The name of the family is derived from Lake Athabasca, a Cree word, meaning "cords of hay." They are supposed by many to be of Tartar descent, and their language has been found to be somewhat analogous to that of Thibet. Their traditions point to an emigration from the West, over a series of islands, and amid much snow and ice. The southern branch includes the nomadic Apaches, the industrious Navajos, and a small remnant of Lipans in Texas, numbering, in all, over 20,000. 1. APACHES. One of the most numerous branches of Athabascan stock are the _Apaches_, a fierce, nomadic nation, roaming over the Territories of New Mexico and Arizona, and Sonora and Chihuahua. Always a scourge and a terror to settlers, they have held in check for many years the civilization of the country covered by their depredations. In 1831 Gregg wrote of them: "They are the most extensive and powerful, and yet the most vagrant, of all the savage nations that inhabit the interior of Northern Mexico. They are supposed to number 15,000 souls, although they are subdivided into various petty bands and are scattered over an immense tract of country. They never construct houses, but live in the ordinary wigwam or tent of skins and blankets. They manufacture nothing, cultivate nothing. They seldom resort to the chase, as their country is destitute of game, but seem to depend entirely upon pillage for the support of their immense population, at least 2,000 of which are warriors." Steadily resisting all attempts at conversion by the missionaries, they gathered about them many of the disaffected tribes and made frequent descents upon missions and towns, ravaging, destroying, and completely depopulating many of them. Since the annexation of their territory to the United States they have caused much trouble, and an almost constant warfare has been kept up against them until quite recently. Successful military campaigns broke up their predatory habits, and since then the efforts which have been made to gather them upon reservations, where they could be cared for until capable of self-sustenance, are proving entirely successful. At the present time more than half the whole nation are on the San Carlos reservation in Arizona, where they have nearly 4,000 square miles, or over 2,500,000 acres, situated upon both sides of the Rio Gila, between the one hundred and ninth and one hundred and eleventh meridians, 400 acres of which are now under cultivation by Indian labor entirely, producing 10,000 bushels of potatoes, 2,000 bushels of corn, and large quantities of other vegetables. They draw their entire subsistence from the Government, but only in return for labor performed, and under this law are doing much good in the way of making and repairing irrigating-ditches, clearing and fencing land, &c. Are now occupying 223 comfortable houses, built for them. "When it is considered that only 2,000 of these Indians have been on the reservation