When I first saw the medicine cords of the Apache, it occurred to me that perhaps in some way they might be an inheritance from the Franciscans, who, two centuries ago, had endeavored to plant missions among the Apache, and did succeed in doing something for the Navajo part of the tribe. I therefore examined the most convenient authorities and learned that the cord of S. François, like the cord of St. Augustine and the cord of St. Monica, was itself a medicine cord, representing a descent from a condition of thought perfectly parallel to that which has given birth to the izze-kloth. Thus Picart tells us: "On appelle Cordon de S. François la grosse corde qui sert de ceinture aux Religieux qui vivent sous la Regle de ce Saint.... Cette corde ceint le corps du Moine, & pend à peu prés jusqu'aux pieds. Elle lui sert de discipline, & pour cet effet, elle est armée de distance en distance de fort gros nœuds.... La Corde de S. François a souvent gueri les malades, facilité les accouchemens, fortifié la santé, procuré lignée & fait une infinité d'autres miracles édifians."[546] This author says of the girdle of St. Augustine "Elle est de cuir," and adds that the Augustinians have a book which treats of the origin of their order, in which occur these words: "Il est probable que nos premiers Peres, qui vivoient sous la Loi de nature, étant habillés de peau devoient porter une Ceinture de même étoffe."[547] This last assumption is perfectly plausible. For my part it has always seemed to me that monasticism is of very ancient origin, antedating Christianity and representing the most conservative element in the religious part of human nature. It clings obstinately to primitive ideas with which would naturally be associated primitive costume. The girdle of St. Monica had five knots. "The monks [of the Levant] use a girdle with twelve knots, to shew that they are followers of the twelve apostles."[548] Among the "sovereign remedies for the headache" is mentioned "the belt of St. Guthlac."[549] Buckle refers to the fact that English women in labor wore "blessed girdles." He thinks that they may have been Thomas Aquinas's girdles.[550] And good Saynt Frances gyrdle, With the hamlet of a hyrdle, Are wholsom for the pyppe.[551] Some older charms are to be found in Bale's Interlude concerning the Laws of Nature, Moses, and Christ, 4to, 1562. Idolatry says: For lampes and for bottes Take me Saynt Wilfride's knottes.[552] The "girdle of St. Bridget," mentioned by Mooney[553] and by other writers, through which the sick were passed by their friends, was simply a "survival" of the "Cunni Diaboli" still to be found in the East Indies. This "girdle of St. Bridget" was made of straw and in the form of a collar.