recently by Mrs. Mary
Jordan Atkison, author Of q volume
on Texas Indians which Is soon TO be
released by the Naylor Publishing
company. In delving into musty ar
|chives and ancient Spanish govern
ment records In the University Of
Texas library. she has brought TO
light many interesting and heretofore
little known facts connected with the
Indian tribes who inhabited Texas
at and Immediately after the time
OF the first coming Of white man to
this vast domain. She has found that
the Comanches who ross to control
over a large part Of what is now en-
braced In the area Of this state had
their own flag which waved over the
villages in their vast barbaric empire.
The rise Of the Comanches began
with the spread to the lower brush
regions Of Texas Of wild mustangs
in the sixteenth century. The horses
which were first introduced by the
Spanish ~conqueror, fernando Cor
tee, were the progenitors Of the mus
tangs which in later years roamed at
will in great droves over the South
west. Their coming sounded the
knell Of the buffalo and transformed
the Comanches and other Indian
tribes from peaceful into fighting
redskins.
The Indians Of Texas we're sun
worshippers. The glaring orb Of day
an important factor in their lives.
The theme Of the sun runs through
all of the Indian lore unearthed by
Mrs. Atkinson.
Among the flags that waved over
Texas have never been mentioned the
standard Of the sun and the blood-red
banner Of the Comancheria," Mrs.
Atkinson recently wrote. The first
of these, having had its inception In
the twenty thousand years preceding
the arrival Of Coronado, greeted the
French and Spanish explorers, while
the second marched and counter
marched between San Antonio and
Nacogdoches for something like three
centuries.
christian missionaries from Mexi-
CO, preceded by the banner Of the
croSS-gold on white-and the mystic
intaglio Of the Virgin Of Guadalupe.
crossed the Texas wilderness, eager to
baptism In the sun temples
beyond the Trinity River. found their
path blocked by sun standards-bufs
falo skins, tanned as smooth as
parchment and emblazoned from
edge to edge with holy sun rays.
The Karankawa, house boating
on the coastal lagoons. gorging on
and carrion and human
flesh, worshipped the sun. Each
evening he stood with folded arms,
r~everently watching it sink into the
Sea-laying a golden path to the en-
trance Of that other house. a path
10 the Under World-whither would
the spirits OF the dead who
had made good medicine during
their sojourn on the earth-in the
Middle World.
The Tonkewa, clad in a breech-
a feather, and a pair Of moe
slipping over the chalk-hills
after the deer, worshipped the sun
and him women tatooed their breasts
In its image for the sake Of magic
medicine.
The civilized Mound Builder
the Caddo and the Asinai - living in
straw houses said by astounded ex-
plorers to have been a hundred feet
high. built temples In the phney
woods to house the sacred fire-ser-
want Of the sun.
Even the fierce Apache, foraging
put Of the Mexican mountains,
for control Of the buffa-
10 range. enemy Of the Karankawa
and the Tonkewa. Of the Asinai and
The Caddo-even he. worshipped the
How long the sun standard was
paramount over the hills and on the
orairies and in the piney woods OF
nobody knows. Until q few
weeks ago one would have said: Per
maps ten thousand years. but archie
discoveries within the past
winters, particularly at Round Rock,
have doubled the calcula-
ion Of mans life in the Americas.
On old Brushy Greek. famous In
Texas history, anthropologists and
biologists. working together. took
put artifacts - articles made by man
to a depth Of eighteen feet In a
gravel pit. This archaeological site
IN the heart OF the Tonkewa