Page:On the border with Crook - Bourke - 1892.djvu/162

 to reply for him; the names of the dead are never referred to, and it is an insult to speak of them by name. Yet, after a good long while has elapsed, the name of a warrior killed in battle or distinguished in any way may be conferred upon his grandchild or some other relative.

No Apache, no matter what his standing may be in society, will speak to or of his mother-in-law—a courtesy which the old lady reciprocates. One of the funniest incidents I can remember was seeing a very desperate Chiricahua Apache, named "Ka-e-tennay," who was regarded as one of the boldest and bravest men in the whole nation, trying to avoid running face to face against his mother-in-law; he hung on to stones, from which had he fallen he would have been dashed to pieces or certainly broken several of his limbs. There are times at the Agencies when Indians have to be counted for rations—even then the rule is not relaxed. The mother-in-law will take a seat with her son-in-law and the rest of the family; but a few paces removed, and with her back turned to them all; references to her are by signs only—she is never mentioned otherwise.

When an Apache young man begins to feel the first promptings of love for any particular young damsel, he makes known the depth and sincerity of his affection by presenting the young woman with a calico skirt, cut and sewed by his own fair fingers. The Apache men are good sewers, and the Navajo men do all the knitting for their tribe, and the same may be said of the men of the Zunis.

Only ill-bred Americans or Europeans, who have never had any "raising," would think of speaking of the Bear, the Snake, the Lightning or the Mule, without employing the reverential prefix "Ostin," meaning "Old Man," and equivalent to the Roman title "Senator." But you can't teach politeness to Americans, and the Apache knows it and wastes no time or vain regrets on the defects of their training.

"You must stop talking about bear," said a chief to me one night at the camp-fire, "or we'll not have a good hunt."

In the same manner no good will come from talking about owls, whose hooting, especially if on top of a "jacal," or in the branches of a tree under which people are seated or sleeping, means certain death. I have known of one case where our bravest scouts ran away from a place where an owl had perched and