The North American Indian Part 18

1. Aiahan (People of the East).

2. Nde Ndai (Apache Half Mexican).

3. Cho Kune? (Ridge on the Mountain-side).

4. Chan Han (Red People).

MARRIAGE-Strictly speaking, barter for women at an agreed price was never the custom among the Apache,-so the older of the present generation contend,-personal choice on the part of the girl having always to be considered. Nevertheless, payment for the bride is always made to her parents in the form of grain, money, horses, saddles, blankets, or cattle.

The bride's consent is necessary, custom requiring the young man to prove his moral strength, and ability to support a wife and himself, by erecting a neat house and permitting the girl of his choice to occupy it with him for four nights without being molested or having her presence observed. By preparing his breakfast the morning following the fourth night the girl acknowledges her willingness to marry, and the agreement as to the definite payment her parents shall receive may be made any time later. She then becomes the man's wife, though a month may sometimes elapse before the agreement is sealed and the consequent payment made.

GENESIS-In the unbroken darkness of the beginning of time appeared a small spot, which grew as embryonic life and became a human figure, known in the myth as Kuterastan, The One Who Lives Above. This creator then made light, and next Stenatlihan, Woman Without Parents. Next he created Chuganaai, The Sun, and following him Hadintin Skhin, Pollen Boy. The creator next made the earth, and then the other G.o.ds of the Apache pantheon. Following their creation he instructed the various G.o.ds in their respective duties, and then disappeared into the sky through the smoke from a miraculous fire.

PERSON OF MIRACULOUS BIRTH-Stenatlihan, a G.o.ddess, is the mother of two boys, who perform miracles and act as saviours of the people. The elder brother, Naye?nezgani, conceived by the Sun, is the more active and is revered as the G.o.d of War. To Tubadzischi?ni, conceived by Water, is ascribed the making of the ocean as it now is, and he is supposed to have much to do with water in the form of rain and snow.

CEREMONIES-The ceremonies are invariably called "dances." Among these are: a rain dance, a p.u.b.erty rite, a harvest or good-crop dance, and a spirit dance. The medicine dance is the creation of a medicine-man and varies with his individual views. The ceremonial paraphernalia of the other four dances may vary in accordance with the dictates of the medicine-man, but for the greater part follows prescribed formula. The Apache are devoutly religious and pray on many occasions and in various ways: sometimes with the aid of little images representing G.o.ds, sometimes with painted deerskins and caps, and sometimes by merely facing the cardinal points and scattering pollen to the four winds for the G.o.ds from whom they seek favor. Usually the plants employed by them as medicine are dug in a ceremonial way, one notable exception being the gathering of pollen, no prayers being offered at that time. In secluded spots in the hills and mountains are found round cairns, with cedar and other twigs deposited upon them. These are shrines at which the Apache make offerings to their favorite G.o.ds. The medicine ceremonies are very numerous and vary with the dreams and personal views of the medicine-man who conducts them.

BURIAL-Everywhere throughout the hills and mountains of the reservation one finds small heaps of stones. In most instances these mark Apache graves. A favorite place of burial is a cleft in the rocks, in which the body is placed by the deceased's relatives and covered with stones. These small stones are always deposited one at a time, the Apache believing that to put them on the body all at once would shorten the life of the one so doing. Infants are usually placed on the upper branches of large cedar or pinon trees. The child is wrapped in its carrier, or cradle-board, which is left face up and covered with any sort of cloth, the belief being that the souls of infants are not strong enough to come out through the stones, should they be placed in the ground and covered therewith.

AFTER-WORLD-Re-created in the human form, Apache spirits are supposed to dwell in a land of peace and plenty, where there is neither disease nor death. The Milky Way is the path of all souls to the after-world. Yolkai Nali?n is the guardian G.o.ddess of this spirit land, and the spirits of the dead are supposed to journey four days before reaching it. Formerly horses were killed beside the grave of the dead, that they might use them in the after-world. For the same reason wearing apparel was also placed at the grave, together with available articles of adornment and accoutrement.

NAMES FOR INDIAN TRIBES-

Apache - Nde (The People)

Arivaipa Apache - Chulinne?

Chiricahua Apache - Aiahan (People of the East)

Coyotero Apache - Klinapaha (Many Travel Together)

Havasupai - Dezhi?piklakulh (Women Dress in Bark)

Hopi - Tsekulkinne? (Houses on the Rocks)

Navaho - Yutahan (Live Far Up)

Northern Indians - Nda Yutahan (White-man Navaho)

Pima - Saikinne? (Sand Houses)

Rio Grande Pueblos - Tu Tlu?ni (Much Water)

San Carlos Apache - Tseenlin (Between Rocks)

Tonto Apache - Dilzha?n (Spatter-talkers), or Koun (Rough)

Zuni - Nashtizhe? (Blackened Eyebrows)

[Ill.u.s.tration: Infant Burial - Apache]

Infant Burial - Apache

_From Copyright Photograph 1906 by E.S. Curtis_

THE JICARILLAS

LANGUAGE-Athapascan.

POPULATION-784.

DRESS-The Jicarillas in dress show the effect of their contact with the Plains tribes, especially the Ute. The primitive dress of the men was a deerskin s.h.i.+rt with sleeves, hip-leggings and moccasins, and the universal loin-cloth. In winter a large loose deerskin coat was worn in addition.

The women wore a waist open at the sides under the arms, a deerskin skirt falling below the knees, and legging-moccasins with very high tops. About the waist the women now also wear a very broad leather belt, ten to sixteen inches in width, extending well up under the arms. The men wear their hair in braids hanging over the shoulders and wound with strips of deerskin. Formerly they wore bangs in front on a line with the cheek-bones and tied their hair in a knot at the back of the head, as the Navaho and the Pueblo Indians do. The women part their hair down the middle, bring it to the sides of the head, and tie it with strips of deerskin, cloth, or yarn.

DWELLINGS-The Jicarilla dwelling is the same as the tipi of the Plains Indians, once made of five buffalo skins on the usual framework of poles, with smoke-hole at the apex. Since the disappearance of the buffalo, canvas has replaced the skins, and many log houses are also to be found on the reservation. The native house is called _kozhan_.

PRIMITIVE FOODS-The Jicarillas obtain corn from Rio Grande Pueblos in exchange for baskets; but formerly they subsisted mainly by the chase, killing buffalo, deer, antelope, and mountain sheep, besides many kinds of small game and birds. Pinon nuts and acorns, with various wild fruits and berries, were used. Bear and fish were never eaten.

ARTS AND INDUSTRIES-The Jicarillas make a great many baskets of fair quality, from which industry the tribe gained its popular Spanish name.

The most typical of their baskets is tray-shaped; this not only enters largely into their domestic life, but was formerly the princ.i.p.al article of barter with their Pueblo neighbors and Navaho kindred. Some pottery is made, practically all of which is in the form of small cooking utensils.

The large clay water jar was not used, their wandering life necessitating a water carrier of greater stability.

ORGANIZATION-While the government of the Jicarillas is very loose, the head-chief, selected from the family of his predecessor, exercises considerable influence. The two bands into which the tribe is divided had their origin when a part of the tribe remained for a period on the plains after an annual buffalo hunt, and henceforth were called Kohlkahin, Plains People; while those who returned to the mountains received the name Sait Nde, Sand People, from the pottery they made. Each of the two bands has a sub-chief. There are no clans.

MARRIAGE-Marriage is consummated only by consent of the girl's parents.

The young man proves his worth by bringing to her family a quant.i.ty of game, and by building a _kozhan_, which is consecrated on the night of the wedding, by a medicine-man, with prayers to Naye?nayezgani.

ORIGIN-People, existent with the beginning of time, are guided by Chunnaai, the Sun G.o.d, and Klenaai, the Moon G.o.d, out of an under-world into this, where the various tribes wander about and find their several homes.

PERSONS OF MIRACULOUS BIRTH-Naye?nayezgani, son of the virgin Yolkai Estsan and the Sun, and Kobadjischini, son of Estsan Natles.h.i.+n and Water, perform many wonders in ridding the earth of its monsters. The former was the more powerful and much mythology centres about him.

CEREMONIES-The Girls' Maturity observance, an annual feast whose main features are borrowed from the Pueblos, and a four-days medicine rite are the princ.i.p.al ceremonies of the Jicarillas. Numerous less important medicine chants are held.

BURIAL-The dead, accompanied with their personal possessions, are taken to elevated places and covered with brush and stones. Their situation is known to only the few who bear the body away. Formerly the favorite horse of the deceased was killed and the _kozhan_ burned, and relatives frequently cut their hair and refrained for a time from personal adornment.

AFTER-WORLD-When the good die their spirits are believed to go to a home of plenty in the sky, where they hunt among great herds of buffalo. Those who have practised "bad medicine," or sorcery, go to another part of the sky and spend eternity in vain effort to dig through the rock into the land of the good.

NAMES FOR INDIAN TRIBES-

Apache Mohave Yuma Pima

Chis.h.i.+n (Red Paint)

Comanche Arapaho Kiowa and all Plains tribes

Nda (Enemies)

Jicarillas - Haisndayin (People Who Came from Below)