By: RUSLAN YENDRZHIYEVSKYY
This essay introduces readers to an early description of the Comanche people compiled by the French traveller Fiektong G. in the second half of the 18th century. His writing was published in Russian translation in 1789, but the publication date of the French original is unknown. Although references to the Comanche are present in Spanish documents beginning in 1706, 18th-century ethnographic notes on this people, with rare exceptions, are surprisingly scant and laconic. Against this backdrop, Fiektong’s work appears to be a true discovery and will undoubtedly be of interest to both ordinary readers and researchers. My essay also examines a number of specific terms that the French used to refer to the Comanche in the 18th century.
