Note 749 — Chapter V · NEW MEXICANS.

The Apache chief Ponce, speaking of the grief of a poor woman at the loss of her son, says: 'The mother of the dead brave demands the life of his murderer. Nothing else will satisfy her.... Would money satisfy me for the death of my son? No! I would demand the blood of the murderer. Then I would be satisfied.' Cremony's Apaches, p. 69. 'If one man (Apache) kills another, the next of kin to the defunct individual may kill the murderer—if he can. He has the right to challenge him to single-combat.... There is no trial, no set council, no regular examination into the crime or its causes; but the ordeal of battle settles the whole matter.' Id., p. 293.