LANGUAGE--Athapascan.
POPULATION--Fort Apache Agency, Arizona (White Mountain Apache), 2,072.
San Carlos Agency: San Carlos Apache, 1,066; Tonto Apache, 554; Coyoteros,
525.
Tonto Apache on Beaver Creek, 103.
Total Apache of Arizona (not including the so-called Mohave Apache and
Yuma Apache), 4,320.
Mescaleros in New Mexico, 460. Jicarillas in New Mexico, 784.
Chiricahua Apache at Fort Sill, Oklahoma, 298. Kiowa Apache in Oklahoma,
155.
Grand total of Apache tribes, 6,017.
DRESS--The primitive dress of the men was deerskin shirt (_epuntltesis_),
leggings (_iskle{~COMBINING BREVE~}tlikai_), and moccasins (_epu{~COMBINING BREVE~}nke_). They were never
without the loin-cloth, the one absolutely necessary feature of Indian
dress. A deerskin cap (_cha_), with attractive symbolic ornamentation, was
worn; but for the greater part the headgear consisted of a band braided
from the long leaves of the yucca, which they placed rather low on the
head to keep the hair from the eyes. The dress of the Apache women
consisted of a short deerskin skirt, high boot-legged moccasins, and a
loose waist which extended to the hips and was worn outside the skirt.
Both skirt and waist were ornamented with deerskin fringe and latterly
with metal pendants. The men's hair always hangs loose; it is never
braided. At time of mourning the hair is cut horizontally just above the
shoulder line. Apache matrons, like the men, do not braid the hair, but
let it hang loosely over the shoulders. The maidens tie their hair in a
low long knot at the back of the head, to which is fastened a decorated
deerskin ornament, denoting maidenhood. So arranged it is called
_pitsive{~COMBINING BREVE~}sti_, and the wrapping, _tsige{~COMBINING BREVE~}_.
DWELLINGS--The Apache dwelling consists of a dome-shaped frame of
cottonwood or other poles, thatched with grass. Average diameter at the
base, twelve feet. The house itself they term _kowa_; the grass thatch,
_pi__n_. Bear-grass, or what the Spanish term _palmillo_, is used
exclusively in thatching. Since the institution of the Messiah religion
the houses are built rather elongate in form, with a doorway in each end,
and all the houses of the village are arranged in long rows. Doorways are
termed _daitin_, or _chogunti_, interchangeably. Summer houses are
generally built at a distance from the winter houses, in fact wherever the
Apache would have occasion to stop, and are little more than brush
shelters to afford temporary shade.
PRIMITIVE FOODS--No tribe is more capable of living on the natural products
of their pristine haunts than the Apache. Whether allowed to live
peacefully in the river valleys or driven in war to seek protection of
impenetrable mountains, nature provided amply for their support; for
practically all the flora and fauna indigenous to the Southwest are
considered food by the Apache. (See the list in the vocabulary.)
ARTS AND INDUSTRIES--The art expression of the Apache is manifested chiefly
in their basketry, which shows much taste in form and decoration. The
_tus_, an urn-shaped water bottle, is loosely woven of the stems of
aromatic sumac, then coated inside and out with pinon gum. The flat tray
basket, called _tsa-nasku{~COMBINING BREVE~}di_, is much used in their domestic life. The
most pretentious basket is the immense _tus-nasku{~COMBINING BREVE~}di_, urn-shaped, like
the _tus_--whence its name--and used principally for the storage of grain.
No Apache home is without the burden basket, _tu{~COMBINING BREVE~}tza_, round and deep,
often somewhat conical in form, and invariably decorated with deerskin
fringe.
POLITICAL ORGANIZATION--The Apache never had a very stable form of
government. Chiefs were elected, or chosen, and ruled so long as it
pleased their followers. If the son of a chief proved himself capable, he
would be accorded opportunity to rule, otherwise he received no special
recognition. Medicine-men were always more influential than the chiefs.
Social customs and habits and much of the government of the tribe are
guided by the medicine-men; but often they lose all influence by meeting
with failure in the treatment of disease. Like the chiefs, the
medicine-men depend on popular approval for their success.
CLANS--The Coyoteros are divided into five bands, each consisting of a
number of clans. In one band there are survivors of one clan only; in
other bands as many as seven or eight clans are yet to be found. Descent
is reckoned through the mother; that is, the children belong to the
mother's clan, except among the Chiricahua, where, it is said, descent is
traced through the father.
[Illustration: _Nalin Lage_ - Apache]
_Nalin Lage_ - Apache
_From Copyright Photograph 1906 by E.S. Curtis_
_Coyotero Clans_