290 THE APACHES. 



memory, and has nearly ever since held a 

 clerkship in some of the offices of state, but 

 is now captain in the regular army. 



I come now to speak of the Apaches^ the 

 most extensive and powerful, yet the most 

 vagrant of alJ the savage nations that inhabit 

 the interior of Northern Mexico. They are 

 supposed to number some fifteen thousand 

 souls, although they are subdivided into va- 

 rious petty bands, and scattered over an im- 

 mense tract of country. Those that are found 

 east of the Rio del Norte are generally known 

 as Mezcaleros, on account of an article of food 

 much m use among them, called onezcal;* 

 but by far the greaest portion of the nation is 

 located in the west, and is mostly known by 

 the sobriquet of Coyoteros, in consequence, it 

 is said, of their eating the coyote or prairie 

 wolf The Apaches are perhaps more given 

 to itinerant habits than any other tribe in 

 Mexico. Tliey never construct houses, but 

 live in the ordinary wigwam, or tent of skins 

 and blankets. They manufacture nothing 

 cultivate nothing : they seldom resort to the 

 chase, as their country is destitute oi game 

 but seem to depend entirely upon pillage for 

 the support of their immense population, at 

 least two thousand of which are warriors. 



For their food, the Apaches rely chiefly upon 

 the flesh of the cattle and sheep they can steal 

 from the Mexican ranches and hacienda^ 

 They are said, however, to be more fond of 



Mezcal is the baked root of the maguey {agave Americana) 

 and of another somewhat similar plant. 



