The Jicarillas, or, as they are commonly called, "Jicarilla Apaches,"
occupy a reservation of nearly four hundred and fifty square miles of
mountainous country in northern New Mexico. Linguistically the Jicarillas
are of the same stock as the Apache of Arizona; but here the relationship
ceases, for the two peoples have virtually no knowledge one of the other;
each, according to their respective genesis myths, had their origin in the
general region in which they live to-day, while the dialect, mythology,
legends, and medicine rites of the Jicarillas more closely resemble those
of the Navaho than any of the Apache groups. The designation "Jicarilla
Apaches" is an inheritance from the early Spaniards, who were wont to
designate as Apache any warlike tribe which had not been brought under
subjection. Such were the Apaches de Nabaju (Navaho), the Apaches del
Perrillo, the Apaches Gilenos, Apaches Tejuas, Apaches Vaqueros, Apaches
Faraones, Apaches Llaneros, Apaches Lipanes, and a host of others, of whom
the Spanish missionaries and colonists had little or no knowledge except
that derived, alas, from predatory raids on the peaceable Indians among
whom they were established. The name "Apache," therefore, was applied in
the Rio Grande country of New Mexico in much the same way as the term
"Yavapai" was given in the Rio Colorado region of Arizona, and, naturally
enough, it still survives.
[Illustration: A Jicarilla]