552 



MEDICINE-MKN OF THE APACHE. 



The three-strand cord was sent to me at Washington by my old 

 friend, Al. Seiber, a scout who has been living among the Apache for 

 twenty-five years. Xo explanation accompanied it and it was probably 

 procured from the body of some dead warrior during one of the innu 

 merable scouts and skirmishes which Seiber has had with this warlike 

 race during his long term of service against them. The two strand 

 cord was obtained by myself so long ago that the circumstances con 

 nected with it have escaped my memory. These cords, in their perfec 

 tion, are decorated with beads and shells strung along at intervals, 

 with pieces of the sacred green chalchihuitl, which has had such a 



mysterious ascendancy over the 

 minds of the American Indians 

 Aztec, Peruvian, Quiche, as well 

 as the more savage tribes, like the 

 Apache and Xavajo; with petrified 

 wood, rock crystal, eagle down, 

 claws of the hawk or eaglet, claws 

 of the bear, rattle of the rattle 

 snake, buckskin bags of hodden- ; 

 tin, circles of buckskin in which 

 are inclosed pieces of twigs and 

 branches of trees which have been 

 struck by lightning, small frag 

 ments of the abalone shell from 

 the Pacific coast, and much other 

 sacred paraphernalia of a similar 

 kind. 



That the use of these* cords was 

 reserved for the most sacred and 

 import a n t occasions, I soon 

 learned; they were not to be seen 

 on occasions of no moment, but 

 the dances for war, medicine, and 

 summoning the spirits at once 

 brought them out, and every medi 

 cine-man of any consequence would 

 appear with one hanging from his 

 rjght shoulder over his left hip. 

 Only the chief medicine-men can make them, and after being made 

 and before being assumed by the new owner they must be sprinkled, 

 Eamon told me, with &quot;heap hoddentin,&quot; a term meaning that there is 

 a great deal of attendant ceremony of a religious character. 



These cords will protect a man while on the Avarpath, and many of 

 the Apache believe firmly that a bullet will have no effect upon the 

 warrior wearing one of them. This is not their only virtue by any 

 means; the wearer can tell who has stolen ponies or other property 



Flo. 4:!7. Three-strand nioilicine covrt (Apache). 



