Right index finger rubbed briskly up and down along the back of left index finger. This is the generic sign for all tribes of Apache connection, including Apache proper, Navaho, Mescalero, Lipan, and Kiowa Apache. It is commonly interpreted to mean "knife whetters" or "whetstone people," and this is also the meaning of the generic term for Apache in most of the plains languages. It is possible, however, that this is a misconception of the original purpose of the sign, which may have had reference to a peculiar musical instrument found in various forms among the Pueblo and other Indians of the southwest. Clark says:
I have heard two distinct conceptions for this gesture, the Cheyenne claiming that the sign came from a peculiar musical instrument made from an elk horn, which produced weird-like sounds by rubbing it backward and forward with a stick, and the second (I do not remember what tribe gave me the conception) from a specially good whetstone which the Apaches made and used (Clark, 9).
In a personal letter to the author Grinnell states, on Cheyenne authority, that the sign "is not whetting a knife, which would be performed by one open flat hand on back of other flat hand, and not poor, which would be passing right forefinger down over back of left forefinger held vertically. The sign is said by the Cheyenne to refer to a musical instrument used in old times by the Apache. This instrument was played by passing the forefinger back and forth over the flat surface of the instrument, from which surface a tongue protruded, which, when struck, vibrated and made the sound, somewhat after the manner of the Jew's-harp."
ORIGIN AND HISTORY
The Kiowa Apache are a small tribe of Athapascan stock, numbering now about two hundred and twenty-five, associated with the Kiowa from the earliest traditional period and forming a component part of the Kiowa tribal circle, although reserving their distinct language; they call themselves Nadíisha-dena, "our people." In the early French records of the seventeenth century, in Lewis and Clark's narrative, and in their first treaty, in 1837, they are called by various forms of the name Gáta`ka, the name by which they are known to the Pawnee, although this does not necessarily imply that the word is of Pawnee origin. They are possibly the Kaskaia or "Bad-hearts" of Long in 1820. The Kiowa call them by the contemptuous title of Semät, "thieves," a recent substitute for the older generic term Tagúi, applied also to other tribes of the same stock. They are now commonly known as Kiowa Apache, under a mistaken impression, arising from the fact of their Athapascan affinity, that they are a detached band of the Apache nation of Arizona. On the contrary, they have never had any political connection with the Apache proper and were probably unaware of their existence until about one hundred years ago. A few Mescalero Apache from New Mexico are now living with them, and individuals of the two tribes frequently exchange visits, but this friendly intimacy is a matter of only sixty or eighty years' standing, resulting from the peace between the Kiowa and Comanche, as already recorded.
BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY— SEVENTEENTH ANNUAL REPORT PL. LXXII
PHOTOS BY JACKSON, 1872.
DAHA, A KIOWA APACHE SUBCHIEF.
