The present Apache population is approximately six thousand, including the
Jicarillas and Mescaleros of New Mexico. It is doubtful if the number ever
exceeded ten thousand. In population, therefore, the Apache seem almost
too insignificant to have kept the other tribes of the vast Southwest, as
well as two civilized nations, in constant dread for so long a period.
At the present time the greater part of the Apache reside on the White
Mountain reservation, Arizona, comprising more than 3,500,000 acres, with
agency headquarters at Whiteriver and San Carlos. This reservation is a
part of the great tableland of southeastern Arizona, being a succession of
mountains and high, park-like mesas, broken here and there with valleys
and watered by limpid streams. The highlands are wooded with pine, cedar,
fir, juniper, oak, and other trees, while in the valleys are
mistletoe-laden cottonwood as well as willow, alder, and walnut, which,
with smaller growths, are interwoven with vines of grape, hop, and
columbine, in places forming a veritable jungle. On every hand, whether on
mountain or in valley, many varieties of cactus grow in profusion; and in
springtime canon and vale, mountain-side and mesa, are all aglow with wild
flowers.
In midsummer the temperature of the lower reaches seems as great as that
of a furnace. At the same season in the mountain and high mesa country,
especially in the shade of the beautiful forests, the atmosphere is ideal;
but in winter these higher levels are covered deep with snow, swept by
fierce winds that chill one to the very marrow.
The typical Apache habitation, called _kowa_, consists of a framework of
poles loosely thatched with native grass, through which the smoke from the
central fire finds its outlet and the rain and snow sift in, rendering it
anything but a comfortable shelter in time of storm. The _kowa_ is erected
by the women, who are little more than drudges, and as an Apache may have
as many wives as he feels able to support, he may have as many homes as
circumstances require. The various wives are prone to be quarrelsome among
themselves, for which reason a man usually maintains one wife on one part
of the reservation and another wife perhaps many miles away.
[Illustration: Primitive Apache Home]