It is possible, by the way, that this appearance of moral ugliness was due
in part to the physical ugliness of features, which were nearly without
exception coarse, irregular, exaggerated, grotesque, and in some cases
more like hideous masks than like faces.

Ferocity of expression was further enhanced by poverty and squalor. The
mass of this fierce cavalry was wretchedly clothed and disgustingly dirty.
Even the showy Mexican costume of Manga Colorada was ripped, frayed,
stained with grease and perspiration, and not free from sombre spots which
looked like blood. Every one wore the breech-cloth, in some cases nicely
fitted and sewed, in others nothing but a shapeless piece of deerskin tied
on anyhow. There were a few, either minor chiefs, or leading braves, or
professional dandies (for this class exists among the Indians), who
sported something like a full Apache costume, consisting of a
helmet-shaped cap with a plume of feathers, a blanket or _serape_ flying
loose from the shoulders, a shirt and breech-cloth, and a pair of long
boots, made large and loose in the Mexican style and showy with dyeing and
embroidery. These boots, very necessary to men who must ride through
thorns and bushes, were either drawn up so as to cover the thighs or
turned over from the knee downward, like the leg-covering of Rupert's
cavaliers. Many heads were bare, or merely shielded by wreaths of grasses
and leaves, the greenery contrasting fantastically with the unkempt hair
and fierce faces, but producing at a distance an effect which was not
without sylvan grace.

The only weapons were iron-tipped lances eight or nine feet long, thick
and strong bows of three or three and a half feet, and quivers of arrows
slung across the thigh or over the shoulder. The Apaches make little use
of firearms, being too lazy or too stupid to keep them in order, and
finding it difficult to get ammunition. But so long as they have to fight