Observations placeholder
Andrew Lang - Native American Indians - The Apache crystals
Identifier
001249
Type of Spiritual Experience
Background
A description of the experience
Andrew Lang - The Making of Religion – Chapter V – Crystal Visions, Savage and Civilised
In 1887 the late Captain J. T. Bourke, of the U.S. Cavalry, an original and careful observer, visited the Apaches in the interests of the Ethnological Bureau.
He learned that one of the chief duties of the medicine-men was to find out the whereabouts of lost or stolen property. Na-a-cha, one of these jossakeeds, possessed a magic quartz crystal, which he greatly valued.
Captain Bourke presented him with a still finer crystal. ’He could not give me an explanation of its magical use, except that by looking into it he could see everything he wanted to see,’