e deerskin, but sometimes the skin is cut square,
and at others ceremonial deerskin shirts are symbolically painted.
Occasionally the Apache attempts to picture the myth characters literally;
at other times only a symbolic representation of the character is made. In
addition to the mythic personages, certain symbols are employed to
represent the incident of the myth. These paintings are made under the
instruction of a medicine-man and are a part of the medicine
paraphernalia. On some skins the most sacred characters in Apache
mythology are represented symbolically--Naye{~COMBINING BREVE~}nezgani, the War God;
Tubadzischi{~COMBINING BREVE~}ni, his younger brother; Kuterastan, the Creator of All;
Stenatlihan, the chief goddess. In fact the symbolism on an elaborately
painted deerskin may cover every phase of Apache cosmology.

In their basketry the Apache women display great taste in form, and in
their more superior work employ much symbolic decoration. Since the
beginning of the present "messiah craze" all baskets display the sacred
symbols believed to have been revealed to Das Lan by Chuganaai Skhin--a
combination of the cross and the crescent. There are many baskets, made
before this new religious wave swept over the tribe, into which the
symbolism has since been woven.

The basket most used is the _tu{~COMBINING BREVE~}tza_, or burden basket, roughly and
loosely woven, ornamented with circular lines as often painted on as woven
in. Previous to a messiah craze, which had its origin with the Apache
about 1901, the designs in these baskets were purely decorative, without
attempt at symbolism; but now, by order of a crafty old medicine-man,
every _tu{~COMBINING BREVE~}tza_ must display the combined cross and crescent.

The _tus_ is a water bottle, made invariably of withes of the aromatic
sumac, loosely woven, and coated inside and out with pinon gum. To use
material other than sumac would be considered very bad. In the Apache
deluge myth the people, instructed by Stenatlihan, built a monster _tus_
of pinon branches in which they floated away.

The _tsa-nasku{~COMBINING BREVE~}di_ is a bowl or tray-shaped basket of splendid form, with
symbolic decoration of intricate pattern.

The most pretentious basket is the _tus-nasku{~COMBINING BREVE~}di_, in general form like
the _tus_, but much larger; it is used for the storage of grain. Its lines
are most beautiful, as are also its inwoven symbolic designs.

Owing to the extr