IN APACHE LAND 53 



most without exception dropped into the old 

 mode of life as naturally as though they had 

 never left it. They refuse to speak any but their 

 native tongue and very frequently are less trac- 

 table and less inclined to physical endeavor 

 than their brothers who have not had the ad- 

 vantage of education. 



While I met several Apaches who I knew 

 understood everything I said to them, I met but 

 two of the school product, save government In- 

 dian scouts and policemen, who would admit 

 that they could speak English. This is doubt- 

 less due to an inborn desire to shut out all in- 

 truders from their country and to traditional 

 resentment against the white man. Tradition, 

 handed down from father to son, reaching back 

 to the days of the early Spanish invaders and 

 strengthened later as other white men came, has 

 taught them to look upon the white man with 

 suspicion — as an enemy watching for an oppor- 

 tunity to take advantage of them and injure 

 them. 



None of our Indians have been more unjust- 

 ly maligned or misunderstood, perhaps, than the 

 Apaches. The Apaches do not admit to-day 

 that they have any fear or stand in awe of our 

 soldiers. They claim that man for man they 

 have never been beaten by white troops and 



