Arizona Territory... the country of red deserts, rocks, high buttes and mountains—a harsh land but still a land, the Apaches had chosen for their own.
The land made the men, and the Indians were trained from infancy to match their strength, their cunning, their hunting ability against the rigors and pitiless cruelty against the wildest country.
For generations the Apaches raided into Mexico for horses and woman and cattle, but those creatures that they made their own they always treated with care and respect. And so when they found a squalling, black-haired baby boy in a white man’s wagon and their chief Geronimo claimed it for thier own, the baby became an Apache.
At first he was only known as Ish-kay-nay—boy. In the Apache tradition he had a private name, which nobody would ever use, but his public name had to be earned. At ten Ish-kay-nay killed his first bear—singlehanded and with only a bow and arrow. So Ish-kay-nay became Shaz-Dijiji—Black Bear.
And this was only the beginning of a life filled with the danger and excitement of the hunt, not only for food but against enemies who had become increasingly threatening—and of all these enemies, the most satisfying to hunt were the white men who had now begun to ravage Apache country. To this hunt Shaz-Dijiji dedicated himself.
**
About the Author
Edgar Rice Burroughs (1875-1950) is the creator of Tarzan, one of the most popular fictional characters of all time, and John Carter, hero of the Barsoom science fiction series. Burroughs was a prolific author, writing almost 70 books before his death in 1950, and was one of the first authors to popularize a character across multiple media, as he did with Tarzan s appearance in comic strips, movies, and merchandise. Residing in Hawaii at the time of the attack on Pearl Harbour in 1941, Burroughs was drawn into the Second World War and became one of the oldest war correspondents at the time. Edgar Rice Burroughs s popularity continues to be memorialized through the community of Tarzana, California, which is named after the ranch he owned in the area, and through the Burrough crater on Mars, which was named in his honour.
Description:
Arizona Territory... the country of red deserts, rocks, high buttes and mountains—a harsh land but still a land, the Apaches had chosen for their own.
The land made the men, and the Indians were trained from infancy to match their strength, their cunning, their hunting ability against the rigors and pitiless cruelty against the wildest country.
For generations the Apaches raided into Mexico for horses and woman and cattle, but those creatures that they made their own they always treated with care and respect. And so when they found a squalling, black-haired baby boy in a white man’s wagon and their chief Geronimo claimed it for thier own, the baby became an Apache.
At first he was only known as Ish-kay-nay—boy. In the Apache tradition he had a private name, which nobody would ever use, but his public name had to be earned. At ten Ish-kay-nay killed his first bear—singlehanded and with only a bow and arrow. So Ish-kay-nay became Shaz-Dijiji—Black Bear.
And this was only the beginning of a life filled with the danger and excitement of the hunt, not only for food but against enemies who had become increasingly threatening—and of all these enemies, the most satisfying to hunt were the white men who had now begun to ravage Apache country. To this hunt Shaz-Dijiji dedicated himself.
**
About the Author
Edgar Rice Burroughs (1875-1950) is the creator of Tarzan, one of the most popular fictional characters of all time, and John Carter, hero of the Barsoom science fiction series. Burroughs was a prolific author, writing almost 70 books before his death in 1950, and was one of the first authors to popularize a character across multiple media, as he did with Tarzan s appearance in comic strips, movies, and merchandise. Residing in Hawaii at the time of the attack on Pearl Harbour in 1941, Burroughs was drawn into the Second World War and became one of the oldest war correspondents at the time. Edgar Rice Burroughs s popularity continues to be memorialized through the community of Tarzana, California, which is named after the ranch he owned in the area, and through the Burrough crater on Mars, which was named in his honour.