Antonio, San. The following statistical facts, denote the Indian population, of sundry settlements, bearing this name, within the former government of New Spain, now Mexico. In the limits of Toliman, 32 families; in Tampolomon, 128; in Toluca 51; in Metepec 261: in Coronango, 44; in Huehuetlan, 140; in Chapala, 27.
Apacahund, or White Eyes, a Delaware chief of note, of the era of the American revolution, who is frequently mentioned in documents of the times.
Apaces, San Juan Bautista De, a settlement of Zelaga in the province and bishopric of Mechoacan, containing 135 Indian families. Another settlement, of the same name, with the dedicatory title of Santa Maria, in the district of Zitaguaro, contains 24 families.
Apaches, a nation of Indians, located between the Rio del Norte and the sources of the Nuaces, who were reported, in 1817, at 3,500. In an official report submitted to Congress, in 1837, their numbers “within striking distance of the western frontier,” are vaguely put at, 20,280.
Appalachians; a nation of Indians who formerly inhabited the extreme southern portion of the United States, and have left their name in the leading range of the Appalachian mountains. In 1539 De Soto found them in Florida, a term at that era comprehending also the entire area of the present states of Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana, and other portions of the southern territory. They were numerous, fierce, and valorous. They were clothed in the skins of wild beasts. They used bows and arrows, clubs and spears. They did not, as many nations of barbarians do, poison their darts. They were temperate, drinking only water. They did not make wars on slight pretences, or for avarice, but to repress attacks, or remedy injustice. They treated their prisoners with humanity, and like other persons of their households. They were long lived, some persons reaching a hundred years. They worshipped the sun, to which they sang hymns, morning and evening. These facts are to be gleaned from the narrative. What were their numbers, how far they extended their jurisdiction, what were their affiliations by language, customs, and institutions with other tribes, cannot be accurately decided. Much that is said of their civil and military polity, buildings, ceremonies and other traits, applies to the Floridian Indians generally, and may be dismissed as either vague, or not characteristic of the Appalachians. A quarto volume was published in London in 1666, by John Davies, under the title of a “History of the Caribby Indians,” in which he traces the caribs of the northern groups of the West Indies, to the Appalachians, and relates many incidents, and narrates a series of surprising wars and battles, reaching, in their effects, through the Mississippi valley up to the great lakes, which have the appearance of fable. How much of this account, which speaks of “cattle” and “herds,” may be grafted on ancient traditions, it is impossible to tell. There are some proofs of such an ancient civilisation in the Ohio valley and other sections of the country, but they are unconnected with any Indian traditions, which have survived, unless we consider the mounds and remains of antique forts as monumental evidences of these reputed wars. The Lenapee accounts of these ancient wars with the Tallagees or Allegewy, may be thought to refer to this ancient people, who had, if this conjecture be correct, extended their dominion to the middle and northern latitudes of the present area of the United States, prior to the appearance of the Algonquin and Iroquies races. Mr. Irving has suggested the name of Apallachia, or Allegania, derived from the stock, for this division of the continent.