Qahatika

Qahatika girl. Photograph by E. S. Curtis.

The Qahatika (or Kohatk) were a Native American tribe of the Southwestern United States. They were apparently a subtribe of the Tohono O'Odham, and lived in the vicinity of present-day Quijotoa, Arizona.^[1]

According to Edward Sheriff Curtis, the Qahatika belonged to the Pima group of tribes and lived in five villages "in the heart of the desert south of the Gila River",^[2] about forty miles from the Pima reservation.^[3] A legend said that after the Pima suffered defeat in a war with Apache, the tribe fled and split. One splinter of the tribe, the ancestors of Qahatika, went into the barren desert and settled there in separation from other Pimas.^[3] The Qahatika, according to Curtis, managed to find land suitable for growing wheat. Their methode of "dry farming" relied exclusively on winter rainfall: the soil near their villages was capable of retaining winter moisture for a whole season, and a few winter rains guaranteed a fair crop in summer.^[4]

The Qahatika seen by Curtis were "almost identical in appearance" to Pima and Papago. They retained the Pima art of basket weaving and developed their own tradition of pottery.^[5] Their houses were built almost exclusively of dried giant cactus carcasses.^[4]

Notes

1. Qahatika Tribe
2. Curtis, p. xi.
3. Curtis, p. 410.
4. Curtis, p. 42.
5. Curtis, p. 43.

References

• Edward Sheriff Curtis (1908). The North American Indian. Volume 2 - The Pima. The Papago. The Oahatika. The Mohave. The Yuma. The Maricopa. The Walapai. The Havasupai. The Apache-Mohave, or Yavapai.. Volume 2.