Chapter II: Part 2

When the plant is cut from its root it is turned over and trimmed. For the latter the women employ the hatchet-like knife, cutting off the outer ends of the leaves. The plant now resembles a large head of cabbage and weighs from five to twenty pounds. As fast as the plants are cut the women place them in the burden baskets and carry them to the pit, load after load. To make it possible for each woman to identify her mescal after the cooking, each piece is branded with a distinguishing device--a property mark. The gathering of the mescal continues for several days, an area covering a radius of perhaps two miles being stripped of its budding plants, for such only are harvested.

The pit being ready and the mescal gathered, the work of cooking commences. Just at daylight the old woman in charge takes her place at the rim of the pit and prays that the cooking may be successful and that the people may be in condition to partake of the food. In igniting the fuel the old-fashioned fire-sticks must be employed; to use matches would bring ill fortune. When the fuel in the pit becomes a blazing mass the women go to prepare breakfast, but are soon at work again gathering brush and grass to cover the mescal. Within four hours the fuel is entirely consumed and the red-hot stones have settled to the bottom of the pit. When it is certain that no fuel remains unburned, as even a small amount of smoke would spoil the quality of the mescal, the head-woman says, "It is good," and with great eagerness her followers begin to fill the pit. There is need for haste in throwing in and covering the mescal, as the steam must be confined to prevent the hot stones from scorching it. The covering consists of alternate layers of green brush, grass, dry leaves, and finally a layer of earth, about six inches in thickness. After forty-eight hours of steaming the seething mass is uncovered and each woman removes her portion.

The greater part of the product of this cooking is now to be prepared for winter use by pulling the leaves apart and pounding them into pulp. This can be kneaded and handled much the same as dough, and while in this plastic state is formed into large cakes two inches thick and perhaps three feet long. These are dried in the sun, when they have all the appearance of large slabs of India rubber, and are easily packed on horses for the homeward journey.

This dried mescal may be eaten without further preparation, but it is generally made into a gruel by mixing with water. Alone it is very sweet, and berries of the aromatic sumac, and frequently walnuts, are crushed with it to give it flavor.

The fruit of the opuntia, or prickly-pear cactus, which the Apache call _hush_, is much used for food both in its fresh state and dried. It is picked from the plant with pincers of split sticks. When the _tu{~COMBINING BREVE~}tza_, or burden basket, is filled its contents are poured on the ground and the fruit is brushed about with a small grass besom until the spines are worn off. In preparing _hush_ the women grind seeds and pulp into a mass, thus retaining the full food value of the fruit.

Manzanita, pinon nuts, juniper berries, acorns of the scrub oak, fruit of the yucca, wild potatoes, wild onions, mesquite pods, and many varieties of fungi also furnish food. As a drink the Apache make a tea from the green or dried inner bark of the pinon.

The intoxicant and curse of their lives is _tulapai_, or _tizwin_ as it is sometimes called. _Tulapai_ means "muddy or gray water." It is, in fact, a yeast beer. In preparing it corn is first soaked in water. If it be winter time the wet corn is placed under a sleeping blanket until the warmth of the body causes it to sprout; if summer, it is deposited in a shallow hole, covered with a wet blanket, and left until the sprouts appear, when it is ground to pulp on a metate. Water and roots are added, and the mixture is boiled and strained to remove the coarser roots and sprouts. At this stage the liquid has the consistency of thin cream soup. It is now set aside for twenty-four hours to cool and ferment, when it is fit for drinking. As the _tulapai_ will spoil in twelve hours it must be drunk quickly. Used in moderation it is not a bad beverage, but by no means a pleasant one to the civilized palate. The Apache, however, knows no moderation in his _tulapai_ drinking. He sometimes fasts for a day and then drinks great quantities of it,--often a gallon or two--when for a time he becomes a savage indeed.

Filling the Pit - Apache

_From Copyright Photograph 1906 by E.S. Curtis_

Another intoxicant, more effective than _tulapai_, is made from the mescal--not from the sap, according to the Mexican method, but from the cooked plant, which is placed in a heated pit and left until fermentation begins. It is then ground, mixed with water, roots added, and the whole boiled and set aside to complete fermentation. The Indians say its taste is sharp, like whiskey. A small quantity readily produces intoxication.

Of game foods the Apache has deer, antelope, and wild turkey, with quail, some water fowl, smaller birds, rabbits, and wood-rats. Fish and bear meat are strictly tabooed.

The graphic art of the Apache finds expression chiefly in ceremonial paintings on deerskin, and in basketry. Only rarely have they made pottery, their roving life requiring utensils of greater stability. Such earthenware as they did make was practically the same as that of the Navaho, mostly in the form of small cooking vessels. Usually the pictures are painted on the entire deerskin, but sometimes the skin is cut square, and at others ceremonial deerskin shirts are symbolically painted. Occasionally the Apache attempts to picture the myth characters literally; at other times only a symbolic representation of the character is made. In addition to the mythic personages, certain symbols are employed to represent the incident of the myth. These paintings are made under the instruction of a medicine-man and are a part of the medicine paraphernalia. On some skins the most sacred characters in Apache mythology are represented symbolically--Naye{~COMBINING BREVE~}nezgani, the War God; Tubadzischi{~COMBINING BREVE~}ni, his younger brother; Kuterastan, the Creator of All; Stenatlihan, the chief goddess. In fact the symbolism on an elaborately painted deerskin may cover every phase of Apache cosmology.

In their basketry the Apache women display great taste in form, and in their more superior work employ much symbolic decoration. Since the beginning of the present "messiah craze" all baskets display the sacred symbols believed to have been revealed to Das Lan by Chuganaai Skhin--a combination of the cross and the crescent. There are many baskets, made before this new religious wave swept over the tribe, into which the symbolism has since been woven.

The basket most used is the _tu{~COMBINING BREVE~}tza_, or burden basket, roughly and loosely woven, ornamented with circular lines as often painted on as woven in. Previous to a messiah craze, which had its origin with the Apache about 1901, the designs in these baskets were purely decorative, without attempt at symbolism; but now, by order of a crafty old medicine-man, every _tu{~COMBINING BREVE~}tza_ must display the combined cross and crescent.

The _tus_ is a water bottle, made invariably of withes of the aromatic sumac, loosely woven, and coated inside and out with pinon gum. To use material other than sumac would be considered very bad. In the Apache deluge myth the people, instructed by Stenatlihan, built a monster _tus_ of pinon branches in which they floated away.

The _tsa-nasku{~COMBINING BREVE~}di_ is a bowl or tray-shaped basket of splendid form, with symbolic decoration of intricate pattern.

The most pretentious basket is the _tus-nasku{~COMBINING BREVE~}di_, in general form like the _tus_, but much larger; it is used for the storage of grain. Its lines are most beautiful, as are also its inwoven symbolic designs.

Owing to the extremely secretive nature of the Apache, it is difficult for the casual student to learn anything of the relations between their mythology and the designs used in their basketry. Questioned, they will perhaps say, "We don't know," or "To make it look pretty." But an intelligent and trustworthy interpreter will tell you, "That woman knows, but she will not tell." A law of the cult brought about by the recent messiah religion is that every woman must have in readiness for use during the migration to the future world a _tus_, a _tu{~COMBINING BREVE~}tza_, a _tsa-nasku{~COMBINING BREVE~}di_, and a gourd drinking-cup, all decorated with the cross and crescent. These are not used and are carefully preserved.

The clan and gentile systems of the American Indians have been the bulwark of their social structure, for by preventing intermarriage within the clan or the gens the blood was kept at its best. Added to this were the hardships of the Indian life, which resulted in the survival only of the fittest and provided the foundation for a sturdy people. But with advancing civilization one foresees the inevitable disintegration of their tribal laws, and a consequent weakening of the entire social structure, for the Indians seem to have absorbed all the evil, and to have embodied little of the good, that civilized life teaches.

The Covered Pit - Apache

_From Copyright Photograph 1906 by E.S. Curtis_

The Coyoteros are divided into five bands, each consisting of a number of clans, although in one band there are now survivors of a single clan only, while in others as many as seven or eight clans are still to be found. Descent among the Apache generally is reckoned through the mother; that is, the children belong to their mother's clan. An exception to this rule is said by "Peaches," an old Apache scout under Crook, to exist among the Chiricahua, where the children take the gens of the father. Among the Apache some of the younger generation are inclined to disregard tribal laws respecting marriage, but in former times they were rigidly enforced, marriage within the clan or the gens being regarded as incestuous. When asked what would happen if a man and a woman belonging to the same clan should marry, one old man answered that both would be quickly put to death.

In the Appendix are given the clan names of the Coyoteros, also of the Arivaipa and the Chiricahua. Geronimo, Chato, and Cochise were members of the Aiahan, People of the East, clan. Most of the clan names are derived from localities in which the ancestors of the clan are supposed to have first lived.

With the Apache, as with other tribes, the clan organization has an important bearing on property right. Regardless of what property either spouse may hold or own at the time of marriage, the other immediately becomes possessed of his or her moiety. Should the wife die, her husband retains possession of the property held in common so long as he does not remarry, but what might be termed the legal ownership of the wife's half interest becomes vested in her clan. Should he attempt to dissipate the property the members of the deceased wife's clan would at once interfere. If the widower wishes to marry again and the woman of his choice belongs to the clan of his former wife, then he and the new wife become owners in common of all personal property held by him; but if the second wife belongs to a different clan from that of the former wife, then the husband must make actual transfer of half of the common property to the clanspeople of the deceased woman, who inherited the legal interest in it at their relative's death. The same tribal law applies in the case of a widow.

Much internal strife naturally results whenever an actual distribution of property is made. In the first place the surviving spouse unwillingly relinquishes the moiety of the property to the relatives of the deceased, and the immediate relatives often disagree with the remainder of the clan. In former times death of one or more members of contending clans often resulted when the division of much property was made. Having no tribunal for making an equitable division, the matter was left to mutual agreement, resulting in disputes and frequently murder.

With the breaking up of the clans, together with the rapid disintegration of ancient customs and laws, this property law is fast becoming forgotten; but so recently as 1906 such disputes as those mentioned occurred under both the Fort Apache and San Carlos agencies, creating no little ill-feeling. In one instance a man refused to deliver possession of half of his little herd of horses to his deceased wife's clanspeople when contemplating marriage with another woman, and appealed to the missionaries for aid. He was compelled to make the division, however, before he could remarry.

MYTHOLOGY - CREATION MYTH

There was a time when nothing existed to form the universe--no earth, no sky, and no sun or moon to break the monotony of the illimitable darkness. But as time rolled on, a spot, a thin circular disc no larger than the hand, yellow on one side and white on the other, appeared in midair. Inside the disc sat a bearded man but little larger than a frog, upon whom was to fall the task of creating all things. Kuterastan, The One Who Lives Above, is the name by which he is now known, though some call him Yuadistan, Sky Man.

Apache Still Life

_From Copyright Photograph 1903 by E.S. Curtis_

Kuterastan, as if waking from a long sleep, sat up and rubbed his face and eyes with both hands. Then bending forward, he looked up into the endless darkness, and lo! light appeared everywhere above him. He then looked down, and all below became a sea of light. A glance to the east created yellow streaks of dawn, another to the west the saffron tints of the dying day, both soon becoming obscured by numerous clouds of many hues, formed by his looking around and about in all directions.

Again with both hands Kuterastan wiped his eyes and sweating face and, rubbing his hands together as if he were rolling a small pebble between the palms, suddenly parted them with a quick downward fling, and there before him on a shining, vaporless, mirage-like cloud sat a little girl no larger than a doll. Kuterastan directed her to stand up, asking where she intended to go, but she replied not. He cleared his vision once more with his hands, then proffered his right hand to the girl, Stenatlihan, Woman Without Parents, who grasped it, with the greeting "Whence came you?"

For reply Kuterastan merely repeated her question, adding, "Look to the east, it is light! There will be light in the south, in the west, and in the north." And as she looked she saw light. He then came out upon the cloud.

"Where is the earth?" asked Stenatlihan, to which Kuterastan replied by asking:

"Where is the sky?" Then requesting that he be not disturbed, he began to sing: "I am thinking, thinking, thinking, thinking what shall I do next." Four times he thus sang, at the end of the fourth time brushing his face with his hands, which he rubbed briskly together and parted quickly; and there before him stood Chuganaai, the Sun. Raising his left hand to his brow, from the sweat thereon, which he rolled in his hands as before, Kuterastan let drop from his right palm a small boy, Hadintin Skhin.

The four sat upon that still cloud for a time as if in reverie, the first to break the silence being he who commenced the creation: "What shall we do next? I do not like this cloud to live upon, but we are to rule and must stay together. How dreary it is here! I wish we had some place to go." And then he set to work again, creating Nacholecho, the Tarantula, who was later to help in completing the earth, and Nokuse, the Big Dipper, whose duty it would be to befriend and to guide. The creation of Nilchidilhkizn, the Wind, Ndidilhkizn, the Lightning Maker, and the clouds in the west to house Ndisagochan, Lightning Rumbler, whom he placed in them at the same time, next occupied his attention. Then turning to Stenatlihan, Kuterastan said, "Truly this is not a fit place in which to live; let us make the earth." And so saying he at once began to sing, "I am thinking of the earth, the earth, the earth; I am thinking of the earth," which he repeated four times. As he ceased, Stenatlihan, Chuganaai, and Hadintin Skhin each shook hands with him. Sweat from their hands adhered to his. He at once began rubbing his palms, when suddenly there slipped from between them a small brown body, no larger than a bean. Kuterastan kicked it and it expanded; Stenatlihan then kicked it and its size further increased; Chuganaai next gave it a severe blow with his foot and it became larger still; a kick from Hadintin Skhin made it greater yet. Nilchidilhkizn, the Wind, was told to go inside and blow outward in all directions. This he did, greatly expanding the dimensions of that body, now so wide that they could hardly see its edge. The Lightning was next directed to exert his strength, so with a terrific flash and roar he penetrated the body to its centre, spreading it still wider. Then Tarantula was called on to assist, and accordingly he started off to the east, spinning a strong black cord, on which he pulled with all his might; another cord of blue was spun out to the south, a third of yellow to the west, and a fourth of glistening white to the north. A mighty pull on each of these stretched the surface of that dark brown body to almost immeasurable size. Finally Kuterastan directed all to cover their eyes with their hands, and when they opened them a moment later they beheld Nigostu{~COMBINING BREVE~}n, the Earth, complete in extent. No hills or mountains were there in sight, nothing but a smooth, treeless, reddish-brown plain.

Nilchidilhkizn, the Wind, scratched his chest and rubbed his fingers together, when out from between them flew Datilye, the Humming-bird. Datilye was told to make a circuit of the earth and report what he saw. He started off toward the east, circled south, west, north, and back from the east. All was well; the earth was most beautiful, very smooth, and covered with water on the western side.

But the Earth was not still; it kept shifting and rolling and dancing up and down, so Kuterastan made four great posts--colored black, blue, yellow, and white--to support it. Then he directed Stenatlihan to sing a song. She sang, "The world is made and will soon sit still." These two then stood and faced Chuganaai and Hadintin Skhin, when into their midst came Nilchidilhkizn, who dashed away to the cardinal points with the four posts, which he placed under the sides of the earth; and upon them it sat and was still. This pleased Kuterastan, so he sang a song, repeating, "The world is now made and sits still."

Then Kuterastan began another song, referring to the sky. None existed as yet, and he felt there ought to be one. Four times he chanted the song, at the end of the fourth time spreading his hands wide before him, when lo! there stood twenty-eight men and women ready to help make a sky to cover the earth. He next chanted a song for the purpose of making chiefs for the sky and the earth, and at its close sent Ndidilhkizn, the Lightning Maker, to encircle the world. Ndidilhkizn departed at once, but returned in a short time with three very uncouth persons, two girls and a boy, whom he had found in the sky in a large turquoise bowl. Not one of them had eyes, ears, hair, mouth, nose, or teeth, and though they had arms and legs, they had neither fingers nor toes.

Chuganaai at once sent for Doh, the Fly, to come and erect a _kache{~COMBINING BREVE~}_, or sweat-house. It took but a short time to put up the framework, which Stenatlihan covered closely with four heavy clouds: a black cloud on the east, a blue one on the south, a yellow one on the west, and a white one on the north. Out in front of the doorway, at the east, she spread a soft red cloud for a foot-blanket after the sweat. Twelve stones were heated in a fire, and four of them placed in the _kache{~COMBINING BREVE~}_. Kuterastan, Stenatlihan, Chuganaai, and Hadintin Skhin each inspected the sweat-house and pronounced it well made. The three newcomers were bidden to enter and were followed by Chuganaai, Nilchidilhkizn, Ndidilhkizn, Nokuse, and Doh. The eight sang songs as their sweat began. Chuganaai led, singing four songs, and each of the others followed in turn with the same number. They had had a good sweat by the time the songs were finished, so Stenatlihan removed the black cloud and all came out. She then placed the three strangers on the red-cloud blanket, and under the direction of Kuterastan made for them fingers, toes, mouth, eyes, ears, hair, and nose. Then Kuterastan bade them welcome, making the boy, whom he called Yadilhkih Skhin, Sky Boy, chief of the sky and its people. The second he named Nigostu{~COMBINING BREVE~}n Nali{~COMBINING BREVE~}n, Earth Daughter, and placed her in charge of the earth and its crops; while to the third, Hadinin Nali{~COMBINING BREVE~}n, Pollen Girl, was assigned the care of the health of the earth's people. This duty also devolved upon Hadintin Skhin, but each looks more to the welfare of his own sex than to that of the other.

Among the Oaks - Apache

_From Copyright Photograph 1903 by E.S. Curtis_

The earth was smooth, flat, and barren, so Kuterastan made a few animals, birds, trees, and a hill. Then he sent Agocho, the Pigeon, to see how the world looked. Four days later Agocho returned and said all was beautiful, but that in four days more the water on the opposite side would rise and flood the land. Kuterastan at once created a pinon tree. This Stenatlihan skilfully tended until it grew to be of gigantic size at the end of four days. Then with four great limbs as a framework she made a very large water bottle, _tus_, covering it with gum from the pinon. When the water appeared as predicted, Kuterastan went up on a cloud, taking his twenty-eight helpers with him, while Stenatlihan summoned all the others and put them into the _tus_, into which she climbed last, closing the mouth at the top.

Mescal Camp - Apache

_From Copyright Photograph 1903 by E.S. Curtis_

The flood completely submerged the earth for twelve days. Then the waters subsided, leaving the _tus_ on the summit of the hill Kuterastan had made. The rush of the waters had changed the once smooth, level plain into series of mountains, hills, rivers, and valleys, so that Stenatlihan hardly knew where they were when she opened the _tus_ and came out. Tazhi, the Turkey, and Gage, the Crow, were the first to make a tour of the land. At the base of the hill they descended into a small muddy alkaline creek, in which the Turkey got the tips of his tail-feathers whitened, and they have been white ever since. On return they reported that all looked beautiful as far as they had travelled. Stenatlihan then sent Agocho to make a complete circuit and let her know how things appeared on all sides. He came back much elated, for he had seen trees, grass, mountains, and beautiful lakes and rivers in every direction.

Directing the others to remain where she left them, Stenatlihan summoned Hadintin Skhin, Hadintin Naln, Ndidilhkizn, and Agocho, and took them up in a cloud, in which they drifted until they met Kuterastan and his band of workers, who had completed the sky during the time of the flood. The two clouds floated to the top of the hill on which stood the _tus_. All descended to the valley below, where Stenatlihan marshalled them into line, that Kuterastan might talk to them. He briefly told them that he was going to leave them and wished each one to do his part toward making the world perfect and happy. "You, Ndisagochan, shall have charge of the clouds and the water. You, Yadilhkih Skhin, I leave in charge of the sky. Nigostu{~COMBINING BREVE~}n Nali{~COMBINING BREVE~}n, you are to look after the crops of our people; and you, Hadintin Skhin, must care for their health and guide them." He then called Stenatlihan to him and placed her in charge of all.

The people stood in line facing their god, with hands extended as if in supplication. Kuterastan and Stenatlihan stood facing each other. Each rubbed their thighs with their hands, then cast their hands downward, and there arose between them a great pile of wood. Stenatlihan knelt and slipped a hand under it, and as she did so Kuterastan passed his hand over the top. Great white billowy clouds of smoke at once issued forth, rising straight skyward. Into these Kuterastan disappeared. All the other gods and goddesses soon followed, leaving the twenty-eight whom Kuterastan had made to build the sky to remain upon the earth and people it. Chuganaai went east to travel with the sun; Stenatlihan departed westward to make her home in clouds on the horizon, while Hadintin Skhin and Hadinti{~COMBINING BREVE~}n Nalin sought homes among the clouds in the south, and Nokuse may still be seen in the northern sky at night.

The Apache is inherently devoutly religious; his life is completely moulded by his religious beliefs. From his morning prayer to the rising sun, through the hours, the days, and months--throughout life itself--every act has some religious significance. Animals, elements, every observable thing of the solar system, all natural phenomena, are deified and revered. Like all primitive people, not understanding the laws of nature, the Apache ascribe to the supernatural all things passing their understanding. The medicine-men consider disease evil, hence why try to treat evil with drugs? Disease is of divine origin, so to the beneficent and healing gods the Apache naturally make supplication for cure.

The Apache, even if willing, could not directly impart their religious beliefs or their philosophy. It is only by study of their myths, myth songs, and medicine practices, and by close observance of their life, that a comprehensive idea of such beliefs can be gained.

A concise outline of the mythology of the Apache is given in the following description of the painted medicine skin(2) shown in the accompanying plate.

A--The nucleus of the universe, called Chalhke{~COMBINING BREVE~}lh Naliin, Night Girl. In the beginning it was merely a spot of color in which, during the course of time, a form appeared, and later emerged. This was Kuterastan, the Creator.

B--Kuterastan, the Creator of All, is standing on the clouds, his first home, holding lightning in each hand. To his left is the _tus_, or water bottle, in which the people of the earth took refuge from the flood shortly after their creation. Above him are four clouds, those into which he departed when leaving the earth for his celestial abode. He first created several assistants, who in turn created others by rubbing sweat and small particles of cuticle from the face and body.

C--Stenatlihan, the chief goddess, first helper of Kuterastan, is seen standing on the clouds. In her right hand is a pinon tree, from the branches and gum of which the large _tus_ was made at the time of the deluge. Above her flies Datilye, the Humming-bird, who was sent as a messenger about the world to note how its creation progressed.

D--Chuganaai Skhin was the second person created by Kuterastan. He followed Stenatlihan, and is therefore third in importance of the many deities. Not only does he give light to the day, but he has the power to relieve and cure disease with the aid of the first beams of his morning light. The Apache ask his blessing before sunrise, generally imploring his beneficence "as soon as you look upon me." The serrated circles typify the abodes of these gods, which are protected by insurmountable barriers.

E--Here the sun as first made by the great creator is pictured. As time wore on, it grew to become the full round disc it now is.

F--The moon as first made by Stenatlihan, at the behest of Kuterastan, who asked that she make something to illumine the night. The streaks represent catamenia, and the gradual growth of the moon is assumed to be parallel with prenatal growth.

G--This single symbol, a maltese cross, represents the four personages who made the stars. They have to do with the stars only, and are not prayed to as deities having power over the people on earth.

Sacred Buckskin - Apache

_From Copyright Photograph 1903 by E.S. Curtis_

EXPLANATION OF PLATE

A--Chalhke{~COMBINING BREVE~}lh Nalin, Night Girl
B--Kuterastan, The One Who Lives Above
C--Stenatlihan, Woman Without Parents
D--Chuganaai Skhin, Sun Boy
E--Chuganaai, The Sun
F--Kleganaai, The Moon
G--Yadilhkih Binalze, Sky Messengers
H--Nigostu{~COMBINING BREVE~}n Bika Binalze, Earth Messengers
I, J--Naste{~COMBINING BREVE~}lh, Makers of Dreams and Visions
K--Hadilhkih, Lightning

Disc L
1--Naye{~COMBINING BREVE~}nezgani, Slayer of Alien Gods
2--Dutli{~COMBINING BREVE~}shi Skhin, Turquoise Boy
3--Yolkai Skhin, White-Shell Boy
4--Hadintin Skhin, Pollen Boy

Disc M
1--Tubadzischi{~COMBINING BREVE~}ni, Born From Water
2--Yadilhkih Skhin, Sky Boy
3--Yolkai Skhin, White-Shell Boy
4--Hadintin Skhin, Pollen Boy

Disc N
1--Yolkai Nali{~COMBINING BREVE~}n, White-Shell Girl
2--Dutli{~COMBINING BREVE~}shi Nali{~COMBINING BREVE~}n, Turquoise Girl
3--Enasho Dilu{~COMBINING BREVE~}hkli{~COMBINING BREVE~}shen, Black Alien Talker
4--Hadintin Nali{~COMBINING BREVE~}n, Pollen Girl

Disc O
1--Hadintin Nali{~COMBINING BREVE~}n, Pollen Girl
2--Nilchidilhkizn, The Wind
3--Yolkai Nalii{~COMBINING BREVE~}n, White-Shell Girl
4 --Yakosha Skhin, Frost Boy

P--Gauncho - Gods
Q--Gaunchine{~COMBINING BREVE~} - Gods
R--Gaun - Gods
S--Gaunchi - Gods

H--Another maltese cross, symbolizing four spirits of the air, who act as messengers of the gods. They are supposed to communicate with the medicine-men, bringing to them words of wisdom from the several gods as they sit and chant in ceremony, or when they are fasting. Their name, Nigostu{~COMBINING BREVE~}n Bika Binalze, Earth Messengers, indicates that their powers extend to both the earth and the sky.

I and J symbolize spirits of the air who reveal to the medicine-men the wonders they claim to know in a priestly way. Such revelations are made to them in visions as they sit and drum and sing when endeavoring to discover some new cure for an affliction, or to initiate new customs that might be pleasing to the gods. The priests often take a medicine skin of this sort and go out into the mountains, where they fast and sing over it for hours at a time, awaiting the coming of the spirits.

K--It is supposed that any of the various gods have the power of calling on the lightning to carry messages from one to the other. Wherever shown in the symbolism of the Apache, lightning lines are drawn to indicate communication from one god to another.

Disc L 1--Naye{~COMBINING BREVE~}nezgani is the first son of Stenatlihan, who was made to conceive by the sun's rays as she lay asleep on the eastern slope of a mountain. He is the War God and miracle performer, the culture hero who in parallel legends appears in many North American aboriginal cults. Great monsters in the form of giant antelopes, rolling stones, and beasts of hideous conception are supposed to have inhabited the earth for a time, destroying its people. These monsters typify only the evils of this life; in fact death itself is spoken of in many legends as one of the monsters, in such form engaging in a long discussion with the miracle performer to prove that he should not be destroyed; if he were, the earth would become overpopulated. With his bow and arrow and turquoise lance Naye{~COMBINING BREVE~}nezgani banished these curses from earth. He himself was invulnerable as he appeared before these monsters, for the reason that he always buried his veins near a tree before attacking them. After he had killed them all, he and his younger brother, Tubadzischi{~COMBINING BREVE~}ni, quarrelled. The Bluebird revealed to the latter the spot where Naye{~COMBINING BREVE~}nezgani kept his veins buried, so he sought them out and shot arrows into them, thus killing him. Other myths relate how Naye{~COMBINING BREVE~}nezgani was later resurrected, and he is still prayed to as the chief War God.

Apache Girl

_From Copyright Photograph 1906 by E.S. Curtis_

2--Dutli{~COMBINING BREVE~}shi Skhin was created within the blue clouds at the time they were made, and emerged from them. He took part in the creation, assisting Kuterastan and Stenatlihan in finishing their work. At their direction he made a few people and many birds and animals.

3--To Yolkai Skhin is attributed the creation of all white things. He himself was brought into existence in the white cloud, and on emerging therefrom immediately began the work of making white rock and shells under the direction of Kuterastan and Stenatlihan.

4--Hadintin Skhin is the God of Disease and Health. It is he who causes much sickness and he who can cure any disease, if he be so disposed. Especial care is taken by the Apache not to arouse his displeasure, and he is supplicated and propitiated whenever disease appears among them.

Disc M 1--Tubadzischi{~COMBINING BREVE~}ni, the second son of Stenatlihan, is the God of Water, because his mother conceived as she slept one afternoon under a ledge of rock from which drops of water trickled upon her. In the dance for rain all prayers and songs are addressed to him. It was he who created the ocean.

2--Yadilhkih Skhin is Chief of the Sky. In the origin story the Lightning was sent to encircle the earth to find how things appeared on all sides. On his return he brought back with him a large turquoise bowl containing three ill-formed persons, one of whom was Sky Boy. Later all three were put through a sweat-bath and their bodies perfected.

3--Yolkai Skhin, described above.

4--Hadintin Skhin, described above.

The Ford - Apache

_From Copyright Photograph 1903 by E.S. Curtis_

Disc N 1--Yolkai Nali{~COMBINING BREVE~}n, one of the most venerated and greatly feared personages in the Apache mythology. She is the Goddess of Death, or rather of the after-life, for she controls all souls that pass on to the future world. The road to this afterworld is supposed to cross her shoulders and is symbolized by the Milky Way, a trail made by the departing spirits. The Apache will not utter the name of a deceased person, because they say the dead have gone on to Yolkai Nali{~COMBINING BREVE~}n and are her people. If they talked of them it might anger her, and when their death ensues she might refuse them admittance to the eternal paradise. This goddess is supposed to preside over the birth of children, hence supplications and offerings are made to her immediately before childbirth. She is invoked at other times to withhold her call, for it is believed that she can cause death. These prayers are addressed to Yolkai Nali{~COMBINING BREVE~}n through the medium of small white shells and white stone beads. The white beads are symbolic of purity, and through them Yolkai Nali{~COMBINING BREVE~}n is asked to keep the minds of the people free from evil thoughts or deeds.

2--Dutli{~COMBINING BREVE~}shi Nali{~COMBINING BREVE~}n, the Turquoise Girl, is the creator of all things green. She has to do with the crops in the fields, and the devout Apache prays to her every morning during the season of growth.

3--Enasho Dilhkli{~COMBINING BREVE~}shen is the God of Intellect. He controls the minds of the people, making their thoughts good or evil at will. It was he who first talked to the people on earth. When a child is born its parents often pray that Kuterastan will make it grow to be like Enasho Dilhkli{~COMBINING BREVE~}shen, to whom prayers are addressed for aid when one must talk to the people. In such case no offering of pollen is made unless the request be presented to an image representing this god, when pollen is sprinkled upon it.

4--Hadintin Nali{~COMBINING BREVE~}n is Chieftainess of Pollen, because she causes pollen to grow on the trees. The Indians know the function of pollen in plants and pray that their corn and other products of the fields, as well as the nuts and fruits that grow wild, may be fructified early in the season, to insure good harvests.

Disc O 1--Hadintin Nali{~COMBINING BREVE~}n, described above.

2--Nilchidilhkizn, Chief of the Winds. The Apache never complains of the wind, for should he become impatient about them and give vent to sacrilegious utterances he might anger the Wind God and thereby bring on destructive storms.

3--Yolkai Nali{~COMBINING BREVE~}n, described above.

4--Yakosha Skhin, God of Moisture and also Controller of Rain. Since snow, ice, hail, frost, dew, and fog are derived from the clouds, Yakosha Skhin is sometimes termed Chief of the Clouds, but in general the clouds are regarded as his workshop, for there is another who has direct charge and control of them.

P, Q, R, and S--These figures represent gods, or, in Apache, _gaun_, who are supposed to have been made by the Sun for the purpose of curing people stricken with bodily disease. Diseases of the body are regarded as distinct from those of the mind. The _gaun_ live in the four cardinal directions and are impersonated in medicine ceremonies by men wearing stick masks, who always take stations at the four sides of the patient. These doctors are not called in case of illness until after the four chief deities have been supplicated, when, as a last resort, the medicine-man prays to the _gaun_. If the _gaun_ cannot help, there is believed to be no hope for the patient. In ancient times all animals could talk, and many were used as beasts of burden. The bear and the deer were the horses of that time. In the graphic representations of the Apache these four spirits are often pictured riding deer and bear.

MEDICINE AND MEDICINE-MEN

The medicine-men of the Apache are most influential personages. They are usually men of more than ordinary ability, claiming, through their many deities and their knowledge of the occult and ominous, to have supernatural power. In sickness any individual may make supplication to the deities, but the prayers of the medicine-men are accepted as being most efficacious.

Apache Medicine-man

_From Copyright Photograph 1907 by E.S. Curtis_

Many of the medicine-men have some knowledge of the medicinal properties of plants and generally make use of them in the treatment of disease, but their treatment consists more of incantation than aught else. Even in collecting the plants they invoke the deities, usually facing the cardinal points in turn. In case the prescription calls for a combination of herbs or other vegetal products, the number four is always strictly adhered to; it might be a decoction made of four roots of one variety or of a single root from each of four varieties of plants.

Every Apache medicine-man has a medicine skin, his _epu{~COMBINING BREVE~}n ezchi_, inscribed with the symbolism of the tribal mythology. With his prayer wands he rehearses the symbolic figures, praying to the mythical characters who are regarded as most efficacious in the particular ailment under treatment. In his own little _kowa_, or dwelling, with the painted deerskin spread before him, on which are delineated the symbolic representations of a score of gods comprising the Apache pantheon, a medicine-man will sit and croon songs and pray all day and all night in the hope of hearing the voices of celestial messengers.

Many of the prayers and songs of the Apache medicine-men are very beautiful. The following is an example:

1 _Stena pehi{~COMBINING BREVE~}nda nzhoni, togonil adahe be{~COMBINING BREVE~}oishka__n__._

2 _Inate{~COMBINING BREVE~}sh nzhoni be{~COMBINING BREVE~}oishka__n__._

3 _Enude{~COMBINING BREVE~}tsos nzhoni be{~COMBINING BREVE~}oishka__n__._

4 _Inyatil nzhoni be{~COMBINING BREVE~}oishka__n__._

5 _Be{~COMBINING BREVE~}hnandahi inkehi togonil adahe be{~COMBINING BREVE~}oishka__n__._

6 _Indu{~COMBINING BREVE~}h binandahe be{~COMBINING BREVE~}oishka__n__._

7 _Beh nashalolezh nde; nasheyo shichi{~COMBINING TILDE~}sigo__n__ zho__n__dolezh._

8 _Nde shinkloho beh sanandahe be{~COMBINING BREVE~}oishka__n__._

9 _Beh sanashado be{~COMBINING BREVE~}oishka__n__._

10 _No osko__n__go adishni dahazhi behnashado ti nde ta nasheyo go__n__zhodo._

11 _Shagocho paogo nasha._

12 _Akud nde sa nzhoni ye{~COMBINING BREVE~}sitchi ye{~COMBINING BREVE~}atido._

13 _Pidi yu{~COMBINING BREVE~}gga sa nzhoni ye{~COMBINING BREVE~}kissin shi{~COMBINING TILDE~}dil e{~COMBINING BREVE~}ndo._

14 _Shitu{~COMBINING BREVE~}h gozho__n__dolezh pogo hadishndi._

1 _Stenatliha__n__, you are good, I pray for a long life._

2 _I pray for your good looks._

3 _I pray for good breath._

4 _I pray for good speech._

5 _I pray for feet like yours to carry me through a long life._

6 _I pray for a life like yours._

7 _I walk with people; ahead of me all is well._

8 _I pray for people to smile as long as I live._

9 _I pray to live long._

10 _I pray, I say, for a long life to live with you where the good people are._

11 _I live in poverty._

12 _I wish the people there to speak of goodness and to talk to me._

13 _I wish you to divide your good things with me, as a brother._

14 _Ahead of me is goodness, lead me on._

While this prayer is worded as if uttered by the supplicant, it is in reality offered by the medicine-man in his behalf.

There are head medicine-men and medicine-men of lesser degree. The man who becomes influential enough to be considered the head medicine-man of the tribe is more of a politician than a doctor of diseases, and in important cases only is he called to treat in a healing ceremony. It requires a particularly capable Indian to attain the position of head medicine-man, for to do so he must not only make the people subservient to his will, but must wrest the leadership from some other and usually older medicine-man who is himself an influential character. Unfortunately it is apt to be the most crafty, scheming man who gains such power over his tribesmen.

A case in point was the recent strife between Das Lan and Goshonne. For some years the latter, an Indian of exceptional ability and withal apparently an honest man in his treatment of diseases, was the head medicine-man of the White Mountain Apache. Then it came to pass that the crafty old Das Lan of the Cibicu had his vision, in which was revealed a special message brought by Chuganaai Skhin from Kuterastan to the Apache people. This was the beginning of the present so-called messiah craze.

Maternity Belt - Apache

_From Copyright Photograph 1907 by E.S. Curtis_

From the first there was promise of a battle to the end between Goshonne and Das Lan. Goshonne well knew that if the new cult gained a firm footing he would lose his influence and at best be but a mediocre medicine-man. Das Lan, on the other hand, knew that he must break the power of such a man as Goshonne, if he was to assume the leadership. Goshonne scoffed and scorned, and would have none of the new belief. Still, he was an Indian, and the prophecies of his rival gradually filled him with superstitious fear, while his followers were either deserting him openly or were secretly joining the ranks of the enemy. Death was predicted for the members of Goshonne's own family, and well could Das Lan make such prophecies, for Goshonne's two brothers were already stricken with tuberculosis. First one died, then the other. Das Lan could now point to him and say, "That is what Kuterastan does to those who do not believe!" It was thus that Goshonne's power finally was broken and Das Lan became a seer.

Sacred pollen, _hadintin_, is used in all ceremonies, particularly in those designed for healing. The principal source of _hadintin_ is the tule, but much of it comes from the pinon. For prayers invoking an abundance of corn, pollen is mixed with cornmeal. Not only do the medicine-men use this powder, but each individual carries a small quantity of it in a deerskin pouch somewhere about his person. In the pollen may be small medicine trinkets--sometimes consisting of a few shell beads from prehistoric ruins--and there is scarcely a person, old or young, who does not have a small section of the candle cactus fastened somewhere about his clothing.

When childbirth approaches, the medicine-men are always summoned. Nothing can give a better idea of the medicine rites on such an occasion, and of the use of sacred pollen, than a description of a maternity belt procured by the writer and here illustrated. So far as can be learned, this belt is very old, so old that its painted symbolic figures have been three times renewed. Belts of this kind are very rare, and are hired whenever their use is required. The owner of this particular belt, a widow, did not care to dispose of it; as she expressed it, "it is like a husband": the remuneration from granting its use was sufficient to support her.

The belt is made from skin of the mountain lion, the black-tail deer, the white-tail deer, and the antelope--animals which give birth to their young without trouble. Medicine-men are called in to pray to the spirits of these animals when a woman approaching confinement puts on the belt. It is worn for a day or so only, but constantly during the critical period, not being removed until after the child is born. Prayers are made, first by a mother or father for their daughter, then by a medicine-man, and lastly by the patient to the gods and elements depicted on the belt. These figures are all connected with lightning lines. The first one to the left is Stenatlihan; on the same portion is the Snake Girl, Klishcho Nali{~COMBINING BREVE~}n; the next is Naye{~COMBINING BREVE~}nezgani, the third Tubadzischi{~COMBINING BREVE~}ni, and the last Yolkai Nali{~COMBINING BREVE~}n. The sharp points around the circular abodes of the two goddesses represent barricades for protection. At the real homes of these deities, none can pass through these barriers.

Each of the gods from left to right is prayed to successively, and _hadintin_ is sprinkled around them afterward. Stenatlihan is the first to be addressed by the prospective mother:

"We are your children. When you gave birth to your children, it caused you no trouble. Make me like yourself, that my child, soon to be born, may come into this world easily and quickly, without pain to me."

Next the Snake Girl is prayed to:

"Kli{~COMBINING BREVE~}shcho Nali{~COMBINING BREVE~}n, you came into this life with ease. Do what you can for me now, that my child may come in like manner."

Then to Naye{~COMBINING BREVE~}nezgani:

"Help my babe, soon to be born, to come as you did--quickly, easily, and without pain."

The belt in Naye{~COMBINING BREVE~}nezgani's left hand represents the one worn by his mother, Stenatlihan, when he was born. There was a time when skirts, too, having the same magic power the belt is supposed to possess, were worn by women at childbirth. One such is shown in the hand of Tubadzischi{~COMBINING BREVE~}ni, next pictured, to whom the woman addresses a prayer much the same as the last. The skirt also is the one worn by Stenatlihan when the two brothers were born.

Medicine Cap and Fetish - Apache

_From Copyright Photograph 1907 by E.S. Curtis_

Yolkai Nali{~COMBINING BREVE~}n is the favorite goddess from whom, in their belief, the Apache women are endowed with great beneficence. She lives in the skies, where all souls go. The prayer to her is, as to the others, "Save me from pain and let my child come as you did."

Clouds at the feet of Naye{~COMBINING BREVE~}nezgani typify the bounties of the world into which it is hoped and prayed the child will be happily born.

The prayers finished, _hadintin_ is sifted over all the figures. Beginning at the left, the lightning line is followed into Stenatlihan's abode, which is then encircled, and the sacred powder is liberally sprinkled around and over her body. Each figure is treated in like manner.

The accompanying plate shows a medicine-cap made by Yotlu{~COMBINING BREVE~}ni, a medicine-man, about forty years ago, to cure a boy of lightning stroke which had impaired his reason, and a small wooden image of a god recently made to be carried by a girl troubled with nervousness. On both these objects the gods and elements which cause afflictions and which alone can give relief are symbolically represented.

The central figure on the cap pictures Ndidilhkizn, Lightning Maker, with lightning, _hadilhkih_, in zigzag lines above his head and beneath his feet. The broad arch indicates clouds with rifts in them, out of which the evil came and into which it may return. The cross of abalone, the small white bead, and the eagle feather are media through which Tu Ntelh (Wide Water), Yolkai Nali{~COMBINING BREVE~}n (White-Shell Girl), and Itsad Nde{~COMBINING BREVE~}yu (Eagle People) are supplicated.

The cap was worn at night by the boy, whose parents each morning at sunrise prayed to the various gods and elements represented on it, invoking them to take back that which they had left with the boy, and adding: "Keep us even in temper and mild and clean in action. We do wrong at times, but that is not our wish. If our minds are kept clean we will do nothing bad. We wish to have good thoughts and to do good deeds. Keep our minds clear that we may think them and do them." After each prayer _hadinin_ was sifted upon the symbol representing the deity addressed.

As the boy soon recovered, the virtue of the cap was attested, and subsequently its owner often hired it to others.

The little wooden image represents Hadinin Skhin, Pollen Boy, God of Health. The painted figures on the skin pouch in which it is carried are similar to those on the cap, and all are supplicated in the same manner. The medicine-man who made the image and pouch received a horse from the father of the patient in payment; but not the least interesting feature of the case for which these objects were made is that the god of the natives received all the credit for the efficient treatment given the afflicted girl for a year by the reservation physician.

Dry-paintings, or figures drawn upon the ground with colored earths, were used in the Apache healing ceremonies, but never to a great extent, and of late years they have been practically abandoned. These paintings, compared with the beautiful, conventional productions of the Navaho, are crude; in making them the Apache always attempt to picture the objects literally rather than to represent them conventionally or symbolically.

On the infrequent occasions when the dry-paintings are employed, the medicine-man in charge of the ceremony directs his assistants, at daylight, to begin the painting. When it is finished he takes his station close to the easternmost figure of the painting, on its northern side. At the right of the medicine-man sit twelve chosen singers with a drum. The four masked _gaun_, or gods, at the same time take their places at the cardinal points. The patient then enters from the east and sits down on the head of the large figure in the centre of the dry-painting. As he does so the medicine-man commences to sing, and is joined by the chorus at once. They may sing the song four times, or sing four different songs, or any multiple of four, at the pleasure of the medicine-man. When the songs are finished the four masked personages scrape the colored earths into a heap about the patient and rub them in handfuls over his body. If this ceremony proves to be ineffectual, it is believed to be the will of the gods that the patient be not cured.

_Das Lan_ - Apache

_From Copyright Photograph 1907 by E.S. Curtis_

THE MESSIAH CRAZE

Among the Apache, in the spring of 1906, the excessive use of a combined cross and crescent symbol was noted. Men, women, and children had this anchor-like design cut into wood, tin, and metal talismans, and also tattooed on their faces and branded on their horses. It was used also as a decorative device in much of the new basketry and worked in beads on their moccasins, and new shirts and waists seldom failed to display a cross in narrow yellow and black ribbon in front.

Four years before this time a forceful old medicine-man living on the Cibicu, in a remote corner of the Apache reservation, either through the influence of a vision or other hallucination, or by a desire to become the ruling spirit in the tribe, proclaimed the gospel of a messiah who, he claimed, had appeared to him in the hills and would later return to the deliverance of his tribespeople.

In childhood this future prophet was given the name Das Lan, Hanging Up, by which designation he is commonly known in familiar discourse among his tribesmen; but on the census rolls of the White Mountain agency he is recorded simply as "V-9." On becoming a medicine-man in his youth, in accordance with tribal custom he adopted the name--what may be termed a professional title--Doni Tli{~COMBINING BREVE~}shi Noiltansh, which signifies Turquoise Rolling Stone.