In the country of the Apache Indian 
MOTION PICTURE RECORDS OF INDIANS 
FILMS THATSHOW THE COMMON INDUSTRIES OF THE APACHE 
By Pliny E. Goddard 
HE ethnologist is not primarily 
| concerned with the actual ob- 
jects displayed in a museum. 
The true subject matter of ethnology is 
made up of the habitual movements and 
activities of a people. An Indian on 
horseback does not differ in general 
appearance from a white man in that 
position, but the fact that an Indian 
mounts from one side and a white man 
from the other constitutes an important 
fact in ethnology. It is one of the small 
habits which in their combined effect 
make the difference between a white 
man and an Indian. Such habits are 
the most important means of mak- 
ing comparative and historical studies 
in ethnology, for they are generally 
learned from one’s neighbors or ances- 
tors. Through them, therefore, one may 
trace the distribution of habits and cus- 
toms geographically or historically. 
In the past, such habits have been 
studied by observing the daily life of a 
people and reducing such observations 
to writing, using drawings and _ photo- 
graphs as illustrations. It is tolerably 
difficult to observe and record every 
significant movement involved in the 
work of a single individual engaged in 
such a simple task as making a flint 
arrowhead. When several individuals 
are engaged in the same undertaking, it 
becomes impossible for a single observer 
to follow the movements of each worker. 
The moving-picture camera furnishes 
an excellent method of making a perma- 
nent record of the movements of one or, 
if properly localized, of several people. 
This record can be scrutinized in detail 
for as long a time as is desired and can 
be viewed repeatedly. It records many 
things which otherwise would not be 
made objective, such as the character- 
istic nervous coérdinations and move- 
ments of different people. To make 
such records of value, great pains must 
be taken not to arouse self-conscious- 
ness in the subjects being photographed. 
Such unavoidable self-consciousness as 
185 
