Faraon (‘Pharaoh’) Apache Indians. A tribe of Apache. From references in early Spanish writings to the “Apache hordes of Pharaoh,” it is assumed that the name of the Faraon Apache was thus derived. This tribe, no longer known by name, seems to have formed the south division of the Querecho of Coronado (1541), the Vaqueros of Benavides (1630) and other 17th century writers, and part at least of the Llaneros of more recent times.
Their principal range was that part of New Mexico lying between the Rio Grande and the Pecos, although their raids extended beyond this area. Nothing is known of their ethnic relations, but judging from their habitat, they were probably more closely related to the Mescaleros than to ally other of the Apache tribes, if indeed they were not a part of them.
They made numerous depredations against the Spanish and Pueblo settlements of the Rio Grande in New Mexico, as well as in Chihuahua, and for a time at least their principal rendezvous was the Sandia mountains in the former territory. Several expeditions were led against them by the Spanish authorities, and treaties of peace were made, but these did not prove to be binding.
Orozco y Berra, Geog., 59, 1864 ↩