462 MEDICINE-MEN OF THE APACHE. 



The wailing of the, children at the sun dance as their ears were slit 

 will always be to me a most distressing memory. 



The warriors of the Plains tribes used to assume agnomens or battle 

 names, and I have known some of them who had enjoyed as many as 

 four or five; but the Apache name once conferred seems to remain 

 through life, except in the case of the medicine-men, who, I have always 



I suspected, change their names upon assuming their profession, much 

 as a professor of learning in China is said to do. 



The names of mothers-in-law are never mentioned and it would be 

 highly improper to ask for them by name; neither are the names of the 

 dead, at least not for a long period of time. But it often happens that 

 the child will bear the name of its grandfather or some other relative 

 who was a distinguished warrior. 



All charms, idols, talismans, medicine hats, and other sacred regalia 



should be made, or at least blessed, by the medicine-men. They assume 

 charge of all ceremonial feasts and dances such as the nubile dance, 

 which occurs when any maiden attains marriageable age, and war 

 dances preceding battle. Nearly all preparations for the warpath are -^ 

 under their control, and when on the trail of the enemy their power is 

 almost supreme. Not a night passes but that the niedieine-men get 

 into the &quot; ta-a-chi,&quot; or sweat bath, if such a thing be possible, and 

 there remain for some minutes, singing and making &quot;medicine&quot; for the 

 good of the party. After dark they sit around the fire and sing and 

 talk with the spirits and predict the results of the campaign. I have 

 alluded quite fully to these points in a previous work. 



^hen a man is taken sick the medicine-men are in the zenith of their 

 glory. One or two will assume charge of the case, and the clansmen 

 and friends of the patient are called upon to supply the fire and help 

 out in the chorus. On such occasions the Apache use no music except ^\ 

 a drum or a rawhide. The drum is nearly always improvised from an 

 iron camp kettle, partially filled with water and covered with a piece of 

 cloth, well soaped and drawn as tight as possible. The drumstick does 

 not terminate in a ball, as with us, but is curved into a circle, and the 

 stroke is not perpendicular to the surface, but is often given from one 

 side to the other. The American Indian s theory of disease is the 

 theory of the Chaldean, the Assyrian, the Hebrew, the Greek, the 

 Roman all bodily disorders and ailments are attributed to the malefi- \C 

 cence of spirits who must be expelled or placated. Where there is only 

 one person sick, the exercises consist of singing and drumming exclus 

 ively, but dancing is added in all cases when an epidemic is raging in 

 the tribe. The medicine-men lead off in the singing, to which tlie.V 

 assistants reply with a refrain which at times has appeared to me to \| 

 be antiphonal. Then the chorus is swelled by the voices of the women 

 and larger children and rises and falls with monotonous cadence. 

 Prayers are recited&quot;, several of which have been repeated to me and 

 transcribed; but very frequently the words are ejaculatory and con 

 fined to such expressions as &quot;ugashe&quot; (go away), and again there is to 



