The Vancouver independent. (Vancouver, W.T. [Wash.]) 1875-1910, 1879-12-25

Indian draw his knife and cut a deep
cash in pet horse for merely whisking
his tail in his eyes while tying to keep
off the flies, and have seen favorite
child struck blow that would leave it
senseless for minutes, merely for net
obeying command instantly. In these
respects they are more like brutes than
rational beings They very rarely ex-
press any regret for past deeds, and be-
come very angry If tainted with some
act of stupid anger. As natural con-
sequence of their brutal tempers, their
women are often beaten and i'll treated
but sometimes a wife will not only re-
sist, she will strike back and become the
aggressor. I saw an amusing instance
of this, which those who witnessed it
will not probably ever forget.
There was an Apache brave who had
number of wives, and was in the
habit of beating them, both from an evil
temper and also as an amusement.
Now, it happened he had just taken an
other wife, who was not only young and
handsome, but very strong. When I
say strong as applied to one of their
women, it requires some explanation.
The girls, like the boys among them, are
brought up the best way they know how
to make them vigorous and
CAPABLE OF BEARING ANY AMOUNT OF
FATIGUE
And enduring any hardships. They are
made to bear the limbs and boughs from
trees and break sticks for the purpose of
making the arms strong. Some of the
boughs of trees they break of, it would
seem to a white man, would almost
require the strength of grizzly bear to
break. The young wife l speak of had
never been beaten until one day when
the Indian, her husband, being in an ill
humor, struck her several severe blows.
She seemed somewhat surprised, but
turned to him perfectly coolly and said
"Ah you are joking to-day. You
don't mean that in earnest, of course :"
eyes dc" said the Indian. "What !"
said she, edo you say you we're in earn
est, reallyT eyes," said he, "and I'm
going to show you 1 am" He just
lifted his arm to strike her, when,
quicker than can tell it, she seized him
by both ears and the hair, threw him on
the ground as one would a child, and,
with her hands raising his head, beat it
upon the hard ground until he, almost
senseless, begged her for his life. She
at length relented, but the Indian never
beat wife again, and his other wives
were rejoiced in heart at his just punish
ment.
SPEEDY ADJOURNMENT.
Women belonging to the white civil
lied races could scarcely realize the
hardihood and physical vigor. of the
Apache women. recollect something
that happened one day under my own
observation, which will illustrate this
better than anything can tell. A
young Apache friend of mine had killed
some game, and three or four of us went
to help him eat it and have feast. He
had very handsome young wife, to
whom he had been married about a
year. Of course she cooked and pre-
pared the food for us, and when it was
ready we all sat down and ate as much
as we could, for it was very good. l
cannot tell exactly the time we were
eating and talking, but it was not less
than half and not more than an hour.
When we were about done the young
wife came along, dressed up in all her
finest clothing and ornaments, and
seemed so much pleased and happy
about something that we could not avoid
noticing it, and her husband particu-
larly. He asked what it was that made
her so gay and happy. She laughed,
and said, "No matter what it was" and
for some time refused any explanation
but at length, her husband be-
coming very much irritated at her ST.
lence, she told him, if he must know,
he would find out by walking down to
the spring in the thicket We all went
down, and there, on a bed of moss,
wrapped up in the finest skins, was a
beautiful new born child, dressed in the
finest deer skin, and even had it's face
painted. Its mother had certainly not
been gone from US an hour, and when
she returned was as lively, strong and
as if nothing unusual had hap
pened.
Bad women are rarely known among
these Indians, and if there may be some
they make nothing by it, and are gener