Democratic Sentinel, Volume 3, Number 2, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 21 February 1879 — The Bedouins of America. [ARTICLE]

The Bedouins of America.

The Apaches, who have given us so much trouble—though not near so much, probably, as we have given them—still claim to number, with all their tribes, from 8,000 to 10,000. When the Spaniards, in their search for gold in the high lands of what is now New Mexico, first met these Indians they found them proud and independent, though harmless and even kindly. Wronged and outraged, the Apaches at last retaliated, and the Spaniards were never able to conquer them. To this day they hurl defiance at all government and civilization. They are the Bedouins of this continent, and are all mounted on small ponies capable of great endurance. These savages, fierce and untamed as they are, do not scalp their enemies. They are fond of smoking and of cards, and when idle have a strange, monotonous chant. In battle they keep theii ponies in motion, and are themselves always changing position. They seem to be Monotheists, and Montezeuma, or the spirit of God, is blended in their mind with some sort of religious aspiration. They have a superstitious regard for the eagle and owl, and will not kill or eat the bear or the hog. Rattlesnakes they dread, imagining them to be evil spirits. They never cultivate the soil; live principally by plunder, and are in the main ill-formed, emaciated, and miserable in appearance.