500 



MEDICINE-MEN OF THE AI ACHK. 



FIG. 4in. Bag containing hodilentin 



Europe and America. The interpreters had no intention to deceive; 

 they were simply unable to disengage themselves from their own preju 

 dices and their o\v ignorance; they could not, and they would not, 



credit the existence ot any such thing as 

 religion, save and excepting that taught, 

 them at their mothers knees in the petty 

 hamlets of Sonora and of which they still 

 preserved hazy and distorted recollec 

 tions. Oneof the firstthiugs to be noticed 

 / among the Apache, in this connection, 

 was the very general appearance of little 

 bags of buckskin, sometimes ornamented, 

 sometimes plain, which were ordinarily 

 attached to the belts of the warriors, and 

 of which they seemed to be especially 

 careful. 1 



What follows in this chapter was not 

 learned in an hour or a day, but after a 

 long course of examination and a com 

 parison of statements extracted from dif 

 ferent authorities. 

 The bags spoken of revealed when opened a quantity of yellow colored 

 flour or powder, resembling cornmeal, to which the Apache gave the 

 name of &quot; hoddentin,&quot; or &quot; hadntin,&quot; the meaning of which word is &quot; the 

 powder or pollen of the tnle,&quot; a variety of the cat-tail rush, growing in 

 all the little ponds and cienegas of the Southwest, 



I made it the touchstone of friendship that every scout or other 

 Apache who wished for a favor at my hands should relate something 

 concerning his religious belief. I did not care much what topic he se 

 lected; it might be myths, clan laws, war customs, medicine anything 

 he pleased, but it had to be something and it had to be accurate. 

 Hoddentin having first attracted my attention, 1 very naturally made 

 many of my first inquiries about it, and, while neglecting no opportunity 

 for independent observation, drew about me the most responsible men 

 and women, heard what each had to say, carefully compared and con 

 trasted it with the statements of the, others, and now give the result. 



I noticed that in the dunces for the benefit of the sick the medicine 

 men in the intervals between chants applied this yellow powder to the 

 forehead of the patient, then in form of a cross upon his breast, then in 

 a, circle around his couch, then upon the heads of the chanters and of 

 sympathizing friends, and lastly upon their own heads and into their 

 own mouths. There is a considerable difference in method, as medi 

 cine-men allow themselves great latitude, or a large &quot;personal equa- 



The medicine sack or bag of the Apache, containing their &quot; hoddentin. &quot; closely resembles the 

 &quot; bulls) &quot; of the Romans In which &quot;On y mcMait des preaervatifs c.ontre les nialcficcs.&quot; Muaee cle 

 Naples, London, 1836. p. 4. Copy shown nit: liy Mr. Spofford, of the Library of Congress. \ 



