The Mescalero Apaches ranged from the Rio Grande to the Staked Plains, and were closely allied with both the western Apache groups and tribes of the southern plains. The “Natohene” or “Natshene” (mescal people or water willow people), as they called themselves, were composed of three bands; the Kahoane, Ni’ahane, and Huskaane. The Ni’ahane band lived in the Sacramento, Guadalupe, Sierra Blanca, and Capitan Mountains, an area that included what is now Carlsbad Caverns National Park. Their name means “people of the terraced mountains.” To the south of this band were the Tuetenene; and southeast of them, in the Big Bend country, lived the Lipan Apaches (a true Plains Indian group). In order to avoid confusion between the various Apache tribes and bands to frequent the area of Carlsbad Caverns National Park, the term Mescalero will be used. It should be pointed out that actually very little is known about this group, so the material presented is far from complete and is only general information. Although of a war-like nature, the Mescaleros were never considered as dangerous as their brethren farther west. Yet, after acquiring horses from the Spanish, they raided and warred until about 1875, when subdued; and the Mescalero Reservation was established in the White Mountains northeast of the White Sands in New Mexico. Culturally speaking, the Mescaleros, Lipans, and their hybrid, the Tuetenenes, were basically Plains with some western Apache traits common only to the Mescaleros. [Illustration: _The Painted Grotto, a highly painted Mescalero Apache ceremonial cave located in Slaughter Canyon, Carlsbad Caverns National Park, New Mexico_] Actual physical evidence left by the Mescalero Apaches in Carlsbad Caverns National Park is scant. Their most prominent calling card is found in a small cave in West Slaughter Canyon. About 4½ miles from the mouth of the canyon, some 65 feet above the dry stream bed, is the “Painted Grotto.” This little cave is approximately 57 feet across the front, 21 feet at the deepest point, and the ceiling slopes from 16 feet at the front to about 6 feet at the back. On the walls and ceiling are several hundred multicolored pictographs, all painted with earth ground ochers in red, yellow, white, golden yellow, and shades of pink. Caves of this type were used as shrines or media for ceremonies or religious dances, incantations, etc., and are considered very sacred. This bit of evidence definitely establishes the Mescalero on the Park proper, and a legend handed down to the Modern Apaches indicated that they knew of the main Caverns entrance as well. This legend tells of a medicine man who went into the cave to make “big medicine.” Supposedly, he was last seen wandering away from the entrance, beating his tom-tom; and yearly, on the anniversary of this exploit, the Apaches would come to the entrance to leave offerings of food for him.