by Simars de Bellisle, who observed them firsthand. Akokisa were hunter-gatherers and had a diet of deer, fish, oysters and bison. Black drink was used for purification in certain ceremonies. They are reported to have grown "superfine" maize. Tubers of the greenbrier vine provided meal for baking and cooking. During warm seasons they ate bird eggs, fish, shellfish, and American lotus rhizomes and seeds; during cold seasons they moved further inland and hunted deer, bear, and bison. Horses were used to hunt bison. Tanned deer hides and bear fat were their primary commercial exports. Almost nothing is known about their kinship systems, life cycle, or marriage customs. Language The Akokisa language is extinct and unknown. Swanton claimed that the Akokisa spoke a language related to Atakapa based on the similarity of a vocabulary of 45 words ascribed to the Akokisa collected by Captain Jean Béranger in 1721 on Galveston. However, there is no clear evidence that this document actually represents the language of Akokisa (Béranger provides a tribal designation for the vocabulary). Sibley also reported that they had their own language "peculiar to themselves" and used sign language to communicate with other Indians (also reported for other peoples in eastern Texas). He did not connect them with the Atakapa. Only two Akokisa words have been found in Spanish records: Yegsa meaning "Spaniard(s)" and Quiselpoo, a female name. See also List of Native American peoples in the United States Notes Bibliography Bolton, Herbert E. (1915). Texas in the middle eighteenth century: Studies in Spanish colonial history and administration. University of California publications in history (No. 3). Berkeley: University of California. Folmer, Henri. (1940). De Bellisle on the Texas coast. Southwestern Historical Quarterly, 44 (2), 204–231. Gatschet, Albert S.; & Swanton, John R. (1932). A dictionary of the Atakapa language, accompanied by text material. Bureau of American Ethnology bulletin (No. 108). Washington, D.C.: Smithsonian Institution. Goddard, Ives. (2005). The indigenous languages of the Southeast. Anthropological Linguistics, 47 (1), 1-60. Margry, Pierre (Ed.). (1879–1888). Découvertes et établissements des Français dans l'ouest et dans le sud de l'Amérique Septentrionale (1614–1754) (Vol. 6, pp. 320–347). Paris: Maison-neuve et Cie. (Reprinted 1974 by AMS Press). Martin, Jack. (2004). Languages. In R. D. Fogelson (Ed.), Handbook of North American Indians: Southeast (Vol. 14, pp. 68–86). Washington, D.C.: Smithsonian Institution. Newcomb, William W., Jr. (2004). Atakapans and neighboring groups. In R. D. Fogelson (Ed.), Handbook of North American