As hitherto mentioned, the Apache is the personification of devoutness in the performance of his religious duties, and no matter where circumstances may place him, he manages always to have a small pouch of _hádĭntĭn_ carefully secreted about his person for use in paying his devotions to half a score of gods, at least once every four days. If occasion demands, he may pray every day, or four times a day, or any multiple of four times. This custom has a direct bearing on the story of the messiah, which is this: Das Lan, in a spirit of more than usual devotion, began a series of prayers to the gods of Life, Peace, and Plenty, delivered as usual just as the sun appeared over the eastern mountains. On the fourth morning, with offerings of _hádĭntĭn_, he invoked the benediction of Kútĕrastan, the Creator, Hádĭntĭn Skhĭn, God of Health, Hádĭntĭn Nalín, Goddess of Crops, and of Chuganaái himself, the All-seeing Sun. As the fourth pinch of pollen wafted away on the breeze there appeared the vision, immediately beneath the sun, of a small bearded dwarf, less than three feet in height, who approached him, and said: "I am a messenger sent by Kútĕrastan to talk to you. The Sun is my father; I have just left him to come to you. You are to inform all your people that a change is about to be made in their lives and in the nature of the whole world. In place of this life of strife and toil with little to eat, all, the white man as well as the Indian, will be taken to a place where all things grow without labor, and where there will be no rough, barren mountains, but instead broad valleys filled with grass, trees, corn, fruits, nuts, and all kinds of game in abundance. There, too, you will meet all your fathers and mothers and brothers and sisters and children who have gone before you from their homes, for they are now there. There no sickness or death will visit anyone. The old and feeble will become strong, the crooked straight, and the blind shall see. But to be taken, all must have faith, believing as one, and observe these instructions I am to leave with you. You are commissioned to instruct the people. Those who believe must adopt the _dáiita ílhnaha_, the cross and crescent, as a symbol of faith, for it represents the shape the new world will have and the road all must travel to reach it, and any who start on the journey without using this sign will be lost on the way. When the time comes to depart, I will return to lead you. A great cloud, open in the centre, will come down from above and surround us all, so that none shall see whither he goes. Until then those who would go must do as you bid them. All males, boys or men, must have caps of deerskin with the _dáiita ílhnaha_ marked on them in beads on four sides, and two eagle feathers attached to the top, ready to wear on the journey. They must also have new shirts, leggings, and moccasins upon which this figure has been made in black and white. [Illustration: Apache Village]