much persuasion to induce him to admit that he is "Skinny", "Nosey", or "Pat Murphy"; but when his questioner goes further, and seeks his tribal appellation—his name in his own language and among his own people—he will remain obstinately silent until a friend approaches and tells who he is.
All that pertains to the dead is treated by the Apaches with a commendable respect. The "wickyup" is burned down, or, among the Navajoes, the hogan[1] is allowed to fall into ruin. Graves are never crossed. A notable example occurred in General Crook's campaign in the Sierra Madre (Mexico), in 1883.
A prairie-fire threatened the camp with destruction, and all hands—officers, soldiers, packers, Apache scouts, and the surrendered Chiricahuos—men, women, and children, were turned out to suppress it. Armed with brooms of willow-bush, the Apaches did noble work, and soon had the flames under control; but, in doing this, they carefully avoided crossing or sweeping two or three half-obliterated graves which lay directly in the path of the devouring element.
Spiritualism.
As a direct corollary of ancestor-worship, spiritualism, as we understand the term, may be looked for and found. All American Indians are earnest believers in spiritualism. In the Apache tribe, "medicine men" are almost daily announcing to credulous hearers communications from the Chidin. Their claims go farther; they boldly assert that they can and do, in trances, visit the Chidin-Kungúa, or "house of ghosts", and there learn the view of the immortals most interested in the welfare of their people. One or two ^
- ↑ "Hogans" are the houses of the Navajoes. The word is of Spanish origin, being derived from hogar, "a hearth". The word for "house", in the idiom of Navajoes and Apaches, is Kungúa. "Wickyup", in the vernacular of Arizona, is the shelter of boughs and branches erected by the Apaches.
