Page:American Anthropologist NS vol. 1.djvu/172

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INDIAN CONGRESS AT OMAHA
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surprised their camp by a night attack on October 23, 1862, and massacred nearly half the tribe. Since then their decline has been rapid, until there are now but 53 left alive, on lands allotted to them in eastern Oklahoma. Some excellent studies have been made among them by Gatschet, who determined their linguistic isolation. Their chief, Séntelĕ, alias Grant Richards, a former government scout, accompanied the party.

The celebrated tribe of Apache, who call themselves Ndĕ, "men," was represented by two delegations, numbering together about forty persons, viz: some White Mountain Apache from San Carlos reservation in Arizona, and some Chiricahua from Fort Sill, Oklahoma, where they are now held under military restraint. With the former there were also some Mohave, a distinct tribe of Yuman stock.

From their connection with the border wars of the southwest, and through the researches of the late Captain Bourke, the Apache are so well known as to require no extended notice here. A part of the great Athapascan stock, they have fought their way through hostile tribes from Yukon river to the Rio Grande, finally establishing themselves in the mountain region of southern Arizona and New Mexico, whence they made unceasing forays in all directions until their name became the synonym of all that was savage and untamable. From the nature of the country in which they lived, and their inherited capacity for enduring hardship, they proved the most dangerous foes against whom our troops were ever forced to contend. Since their final subjugation a few years ago they have tried to adapt themselves to the situation, and evince a native intelligence and solidity of character that bid fair to place them in the front rank of self-supporting tribes. It will be remembered that they are first cousins of the Navaho, the most successful stock raisers and most expert weavers in the United States. They number nearly 5000, all now on San Carlos reservation in Arizona, excepting the Chiricahua band of about 300, held as prisoners of war at Fort Sill. They have no central