NAANSI INDIANS. The Naansi Indians are known from only one document (Douay narrative) of the La Salle expedition, which indicates that at the end of the seventeenth century these Indians were numerous and lived between the Hasinai and Kadohadacho tribes. This suggests that they may have occupied the valley of either the Sabine River or the Sulphur River. The Naansis cannot be identified with any other Indian group listed for this general area in French or Spanish documents. Since the Naansi Indians lived between two areas dominated by Caddoan tribes, it seems likely that they too were Caddoan; but this cannot be demonstrated.
BIBLIOGRAPHY: Isaac Joslin Cox, ed., The Journeys of René Robert Cavelier, Sieur de La Salle (2 vols., New York: Barnes, 1905; 2d ed., New York: Allerton, 1922). Frederick Webb Hodge, ed., Handbook of American Indians North of Mexico (2 vols., Washington: GPO, 1907, 1910; rpt., New York: Pageant, 1959).
