The North American Indian, Vol. 1

In Short

This volume initiates an exhaustive, twenty-volume study of Native American tribes, focusing its first installment on the Athapascan peoples of the American Southwest: the Apache, Jicarilla, and Navaho. Combining detailed historical sketches, geographic notes, and recordings of sacred folklore, the work charts how these communities adapt to arid environments while maintaining intricate spiritual systems. It documents vital economic practices alongside elaborate multi-day rituals, medicine chants, and pubertal rites. The volume endures as a primary historic record due to its rich, direct transcriptions of creation sagas and its comprehensive systematic documentation of tribal life, ceremony, and language.

The Story

The volume opens by establishing the harsh geographical setting and complex history of the Southwestern Athapascan groups. It begins with the Apache, tracing their historical encounters with Spanish authorities and military campaigns, while emphasizing their unmatched adaptability to the desert environment. Rather than portraying them merely as formidable warriors, the narrative reveals their intimate relationship with the land, illustrated through their annual mescal harvest. Families journey from winter camps to high canons, gathering and roasting agave stalks using precise traditional methods that supply both essential nourishment and seasonal community life.

From physical survival, the text shifts to the internal life of the Apache, exploring their spiritual hierarchy, creation myths, and medical practices. Medicine-men serve as intermediaries between the people and a vast pantheon, using sacred deerskins, herbs gathered in sets of four, and directional incantations to heal the sick. The narrative captures key rites of passage, such as the elaborate sunrise ceremony for young women, where symbolic remoulding, running toward the cardinal directions, and the pouring of sacred corn invoke health, agility, and future fruitfulness.

The focus then transitions to the Jicarilla Apache, detailing their distinct home customs, traditional origins from the underworld, and unique mythic traditions. Here, creation is tied to the movement of great winds that clear ancient waters from the earth, setting the stage for legendary miracle performers who shape the environment and conquer early obstacles.

Finally, the study examines the Navaho, detailing their home life in scattered, unobtrusive hogans suited to the vast desert landscape. The narrative traces their complex origin sagas, starting from an underworld inhabited by animal beings and leading to the surface creation of humans by First Man and First Woman. It details the heroic exploits of divine twin brothers who journey to the Sun to acquire lightning arrows and heavy blades, using these celestial weapons to rid the earth of destructive alien monsters.

The story culminates in the central role of Navaho religious life, specifically the intricate hatal or Night Chant ceremonies. Through accounts of sacred dreamers transformed into mountain sheep to learn divine mysteries, the text outlines the origin of multi-day rituals involving sacred sand paintings, jewel-adorned posts, and nights of continuous singing. The volume concludes with systematic summaries and comparative vocabularies, grounding these spiritual arcs in precise linguistic and cultural data.

How It Unfolds

The desert harvest begins The narrative introduces the Apache's deep economic connection to their rugged environment through the annual mescal harvest. Families trek along steep canon edges to gather and roast agave stalks, turning a challenging landscape into a place of sustenance and seasonal gathering.

The earth is created from silence Sacred myths describe the universe's origin, where divine creators sit upon a still cloud in the void. Through sacred songs, mutual contact, and the assistance of Tarantula and the four Winds, a tiny brown body expands into the vast, open plain of the earth.

The maiden is remoulded at dawn During the Apache pubertal rite, a young girl is symbolically reshaped by an elder woman at sunrise. Blessed with eagle feathers and sacred pollen, she runs toward the cardinal directions and receives a crown of consecrated corn to ensure lifelong vigor and fertility.

The Sun tests his twin sons In the Navaho epic, two young brothers journey across vast distances to meet their father, the Sun. After surviving a fiery sweat-house trap engineered to test their lineage, they receive lightning arrows and heavy knives to slay the giant monsters preying upon early humanity.

The dreamer learns the sacred chant A Navaho hunter is transformed into a mountain sheep and led by the gods to a grand jewel-supported hogan. There, among thunder and celestial rain, he learns the sacred songs, sand paintings, and rituals of the multi-day Night Chant to bring back to his people.

The People

Kuterastan The primary Apache creator deity who breaks the primordial silence above the clouds. Desiring a suitable home for the gods, he sings the earth into existence, using his power and the help of wind and lightning to stretch the world to its wide boundaries.

Stenatlihan An Apache goddess associated with health and long life. She assists in the creation of the earth and serves as the benevolent figure invoked during sacred medicine prayers and the sunrise puberty ceremonies for young maidens.

First Man and First Woman (Astse Hastin and Astse Estsan) The initial ancestral figures of Navaho mythology. Living near the sacred directional mountains of the underworld, they guide the early animal people, oversee early harvests, and later use sacred rain, pollen, and precious shells to fashion humanity on the earth's surface.

The Twin Hero Brothers The courageous sons of the Sun in Navaho lore who seek out their father to gain celestial aid. Unmoved by rich jewels of turquoise and jet, they demand powerful weapons to fight and destroy the destructive alien monsters roaming the land.

Bilh Ahati-ni (The Dreamer) A Navaho hunter initially scorned by his kin for his visionary nature. He is transformed into a mountain sheep by the gods, guided to a holy assembly to witness the Night Chant, and returned to share these essential healing ceremonies with his tribe.

In Its Own Voice

"I am thinking of the earth, the earth, the earth; I am thinking of the earth..."

— Kuterastan sings this creation chant four times while rubbing his palms, causing the tiny brown seed of the world to emerge and expand.

"I pray for feet like yours to carry me through a long life."

— An Apache medicine-man recites this line during a day-long healing incantation before his painted deerskin pantheon, invoking the strength of the goddess Stenatlihan.

"These must be my sons..."

— The Sun speaks these words in surprise after the twin brothers survive the intense heat and stone fragments of his steam-filled sweat-house test.

What It's Really About

Beneath its detailed anthropological descriptions, the book is an inquiry into how human culture adapts to, interprets, and sanctifies a daunting natural landscape. It contrasts the physical realities of desert survival with an expansive spiritual architecture. The text demonstrates that for the Apache and Navaho, daily routines—whether gathering seeds, constructing a hogan, or hunting—are inextricably bound to a living sacred history. The underlying argument emphasizes that these religious rituals and complex pantheons are not primitive constructs, but fully matured, highly organized systems of thought that provide order, moral lineage, health, and communal continuity in an unforgiving climate.

Why Read It Today

This work offers a vivid, unfiltered look at early twentieth-century ethnography, combining direct field observation with detailed transcriptions of Native American lore. Readers interested in indigenous mythology, history, and Southwestern ecology will appreciate the sheer depth of its cultural documentation. The prose balances technical observations with evocative descriptions of the Southwestern landscape, from dusty canyon walls to night gatherings lit by campfire smoke.

The reading experience requires navigating the formal tone of early 1900s scientific documentation. The inclusion of complex phonetic alphabets, detailed comparative vocabularies, and extensive mythological catalogs can occasionally slow the narrative pace. Additionally, readers will encounter period terminology and historical biases typical of early twentieth-century field researchers. Despite these structural challenges, the volume rewards the reader with a rare, highly detailed window into the living traditions, complex cosmology, and profound environmental wisdom of the Athapascan tribes.