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 (ĕpŭntltésĭs), leggings (ĭsklé̆tlĭkai), and moccasins (ĕpú̆nkĕ). 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 pĭtsĭvé̆sti, and the wrapping, tsĭgé̆.
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 kówa; the grass thatch, pin. 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 dáitin, or chogúntĭ, 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 piñon gum. The flat tray basket, called tsa-naskú̆dĭ, is much used in their domestic life. The most pretentious basket is the immense tus-naskú̆di, urn-shaped, like the tus—whence its name—and used principally for the storage of grain. No Apache home is without the burden basket, tú̆tza, 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.
Nalin Lage - Apache