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

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ct and short skirt, and they are gen
orally enveloped in blanket that
reaches from their shoulders to the
ground. Both men and women as a
rule go bareheaded.
The Apache baby is bound on to a
board. at the upper end of which is a
sort of basket that keeps off the sun.
This board is carried on the mothers
back by a strap that passes over her
left shoulder and down under the
right arm. Inspite of this seemingly
uncomfortable position the baby is
as happy and bright, cooling and
laughing and biting his fists, as any
white child The Apaches have
small families, scarcely numbering
more than two or three children. A
few of the men have two wives, but
polygamy is nearly thing of the
past, and the Apache shows signs of
improvement in many ways.
They are tall. straight, fne-look-
ing race; warlike in spirit and
naughty They have caused the
government great deal Of trouble,
and until within six years they were
constantly on the war-path, Geron
imo, the famous chief, being their
leader. During the past few years
they have been quiet, and they seem
to he losing their old spirit of war
fare. Supported by weekly rations
from the government and without
any pressing incentive to work, they
are apt to be lazy; the leading occu-
patton of many of the men is to be in
the sun and sleep, while to the wom-
an. according to the Indian custom,
falls all the drudgery, together with
the monotonouS routine of an aim
less existence. Such is the Apache of
the Southwest. There are some ex-
captions to this rule, for quite often
man is seen dressed in at least
semi-civilized fashion, and a few of
the Mescalero Apaches are beginning
to cultivate small pieces of ground
there are also few log and adobe
houses that the Indians have built
for themselves.
After spending three hours in look
ing about our party prepared to
leave the camp. The Indians were
sorry to have US go and by
their sign language they urged us
to call again, no doubt they
hoped to lay in fresh sup
ply of bottles We mounted our
ponies and rode slowly away, the
Apaches, men, women and children,
together with their dogs, burros,
goats and horses, accompanying us
to the mouth of a canon, where we
began to descend to the lowlands.
AS we were going out Of sight we
saw our hosts waving their hands
to US; at the same time the barking
of dogs, the bray of the burro, and
the shouting of men came in a con-
fused mingling of sound to the ear,
and with this ringing through our
heads we rode away. Such was our
good-by!
A ride OF seven miles brought us to
another Apache camp that we had
planned to visit. Here we were
greeted in much the same manner as
before, and we smoked the pipe of
peace with the men of the COM
munity. This village, being in a
warm locality, was made of tepees
constructed from the boughs of trees,
with here and there a canvas tent,
and all things were so arranged that
the inhabitants could get the benefit
of every passing breeze. There was
man here quite sick with a lung
trouble; he was seriously i'll, and his
friends had been alarmed about him
to such an extent that they sent for
the most famous medicine man of the
tribe. This renowned parsonage had
arrived that morning, aud we fortu-
nately were there in time to witness
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and to take a part in the strange
proceedings.
1t is the theory among the Apaches
that disease is not the result Of i'm
proper working of the bodily func-
tons, but is due to evil spirits that
take possession of the body; hence
the practice of medicine is largely the
driving away of these evil spirits.
There are few herbs used for special
diseases and some of the remedies
are compounded of many ingredients.
The virtue of drugs, however, seems
to depend mostly on the ceremonies
with which they are administered
and medicines are given not only to
cure the sick but a the same time to
bring success in hunting or warfare
When we came to the tepce of the
sick Apache we found the medicine
man making a sort of broth, for
which he used numerous substances
that he had about him; an iron ket-
tie was hanging over the fire and
into it the Apache doctor was thro w
ing small handfuls of dried leaves
and roots, together with something
that had the odor of sulphur anc
garlic. After this mixture had boiled
awhile the medicine man began tt
waltz around the fire, mumbling E
kind Of chant and waving his arms
he walked faster and faster and soor
was screaming at the top of his voice
getting out of breath he suddenly
stopped and drew a live frog gu
from fold in his blanket-this h.
killed, and throwing the brains int
, the broi1iuO Kettle he heOar to len,