The basket most used is the _tú̆tza_, 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 _tú̆tza_ 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 piñon gum. To use material other than sumac would be considered very bad. In the Apache deluge myth the people, instructed by Stĕnátlĭhăn, built a monster _tus_ of piñon branches in which they floated away.
The _tsa-naskú̆dĭ_ is a bowl or tray-shaped basket of splendid form, with symbolic decoration of intricate pattern.
The most pretentious basket is the _tus-naskú̆dĭ_, 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 extremely secretive nature of the Apache, it is difficult for the casual student to learn anything of the relations between their mythology and the designs used in their basketry. Questioned, they will perhaps say, "We don’t know," or "To make it look pretty." But an intelligent and trustworthy interpreter will tell you, "That woman knows, but she will not tell." A law of the cult brought about by the recent messiah religion is that every woman must have in readiness for use during the migration to the future world a _tus_, a _tú̆tza_, a _tsa-naskú̆dĭ_, and a gourd drinking-cup, all decorated with the cross and crescent. These are not used and are carefully preserved.
The clan and gentile systems of the American Indians have been the bulwark of their social structure, for by preventing intermarriage within the clan or the gens the blood was kept at its best. Added to this were the hardships of the Indian life, which resulted in the survival only of the fittest and provided the foundation for a sturdy people. But with advancing civilization one foresees the inevitable disintegration of their tribal laws, and a consequent weakening of the entire social structure, for the Indians seem to have absorbed all the evil, and to have embodied little of the good, that civilized life teaches.