Comanches

Comanches, a tribe of American Indians, belonging to the Shoshone family, and roaming for the most part over the prairie-lands of Texas and Mexico. Splendid horsemen, warlike, and fond of plunder, they have until very recently been troublesome neighbours; but they are now among the most tractable and progressive of the Indians called 'blanket Indians.' Honesty, truthfulness, self-respect, and regard for chastity are marked characters of this tribe. They are to some extent addicted to intoxication, which they procure by means of a species of cactus which has narcotic qualities. Their numbers were estimated at 12,000 in 1847; now they are about 4000.