The Indian and his history present innumerable problems to the student.
Facts seemingly contradict facts, well-founded theories contradict other
theories as well founded. Linguistically the Apache belong to the great
Athapascan family, which, according to the consensus of opinion, had its
origin in the far North, where many tribes of the family still live. Based
on the creation legends of the Navaho and on known historical events, the
advent of the southern branch of this linguistic group--the Navaho and the
Apache tribes--has been fixed in the general region in which they now have
their home, at about the time of the discovery of America. Contrary to
this conclusion, however, the legend of their genesis gives no hint of an
origin in other than their historical habitat. The history and the
legendary lore of the Indian are passed down from generation to
generation, so that it would seem hardly credible that all trace of this
migration from a distant region should have become lost within a period of
somewhat more than four hundred years.
Again, judging by the similarity in language, the Apache and the Navaho in
prehistoric times were as nearly a single group as the present bands of
Apache are; and, likewise, there is sufficient similarity in the
underlying principles of their mythology to argue a common tribal origin.
The names as well as the functions of several of the mythic characters are
identical in both tribes, as, for example, the war gods Naye{~COMBINING BREVE~}nezgani and
Tobadzischi{~COMBINING BREVE~}ni. These miracle-performing twins in each case are the sons
of a woman (who occupies an almost identical position in both Navaho and
Apache mythology) and the sun and water respectively. Pollen also is
deified by each--as Hadintin Boy among the Apache and Taditin Boy among the
Navaho. If, therefore, we may concede that the Navaho and the Apache were
originally one tribe, as their language certainly indicates, we have many
arguments in favor of the theory of long residence in the South-west of
this branch of the Athapascan family, for the striking differences in the
details of their myths would seem to indicate that the tribal separation
was not a recent one, and that the mythology of the two tribes became
changed in the course of its natural development along different lines or
through accretion of other peoples since the original segregation. The
Apache story of their creation portrays human beings in their present
form, while in the Navaho genesis myth occurs the remarkable story,
unquestionably aboriginal, of the evolution of the lower animals through
successive underworlds until the present world is reached, then as spirit
people miraculously creating human life.
The beautiful genesis myth of the Apache is complete; it does not reflect
an incipient primitive culture, but one developed by age. The mythology
and ceremonial of the Navaho exhibit unquestioned signs of being composite
in origin. Their ceremonials are perhaps the most elaborate of any Indians
except the Pueblos; indeed the very life of this people so teems with
ceremony as almost to pass comprehension. The Navaho ritual probably
reached its highest phase about the beginning of the nineteenth century.
It would seem impossible for a religion so highly developed as this to
have attained such a stage within a comparatively short time.
Before the early years of the seventeenth century the Spanish chroniclers
give us nothing definite regarding the Apache of what is now Arizona and
New Mexico, but there are numerous accounts of their aggressiveness from
this time onward.
[Illustration: _Tenokai_ - Apache]
_Tenokai_ - Apache
_From Copyright Photograph 1906 by E.S. Curtis_
Father Francisco Garces, who in 1775-76 journeyed from his mission of San
Xavier del Bac, in southern Arizona, to San Gabriel, California, thence to
the Hopi country, and back to his mission by way of the Colorado and the
Gila rivers, had sufficient knowledge of the Apache to keep well out of
their country, for they had ever been enemies of Garces' peaceful
neophytes, the Papago and the Pima. To the warlike, marauding Apache
Garces gave much thought, drawing up a plan for holding them in subjection
by the establishment of a cordon of presidios. To read his simple plan and
compare the ineffectual efforts of the Americans, who had the Apache
country virtually surrounded by military posts for many years, will
convince one that while Garces held the Apache in justifiable fear, he
little knew the true character of those with whom he was reckoning.
So far as diligent field research reveals, there was but one tribe or band
of Indians living within proximity of the Apache Indians of Arizona in
early times who ever affiliated with them, or associated with them in any
way save on terms of enmity. This tribe was the Apache-Mohave, of Yuman
stock, whose domain extended along the Rio Verde in central Arizona,
immediately adjacent to the territory over which the Apache proper held
undisputed sway. With these, affiliation practically became fusion, for in
outward semblance, characteristics, mode of living, and handicraft they
are typically Apache; but their mother tongue, though impaired, and
remnants of their native mythology are still adhered to. Through the
Apache-Mohave, allied with the Apache since early times, and resembling
them so closely as to have almost escaped segregation until recent years,
did the tribe now so widely known as Apache undoubtedly receive its name.
The Apache-Mohave call themselves _Apatieh_, which means, simply,
"people." The Walapai, another Yuman tribe farther north, whose dialect
resembles that of the Apache-Mohave more closely than do the dialects of
the Mohave and the Yuma, also call themselves _Apatieh_. Although the
pronunciation of this word is indicated more nearly correctly by this
spelling than by "Apache," only a trained ear can distinguish the
difference in sound when the average Yuman Indian utters it.
Etymologically it comes from _apa_, "man," and the plural suffix -_tieh_.
The mountain fastness of the Apache in Arizona permitted easiest approach
from the south and the west for all who wished to seek peace or revenge.
The Apache-Mohave, living as Apache in close affiliation, were on the
western border of this stronghold, whence they made raids upon several
other Yuman groups, north, west, and south, in company with the Apache.
They were also the first to be attacked by enemies waging offensive
warfare, hence any name by which they designated themselves might readily
have been transmitted to the whole Apache group. Early Spanish
missionaries alluded to the Apache-Mohave as true Apache.
Contradistinguished from the Apache proper, the Apache-Mohave are called
Yavapai and Yavapeh by their congeners of the Colorado river, a term that
has been employed by early writers, misled through the close association
of the Apache-Mohave with the Apache, to designate also the latter people.
It is further evident that the term Apache came to be applied to this
great division of the Athapascan family indirectly, as its component
tribes are not known by that name in any of the Indian languages of the
Southwest, and there is no evidence of its being of other than Indian
origin.
[Illustration: At The Ford - Apache]