The North American Indian | Page 4

recognizes no supreme God. Yet the fact remains that no people have a more elaborate
religious system than our aborigines, and none are more devout in the performance of the
duties connected therewith. There is scarcely an act in the Indian's life that does not
involve some ceremonial performance or is not in itself a religious act, sometimes so

complicated that much time and study are required to grasp even a part of its real
meaning, for his myriad deities must all be propitiated lest some dire disaster befall him.
Likewise with their arts, which casual observers have sometimes denied the Indians; yet,
to note a single example, the so-called "Digger" Indians, who have been characterized as
in most respects the lowest type of all our tribes, are makers of delicately woven baskets,
embellished with symbolic designs and so beautiful in form as to be works of art in
themselves.
The great changes in practically every phase of the Indian's life that have taken place,
especially within recent years, have been such that had the time for collecting much of
the material, both descriptive and illustrative, herein recorded, been delayed, it would
have been lost forever. The passing of every old man or woman means the passing of
some tradition, some knowledge of sacred rites possessed by no other; consequently the
information that is to be gathered, for the benefit of future generations, respecting the
mode of life of one of the great races of mankind, must be collected at once or the
opportunity will be lost for all time. It is this need that has inspired the present task.
[Illustration: The Fire Drill - Apache]
The Fire Drill - Apache
From Copyright Photograph 1906 by E.S. Curtis
In treating the various tribes it has been deemed advisable that a geographic rather than
an ethnologic grouping be presented, but without losing sight of tribal relationships,
however remote the cognate tribes may be one from another. To simplify the study and to
afford ready reference to the salient points respecting the several tribes, a summary of the
information pertaining to each is given in the appendices.
In the spelling of the native terms throughout the text, as well as in the brief vocabularies
appended to each volume, the simplest form possible, consistent with approximate
accuracy, has been adopted. No attempt has been made to differentiate sounds so much
alike that the average student fails to discern the distinction, for the words, where
recorded, are designed for the general reader rather than the philologist, and it has been
the endeavor to encourage their pronunciation rather than to make them repellent by
inverted and other arbitrary characters.
I take this opportunity to express my deep appreciation to those who have so generously
lent encouragement during these years of my labor, from the humblest dwellers in
frontier cabins to the captains of industry in our great commercial centres, and from the
representatives of the most modest institutions of learning to those whose fame is
worldwide. Without this encouragement the work could not have been accomplished.
When the last opportunity for study of the living tribes shall have passed with the Indians
themselves, and the day cannot be far off, my generous friends may then feel that they
have aided in a work the results of which, let it be hoped, will grow more valuable as
time goes on.

EDWARD S. CURTIS.

[Illustration: A Noonday Halt - Navaho]
A Noonday Halt - Navaho
From Copyright Photograph 1904 by E.S. Curtis

INTRODUCTION TO VOLUME ONE
While it is the plan of this work to treat the tribes in the order of their geographic
distribution, rather than to group them in accordance with their relationship one to
another, we are fortunate, in the present volume, to have for treatment two important
southwestern Indian groups--the Navaho and the Apache--which are not only connected
linguistically but have been more or less in proximity ever since they have been known to
history.
Because of his cunning, his fearlessness, and his long resistance to subjection both by the
missionary and by the governments under whose dominion he has lived, but until recent
times never recognized, the Apache, in name at least, has become one of the best known
of our tribal groups. But, ever the scourge of the peaceable Indians that dwelt in adjacent
territory, and for about three hundred years a menace to the brave colonists that dared
settle within striking distance of him, the Apache of Arizona and New Mexico occupied a
region that long remained a terra incognita, while the inner life of its occupants was a
closed book.
There is little wonder, then, that we have known practically nothing of the Apache and
their customs beyond the meagre record of what has been given us by a