The New Student's Reference Work/Comanches

Coman′ches (kṓ-măn′ chĕz), a tribe of Indians of the Shoshone family.  They do not live in villages, but, carrying their skin-lodges with them, roam over the country.  When first found by the French in 1719, they hunted from the head-waters of the Brazos and Colorado to those of the Arkansas and Missouri.  They are great hunters, riders and fighters, and are divided into eight bands.  They had long and bloody wars with the Spaniards, were at one time on a reservation in Texas, and later some of them were in the Indian Territory.  They have medicine-men, and worship as their god Niatpol (meaning “my father”).  Years ago, they numbered 10,000 or 12,000, filling up their ranks with Mexican captives.  They now number some 1,500, and are chiefly settled now in Oklahoma.