NABIRI INDIANS. Although it is generally held that the Nabiri (Nabiti, Nahiti, Nahiri, Naviti) Indians were a Caddoan tribe of the southwestern or Hasinai division in eastern Texas, their identity otherwise is far from clear. Herbert E. Bolton thought that the Nabiris might be the same as Henri Joutel's Noadiche (Nahordike) Indians, presumably a variant of Nabedache, and also suggested that the Nabiris might be the group later known as Anadarko Indians. J. R. Swanton reviewed Bolton's argument and further suggested that the Nabiris might be the tribe later known as Namidish Indians. The arguments presented by Bolton and Swanton are not convincing, and it seems unlikely that all of these interpretations are correct. The proper identification of the Nabiri Indians must await better evidence. Bolton's study of Spanish documents convinced him that the Nabiris lived on the Angelina River near the spot where Cherokee, Nacogdoches, and Rusk counties meet. These documents clearly indicate that the Nabiris lived on the northern margin of the area occupied by Hasinai tribes.
BIBLIOGRAPHY: Herbert E. Bolton, "The Native Tribes about the East Texas Missions," Quarterly of the Texas State Historical Association 11 (April 1908). John R. Swanton, Source Material on the History and Ethnology of the Caddo Indians (Smithsonian Institution, Bureau of American Ethnology Bulletin 132, Washington: GPO, 1942).
