How do you suppose the Tonkawas cooked up the Comanches?
Stews? Roasts?
Maybe cook them whole, like a pig picking?
Again, we turn to Noah Smithwick. He witnessed an incident at Webber’s Prairie.
The only [ceremony] I ever witnessed was in Webber's prairie, the occasion being the killing of a Comanche, one of a party that had been on a horse stealing trip down to Bastrop. They were hotly pursued, and , reasoning2…that the biggest must naturally be the best…they mounted a warrior on Manlove's big horse, which was part of the booty, and left him behind as rear guard, while the balance hurried the stolen horses away. The Tonkawas joined the pursuit and when the pursuers came in sight of the lone rear guardsman three of the most expert Tonks were sent to dispatch him. This they soon accomplished, his steed being a slow one. After killing and scalping him they refused to continue the chase, saying they must return home to celebrate the event, which they did by a feast and a scalp dance. Having fleeced off the flesh of the dead Comanche they borrowed a big wash kettle from Puss Webber, into which they put the Comanche meat, together with a lot of corn and potatoes…When the stew was sufficiently cooked to allow its being ladled out with their hands the whole tribe gathered round, dipping it up with their hands and eating it…. Having gorged themselves on the delectable feast they lay down and slept till night, when the entertainment was concluded with the scalp dance. Gotten up in…war paint and best breechclouts,3 the warriors gathered round in a ring, each one armed with some ear-torturing instrument, which they operated in unison with a drum made of dried deer skin stretched tightly over a hoop, at the same time keeping up a monotonous Ha, ah, ha, raising and lowering their bodies in time that would have pleased a French dancing master, every muscle seeming to twitch in harmony. Meanwhile…a squaw would present each in turn an arm or leg of the dead foe, which they would bite viciously, catching it their teeth and shaking it…. And high over all waved from the point of a lance the scalp, dressed and painted, held aloft by a patriotic squaw. The orgies were kept up till the performers were forced to desist from sheer exhaustion (Smithwick 179-181).
Founder Ancient Order of the 1895 Winchester
"Come, shall we go and kill us venison? And yet it irks me the poor dappled fools, Being native burghers of this desert city, Should in their own confines with forked heads Have their round haunches gored."
