The Apache Indians: In Search of the Missing Tribe.(Book review)

THE APACHE INDIANS: IN SEARCH OF THE MISSING TRIBE. By Helge Ingstad. Trans. Janine K. Stenehjem. With a Preface by Benedicte Ingstad and an introduction by Thomas J. Nevins. Gyldendal Norsk Forlad A/S, 1945; English edition, 2004. 186 pp.. Hardbound, $24.95.

Finally, the result of the late Norwegian ethnographer Helge Ingstad's research on Apache life and history has become more easily available for readers in the United States with the first English edition of this work. First published in 1945, the book is one of the most important early ethnographical works on Apache culture that we have. This first United States edition contains a Preface and an Introduction that frame the book nicely by placing Ingstad's findings in their historical context. Helge Ingstad's daughter, Benedicte, who wrote the Preface, explains the origins of this work as well as her father's background. She helps the reader understand Ingstad's purpose and argues that his work should be taken seriously although it has been sixty years since it was originally published. Thomas J. Nevins takes great care in the Introduction to provide a brief outline of the history of the Apaches and an explanation of how Ingstad's research relates to other ethnographical research on the Apaches. This includes the highlighting of more recent findings, revealing the status of Ingstad as a trailblazer. Janine Stenehjem does an excellent job of translating the book, bringing to life the travel journals of this explorer.

Indeed, he was one of the first to enter and become immersed in Apache culture. He provides details of his findings as well as insights into how he was able to gather a wide array of Apache stories. In fourteen short chapters he writes in such detail that the reader feels involved in his expedition. Often, his language is almost poetic: "Donkeys doze motionlessly in the shade of a large, leafy tree, and the Indians retreat under their sunshades while the children splash around in the river" (45).

It was not easy for a white man to gain trust: he describes the difficulties. How he was able to gain trust and become integrated into the societies he tried to learn about is evident in many instances throughout the book. Often, Ingstadt, the interviewer, became a narrator. In chapter 2, after recounting some instances where he had come to realize that he would not easily gain his counterpart's trust, he proceeds to describe how he did so when visiting Apache Mull.

 
   I greet him and then take a seat on the ground, proceeding to do 
   what I usually do to quickly gain trust. Rather than ask him to tell 
   a story, I begin talking about the Indians whom I have ...