St. Johnsbury Caledonian. [volume] (St. Johnsbury, Vt.) 1867-1919, 1891-12-03
THE APACHE AT HOME.

A Graphic Pen PIctHre or IHOIdH Lie.
In the early twilight Of an August
morning, party of horsemen were
galloping along the trail that fol-
lows the windings of the Rio Tularo-
sa. There were were four of us:
Chino, the half-bred who was our
guide; Little Rope, the Indian inter-
prefer Albino, a Mexican attendant,
and myself, the agency physician. We
started before sunrise, for it was our
plan to visit three Apache villages
that are situated in distant quar-
ter of the reservation. We were
dressed in the characteristic costume
of the Southwest; our clothing was
of buckskin; we wore the broad-rim-
med, cowboy hat, long driving
gloves, top-boots and spurs, and
around the waist each one of US had
a cartridge-belt with pistol. The in
terpreter and the guide were decked
out with the fringes and bangles so
pleasing to the Indian eye, and SO
thoroughly had they polished their
arm-rings and bracelets, that they
were flashing like mirrors in the
morning sun.
The course for several miles Law
along a stream, the TularOsa river.
Our horses went on a lOpe, and in an
hour we came out into an open plain
surrounded by high hills and square
shaped mountains; the table-land,
like so many plains in New Mexico
and Arizona, was covered with a
grayish-white sand, dotted here and
there with scant vegetation consist
&c ha -r,1ca
and cactus.
On all sides could be seen the homes
of the prairie dog, while on the
heaps of sand about the holes were
the owners themselves together with
their tenants, in most cases the
rattle-snake and a small ground
owl. AS we came near, the prairie
dogs would stand upon their hind
feet and make barking noise, then
suddenly plunge down out of sight j;
and if we came very close to rattle
snake, he would throw himself into
coil, elevate head and tail, and
sound his warning, which resembles
the whirring of the locust.
On we rode, spreading alarm far
and wide among the villages of prai-
RE dogs, several snakes prepared
themselves in bSttle-array, the
ground owls stood halfasleep and
dozed in the bright rays of the sun,
but we passed them all, and came to
the mouth of Nogal canon. Nogal
is the Mexican word for black walnut,
and the ravine we'll deserves this
name, for it abounds in black walnut
trees of all sizes. Following up the
81 ST. 1,ly
up the steep side of mountain and
were soon high above the plain
we went along in single file, ou1
guide leading the line and showing
us where the rough, indistinct trai
lay. Darts of the course were as
steep as an angle of thIrty-hvt
degrees the trail wound round anC
round, zigzag in every direction, anC
so rough was the path that it tool
us an hour to go three miles. NJ
other animal could have done tn
climbing that our broncho ponie
did; they had to stop often from
sheer exhaustion. After a great dea
of hard work we reached the top G
the mountain, and then went do w
on the other side to a sheltered vale
where was one of the Indian camps
While we were yet at quite d istanc
from the tepees the Indians saw US
and everybody, men and womer
Young and old, came out to see VIII
their visitors were. We had a nois
greeting. We were met by rabbi
of bowling pups and dogs, as eac
Indian family has at least four dog:
and as in this camp there were owe
twenty families, the canine elemen
was very strong. This chorus mad
up of all sorts of tone and pitch fror
the deep bass of the oldest settler t
the whine of the latest conner, wa
supplemented by the unearthly bra
ing of a herd of burros, and such
noise was never heard in the East
am surel The bray of the burro
most hideous, a groan and screec
long drawn out, with the force {
a steam engine behind it. Such wa
our welcome at an Apache camp.
We dismounted, and going int