After taking the Emetic. Hopi Snake Dance at Walpi.

There are times when the priests are bitten, but, as was suggested in the snake legend, they have a snake venom charm liquid. This is prepared by the chief woman of the Snake clan, and she and the Snake priest alone are supposed to know the secret of its composition. It may be that ere long this secret will be given to the world by a gentleman who is largely in the confidence of the Hopis, but, as yet, it is practically unknown. That it is an antidote there can be no question. I have seen men seriously bitten by rattlesnakes, and in each case, after the use of the antidote, the wounded priests suffered but slightly.

As to the "why" of the handling of the snakes. The "fact" it is easy to state; but when one enters the realm of theory to explain the "why" of the fact, he places himself as a target for others to shoot at. My theory, however, is that a fear within yourself arouses a corresponding fear within the reptile. As soon as he feels fear he prepares to use the weapons of offence and defence with which nature has provided him.

If, on the other hand, you feel no fear, and, in touching the creature, do not hurt him so as to arouse his fear, he may be handled with impunity.

Be this as it may, the fact remains—for I have examined the snakes before, during, and after the ceremony—that dangerous and untampered with rattlesnakes are used by the Hopis in this, their prayer to "Those Above" for rain.

CHAPTER VIII
THE NAVAHO AND HIS HISTORY

That the Navaho was reserved with the white man in the early days of American occupancy there can be no doubt, and the difficulty experienced in penetrating that reserve is well exemplified by reference to the letter of Dr. Joseph Letherman, who lived for three years among the tribe at Fort Defiance. Aided by Major Kendrick, who had long commanded at this post, he wrote a letter which appears in the Smithsonian Report for 1855. In this he says, among many good things: "Nothing can be learned of the origin of these people from themselves. At one time they say they came out of the ground; and at another, that they know nothing whatever of their origin; the latter, no doubt, being the truth." Again: "Of their religion little or nothing is known, as, indeed, all inquiries tend to show that they have none; and even have not, we are informed, any word to express the idea of a Supreme Being. We have not been able to learn that any observances of a religious character exist among them; and the general impression of those who have the means of knowing them is, that, in this respect, they are steeped in the deepest degradation." Once more: "They have frequent gatherings for dancing." And a little further on: "Their singing is but a succession of grunts, and is anything but agreeable."

One has but to read what Dr. Matthews has written and gathered from the Navahoes to see how misleading and erroneous the conclusions of Dr. Letherman were. To quote: "He [Dr. Matthews] had not been many weeks in New Mexico when he discovered that the dances to which the doctor refers were religious ceremonials, and later he found that these ceremonials might vie in allegory, symbolism, and intricacy of ritual with the ceremonies of any people, ancient or modern. He found, ere long, that these heathens, pronounced godless and legendless, possessed lengthy myths and traditions—so numerous that one can never hope to collect them all, a pantheon as well stocked with gods and heroes as that of the ancient Greeks, and prayers which, for length and vain repetition, might put a Pharisee to blush."

Wonderful songs also were found, full of poetic imagery, and suitable for every conceivable occasion, songs that have been handed down for generations. Of the sacred songs Dr. Matthews makes the astounding statement that, "sometimes, pertaining to a single rite, there are two hundred songs or more which may not be sung at other rites." Further: "The songs must be known to the priest of the rite and his assistants in a most exact manner, for an error made in singing a song may be fatal to the efficacy of a ceremony. In no case is an important mistake tolerated, and in some cases the error of a single syllable works an irreparable injury."

Popular conceptions of the Navaho are very crude and inaccurate. They are largely the result of two "floods of information" which deluged the country at two epochs in their history, and neither of them had much truth in the flood. The first of these epochs was at the discovery of the important cliff dwellings located on their reservation,—those of the Tsegi Canyon (the so-called Canyon de Chelly), Monument Canyon, Chaco Canyon, etc. Writers who visited the region wrote the most wild and outrageously conceived nonsense about this people and the dwellings they were supposed to look upon with superstitious veneration. Then later, a lot of unscrupulous whites, fired with similar zeal to that which led the old conquistadors across the deserts of northern Mexico and through the inhospitable wilds of Arizona and New Mexico,—the zeal for gold or silver,—which was doubtless fed by the fact that the Navahoes did possess thousands of dollars' worth of silver ornaments, started out to prospect the interior recesses of the Navaho reservation. Knowing by painful experience what this meant,—for their "white brothers" had stolen their springs and arable land from them on the Moenkopi, on the Little Colorado, at Willow Spring, and a score of other places,—the warlike and courageous Navahoes resented the presence of these men. They begged them to retire, and when the white men refused, fought and whipped them. This naturally excited the cupidity of the silver hunters more than ever. "Why should the blanked Indians fight if not to protect their silver mines?"—this was the kind of question asked, and the natural and legitimate resentment of the Navahoes was described all over the country as "another Indian uprising," and led to the second "flood of knowledge," which the newspapers always have forthcoming when public interest and curiosity are aroused.

Science and legend both agree in giving to the Navaho a mixed origin. His is not a pure-blooded race. Their myths or legends refer to many assimilations of other people, strangers from the North, South, East, West, and everywhere, all of whom were welcomed and made an integral part of the nation. Hence there is no such thing as a distinctly Navaho type, or, as Hrdlicka puts it, "they show considerable difference in color and measurement, and cannot be considered a radically homogeneous people, but their mixture is not recent." This latter statement is doubtless true, as they would probably become more clannish as their nation grew in numbers and power.

Dr. Matthews gives the stories of the origin of several of the gentes. One story which he does not relate was told to me at Tohatchi, and serves to illustrate how a migration from the Northwest is transformed into a supernatural occurrence. Though told to me of the Navahoes as a whole, there can be no doubt that it applies only to a single gens. The story was in regard to Winged Rock, commonly called by the whites "Ship Rock," and about which I had been seeking information.

This rock is situated in the Navaho reservation, about one hundred miles northwest of Tohatchi, and some fifteen or twenty miles from Carrizo Mountain. It is difficult of access, and my informant assured me that even though an army of white men should reach its base they could never scale its steep sides and reach its top. All the Navaho tribe reverence it sincerely and all watch and guard it jealously. He would indeed be a brave white man who would dare the anger of these warlike and brave natives if they forbade his approach and would attempt to scale this sacred Winged Rock.

This was the legend: "Many, many years ago, when this country was young and the sun cast only small shadows, my people came across the narrow sea far away near the setting sun in the north and landed on the shores of this country. The people where they landed were exceedingly angry at them, and whenever they could they fell upon them and slew them. My people did not want to go to war, but this inhospitable reception made them angry, so they put themselves in war array and fell upon their foes. But there were few only of my people, and their enemies were so many that it was not long before they were in sad straits. Indeed, they would soon have been entirely destroyed had not help come. In their distress they called on Those Above, and soon a messenger from the sky came to my people and said: 'See you yonder stone mountain? Flee to it. It will be your salvation. Climb up its steep, strong, rugged sides and it will carry you toward the land of the South sea, nearer to the rising sun, and there your home shall be.'

"My people were only too glad to obey the message. They hastened towards the mountain. Some who were weak were enabled to fly towards it like birds, and they clung to its steep sides and clambered to its top.

"Then when they were all safe on its huge bulk, the monster rock was taken by Those Above, and it arose and floated across the rivers and plains and mountains and lakes and canyons. Several days and nights it floated, and my people gazed with wonder upon the strange and wonderful countries through which they travelled. Sometimes they thought they would like to stay in this place or in that, but the wisdom of Those Above said No! and the rock floated on. Oh! it was a glorious sail. Never before or since has any people been so blessed and favored by the People of the Shadows Above.

"Finally the Winged Rock crossed the great deep canyon of the Colorado River, and my people were afraid of its vast depths. Then the rock gently settled down to the earth, where it is now found, and our home was reached. It did not seem to be a very beautiful land, but it was given to us by Those Above, and my people soon became content. We were shown the springs and the watercourses, and we found the mountains covered with trees, and the rivers and creeks. So that when any one speaks of our leaving our country we are afraid and we cry: 'No, why should we leave this land given to us, and which we love? Yonder is the rock on which we came, and never until that rock floats away with us shall we leave the land that we love so well!'

"As soon as we were settled here, Those Above gave us some great shamans, and one of them told us that we must always do right, for the sun, when it rises, would watch our every action all throughout the day, and when he went away at night it was to tell Those Above all our evil actions, for which we should be punished."

While the Apaches and Navahoes are of the same stock, there have always been marked differences between them so long as they have been under the observation of the white men. When the Spaniards entered the country, the Navahoes were more distinctly an agricultural people than the Apaches. They had large patches of land under cultivation, kept their crops and lived in houses underground. Cultivated lands necessitated settled residences, and after the Spaniards introduced sheep, it was not long before the Navahoes were extensive sheep raisers. It would not be any wiser or more profitable to enter into an inquiry as to the methods by which these flocks were acquired than it would be to ascertain the history of many of the landed possessions of European nobilities. With the Navaho, possession was the only law he cared anything for. "To have and to hold" was his motto; and once "having," he held pretty securely. Hence the sheep possessions of the neighboring pueblo Indians were held by exceedingly precarious tenure.

There is no doubt that the Navahoes were a source of great terror to the Mexicans who first settled in and near their territory. Even after the United States became their guardians at the acquisition of New Mexico in 1847, they were very hostile, murders, robberies, and depredations of every kind being quite common. In 1855, Dr. Letherman reported that "the nation, as a nation, is fully imbued with the idea that it is all powerful, which, no doubt, has arisen from the fact of its having been for years a terror and a dread to the inhabitants of New Mexico." But that these depredations were not perpetrated upon the whites alone is evident from the fact that one of the richest men of the Navahoes himself applied to Major Kendrick, then the commanding officer of Fort Defiance, N. Mex., to protect his cattle, as he could not otherwise prevent his own people from stealing them.

The insolence from years of this kind of free life needed forceful check, but it was not until 1862 that the unbearable conduct of the Navahoes brought upon themselves this long-needed chastisement.

According to governmental reports, the Indians of New Mexico (among whom were the Navahoes and Mescalero Apaches) caused losses between 1860 and 1863 to the people of that territory of "not less than 500,000 sheep, and 5,000 horses, mules, and cattle. Over 200 lives have been also sacrificed of citizens, soldiers, and shepherds." It was also stated in 1863 "that the military establishment of this territory [New Mexico, which then included Arizona], since its acquisition, has cost not less than $3,000,000 annually, independent of land-warrant bounties." And while this was for a conquered country, the whole expenditure was for the chastisement of hostile Indians, every tribe of which in turn came in for its share of the fighting.

It was openly advocated about this time that the policy of extermination was the only one that could be followed, and this must be brought about either by actual warfare, or by driving the hostiles into the mountains and there starving them to death.

Brig.-Gen. J. H. Carleton, who was in control of the department of New Mexico, determined upon a thorough and complete change in our treatment of this haughty and proud people. They had made six treaties at different times with officers of our Government and had violated them before they could be ratified at Washington. He strongly counselled drastic measures in a letter which is historically of sufficient interest to justify a large quotation from it:—

"At the Bosque Redondo there is arable land enough for all the Indians of this family [the Navahoes and Apaches have descended from the same stock and speak the same language], and I would respectfully recommend that now the war be vigorously prosecuted against the Navahoes; that the only peace that can ever be made with them must rest on the basis that they move on to these lands, and, like the Pueblos, become an agricultural people, and cease to be nomads. This should be a sine qua non; as soon as the snows of winter admonish them of the sufferings to which their families will be exposed, I have great hopes of getting most of the tribe. The knowledge of the perfidy of these Navahoes, gained after two centuries of experience, is such as to lead us to put no faith in their promises. They have no government to make treaties; they are a patriarchal people. One set of families may make promises, but the other set will not heed them. They understand the direct application of force as a law; if its application be removed, that moment they become lawless. This has been tried over and over again, and at great expense. The purpose now is, never to relax the application of force with a people that can no more be trusted than the wolves that run through the mountains. To collect them together, little by little, on to a reservation, away from the haunts and hills and hiding-places of their country; there be kind to them; there teach their children how to read and write; teach them the arts of peace, teach them the truths of Christianity. Soon they will acquire new habits, new ideas, and new modes of life; and the old Indians will die off, and carry with them all latent longings for murdering and robbing. The young ones will take their places without these longings, and thus, little by little, they will become a happy and contented people; and Navaho wars will be remembered only as something that belong entirely to the past. Even until they can raise enough to be self-sustaining, you can feed them cheaper than fight them....

"I know these ideas are practical and humane—are just to the suffering people, as well as to the aggressive, perfidious, butchering Navahoes. If I can have one more full regiment of cavalry, and authority to raise one independent company in each county of the Territory, they can soon be carried to a final result."

In 1863 General Carleton's suggestions in the main were approved by the Indian Department and he proceeded to carry out his plan.

Col. Kit Carson, the noted scout, with an adequate force was sent out to humble and punish the Navahoes. It was wise that such a just, humane, and wise Indian fighter was sent to do this work. His knowledge of their characters stood him in good purpose, and in a very short time over seven thousand prisoners were taken. Later this number was increased, until they amounted to about ten or eleven thousand.

At the same time the Apaches were being cornered, and a number of them were removed to Fort Stanton, on the Peeos River, far enough down into the open country to prevent easy escape to the mountains. Part of this settlement was the Bosque Redondo, and General Carleton's plan contemplated the settlement of both Apaches and Navahoes here.

Hopi Ceremonial Head-dresses.

In the collection of George Wharton James.

Hopi Bahos and Dance Rattles.

In the collection of George Wharton James.

Compelled by a superior force, the now humbled Navahoes were herded together like sheep and in 1863 were removed to the chosen place. It was soon found, however, that this was an inhospitable region, altogether unfitted to be the home of so large a population. The water was alkaline, and the soil not of a nature suitable to the raising of corn. There was practically no fuel, and the Navahoes had to dig up mesquite roots and carry them on their backs twelve miles for this purpose. In two or three years more than one-fourth of their number died and the remainder grew more and more dissatisfied with the location.

In 1867, however, Manuelito and Barboncita, two of the war chiefs, came into the reservation, both of them having surrendered to the commandant at Fort Wingate. The former had refused to come into the reservation in 1863, and the latter ran away from it, with his band of warriors, in 1864. These two bands added 780 more of men, women, and children to the population, which, in June, 1867, was reported to be 7,300.

This whole Bosque Redondo was a disgraceful business, on a line with so much of the wretched and abominable treatment the Indians have received at our hands. Think of placing ten thousand Indians upon a reservation where there was no water but black, brackish stuff not fit for cattle, no fuel, and no soil for cultivation of the chief article of their diet. Deprived of food, water, and fuel, what would white men be? No wonder the Navahoes rebelled and were kept in order only by brute force.

At length those in authority saw the iniquity of the proceeding and the order was given to return them to their reservation. This was done, but with a loss by death, mainly through preventable causes, of over three thousand souls.

Since this time they have been industrious and progressive. The Bosque lesson, though severe, was needed, and it proved salutary. One can travel with perfect safety unarmed across the Navaho reservation, as I have done several times; and a lady friend, unarmed, and unaccompanied by any other escort than a Navaho, has travelled hundreds of miles in perfect safety among the Navahoes in all parts of their reservation.[3]

In September, 1870, a number of dissatisfied Utes visited the Navahoes at the so-called "Navaho Church," which can be seen on the right on the line of the Santa Fé Railway, going to California. All the principal chiefs of the tribe were present and the causes of dissatisfaction against the whites were fully discussed. The powwow was an important one, and lasted several days, but the chief purpose of the Utes—to incite the Navahoes to warfare against the whites—was not successful. The crafty Utes, with stirring eloquence, said they had heard the white men saying they were going to take possession of the whole country, and that when they did they would kill off all the chief men of the Navahoes. "See how they have stolen in upon your territory and taken the springs and land that you have had all the time up till now! They have taken the water and land at Wingate and at Defiance, and soon they will take all you have, and you and your children will perish because you have no water, no grass for your horses and sheep, and no corn for food. Join in with us and drive these hated people away. Get all the guns and ammunition you can, and prepare many new bows and arrows. Let us sing the war songs together, and go on the war-path and hunt down and kill the whites as the Pueblos hunt down and kill rabbits. Then we will be friends. You will have your country to yourselves, and Those Above will make of you a great nation. We shall have our country and we shall become great. Now we are dwindling down; we are melting away as the snows on the hillside. United against the whites we shall both become stronger, and grow like the well-watered corn."

The Navahoes refused to give answer until they had consulted among themselves, and then one of their chiefs reported their decision as follows: "We have heard what our Ute brothers have said. If our white brothers want to kill us they can do so. They have had plenty of chances and we are yet alive. All of our people who have been slain have been those who have gone on the war-path against them in the past. We do not wish to die, so we will not go on the war-path. We will stay at home. We have food. The whites treat us well. If our Ute brothers must fight we will not interfere, but we ourselves do not wish to fight."

The result was that the Ute bands returned to their homes without any specific act of warfare at that time.

CHAPTER IX
THE NAVAHO AT HOME

The Tunicha range is covered with glorious and majestic pines, and all along its flanks are wide plateaus through which gloomy and massive canyons convey the storm waters from the heights above into the plains below. Its close proximity to the Grand Canyon suggests what its general appearance might be. Drained deep down by the canyons and gorges tributary to this great vampire canyon, it is seamed and scarred by the dashing down of many waters. Its rocks are cut up into a thousand fantastic forms and shapes, which look over sterile valleys full of sand. These valleys are numberless, and one of them, the I-chi-ni-li,—commonly called the Chin-lee,—stretches from the south to beyond the San Juan River on the north, to the west of the Tunicha range.

The ancient boundaries of the land, long prior to the advent of the Spaniard, were four majestic mountains, which now approximately determine the reserve. On the east is Pelado Peak; on the south, Mt. San Mateo (commonly called Mt. Taylor); on the west, the San Francisco range; and on the north, the San Juan Mountains. Each of these is over eleven thousand feet in height. Hence it will be seen that there is a vast range of altitude, yet it is questionable whether anywhere else in the world so large a population inhabits so barren and inhospitable a country. On the lower levels it is mainly desert, with scant pasture here and there; on the higher mesas or plateaus there are many junipers, pinions, and red cedars.

It is a difficult matter to determine the population of the Navahoes. While they were in captivity the official count was seven thousand three hundred, but desertions were frequent, and at one time about seven hundred of the renegades came in and surrendered, and it is well known that many never were captured or surrendered.

In 1869 the government distributed thirty thousand sheep and two thousand goats to them, and a count was ordered. This was a most favorable time to make it, as besides the sheep and goats, two years' annuities were given out, and rations distributed every four days. The total summed up some nine thousand.

In 1890 the official census reported 17,204, but Cosmos Mendeleff, writing in 1895-96, says the tribe numbers only "over 12,000 souls." It scarcely seems possible, if the count in 1869 was anything near accurate that the population could have increased to 17,204 in 1890. Still it must be remembered that, though not prolific, the Navaho is a good breeder. He is healthy, vigorous, robust, and strong, and his wife (or wives, for he is a polygamist) equally so. Living an out-door life, inured to hardships, generally possessed of plenty to eat, of coarse, rough, hearty, but nutritious food, engaged in occupations and indulging in sports that cultivate their athletic powers, free from the consumptive and scrofulous tendencies of most reservation Indians, they are well fitted to be the progenitors of healthy children.

Though polygamists, they are moral and chaste. In their legends they have always regarded marital unfaithfulness as a prolific source of sorrow and punishment. In their Origin Legend this sin led to their banishment from the first world, and again from the second, and also from the third, the wronged chief execrating them as follows: "For such crimes I suppose you were chased from the world below; you shall drink no more of our water, you shall breathe no more of our air. Begone!"

In this legend Washington Matthews tells of Góntso, or Big Knee, a chief who had twelve wives, four from each of three different gens or families. Though he was a bountiful provider, his wives were unfaithful to him. He complained to the chiefs of their families and to their relations and begged them to remonstrate with the wicked women, but remonstrances and rebukes seemed to be in vain. At last they said to Big Knee, "Do with them as you will, we shall not interfere." The next time he detected the unfaithfulness of his wives he mutilated one, another he cut the ears from, a third cut off her breasts, and all these three died. A fourth he cut off her nose, and she lived. He thereupon determined that henceforth he would cut off the nose of any unfaithful wife, for that would be a visible mark of her shame and yet would not kill her. She would be compelled to live, and all men and women would know of her wickedness. But even this horrible punishment did not have the deterrent effect he expected. It was not long before another and then another was detected and punished, until, before long, his whole family of wives was noseless. Instead of rebuking themselves and their sins as the cause of their mutilation these women would gather together to rail against their husband, and their relations, whom they claimed should have protected them. Big Knee was compelled to sleep alone in a well-protected hut, and the women grew more determined than ever to work him an injury.

About this time the people got up a big ceremony for the benefit of Big Knee. It lasted nine days, and on the night of the last day the mutilated women, who had kept themselves secluded in a hut, came forth, and with knives in their hands, proceeded to sing and dance as was expected of them. Around the fire they circled, singing "Peshla ashila"—"It was the knife that did it to me"—and peering among the spectators for their husband. He was safe, however, for he was hidden in the circle of branches that made the dance corral. As they concluded the dance they ran from the corral, cursing all who were present with fearful maledictions: "May the waters drown ye! May the winters freeze ye! May the fires burn ye! May the lightnings strike ye!" and other equally malicious curses. Then they departed and went into the far north, where they now dwell, and, according to the Navahoes, whenever these noseless women turn their faces to the south we have cold winds and storms and lightning.

From this legend it is observed that the husband's power over the wife was somewhat limited. Góntso dare not punish his wives without the consent of their relations. This freedom of the woman is observed to this day, she regarding herself in most things as the equal, and sometimes the superior, of her husband.

From all I can learn, marital unchastity is uncommon, though where the tribe is in close contact with the towns along the railway there are generally to be found men who will sell their wives and daughters, and mothers who will sell their girls to debased white men. Among the respectable members of the tribe, if a man discovers that his wife, or one of them, is unfaithful, he may take it upon himself to chastise her, but such is the independent position of the woman that he must be very wise and judicious or she will speedily leave him.

Divorce is not common, but is allowable for cause, the parties chiefly concerned generally settling all the details. Occasionally, however, a transaction occurs that in civilized society would occasion quite a buzz of busy tongues. One such happened but a few years ago. Mr. George H. Pepper of the American Museum of Natural History tells the story. The facts were within his own knowledge. One of the husbands had a wife who positively refused to wash and brush his hair. He would coax and persuade, urge and command, threaten and bluster, but all to no effect. The dusky creature was neither to be led nor driven. If he wanted his hair washed and combed he must do it himself.

While the disappointed husband was cogitating over his miserable marital experiences, a friend from a distance, with his wife, came to visit him. As the men got to talking and finally exchanging confidences about their wives, the one told the other of the unwifely conduct of his spouse. The visitor condoled with his host and told what a good wife he had, how very obedient she was, and the like, until he had quite exalted her, and the host determined to take a better look than he had hitherto given at such a paragon of a wife. Whether this was a scheme of the visitor or not it was scarcely possible to tell, but, anyhow, it worked out as well as if it had been carefully planned; for as the host studied the visitor's wife he fell head over ears in love with her, and, strange to say, a corresponding affinity was discovered to exist between the two others. Accordingly, a day or two later the visitor suggested to the host that as he (the host) wanted a wife to wash and comb his hair, while he (the visitor) was content with a wife that would do neither, what was to hinder their "swapping" their life partners and thus making a satisfactory end to his domestic difficulties? With joy the disappointed husband accepted the offer,—a little "boot" was required to make the exchange satisfactorily, and then the result was communicated to the women. Neither of them was consulted in the slightest, but without any hesitancy they fell in with the agreement. The visitor rode off satisfied, accompanied by his new wife, while the wife who came as a visitor inaugurated her new relationship by shyly coming into her new husband's hogan with an olla of water, the necessary soap-root, and the whisk with which to wash and comb her liege's hair. And now, for three years, the two couples are known to have lived together in "amity and concord."

A few years ago it would perhaps have been safe to designate the Navahoes as the most wealthy Indians of the United States. Many of them were worth hundreds of dollars. They understood and practised the art of irrigation; they grew large crops of corn, squash, melons, beans, chili, and onions. Some had large and thriving bands of horses, which they traded with the Havasupais, Wallapais, Hopis, Paiutis, and other neighboring people. I have often met a band of six or eight Navaho traders with horses and blankets in the canyon of the Havasu, and they took away the well-dressed buckskins in exchange, for which these canyon people are noted. From the Paiutis, they obtained baskets and their tusjehs, or wicker-work, pinion gum-covered water-bottles.

As for sheep and goats, there are few places in the United States where so many were to be found as on the Navaho reservation. Every family had its flock, as every woman was a blanket weaver; and one of the prettiest sights in the whole Painted Desert Region was to come upon a flock of these gentle, domestic creatures quietly pasturing, led or driven by the owner herself, or one of her children.

But the last few years have made a great difference in their prosperity. Rains have been rare, water scarce, and pasture scant, and as a result their flocks are reduced to woeful proportions. Their nomadic habits render the improvement of their locations impossible, and their superstition in regard to the burning of a hogan in which any one has died compels frequent migrations.

There is no doubt but that for the past three hundred years of historic time the Navahoes have been thieves, robbers, and murderers. The Hopis contend that all the sheep they had before the general distribution, earlier referred to, were stolen from them. This is probably true, but it is equally probable that had the Navahoes not stolen them the Utes would; and while this seems poor comfort, after facts showed that it was an exceedingly good thing that Navahoes rather than Utes became their possessors. For, once in their possession, the Navahoes became careful breeders (for aborigines) of sheep, and when marauding bands of Utes came into the country the warlike Navahoes drove them away, thus defending the sheep so that the Hopis could obtain the nucleus of a new flock later on.

In the next chapter I present, a fairly full and accurate account of the art of blanket-weaving, for which the Navahoes are now so noted.

As a rule the physical development of the Navahoes is sturdy and robust, as will be seen from the accompanying photographs. They average well, and with slight range on either side from a fair and normal development. There are few excessively strong, and equally few very weak people among them. The same may be said of their fatness and leanness, both extremes being rare.

The men, as is common with all Indians, pluck out the hair on both lips and chin, though, occasionally, one will find a man who has allowed his moustache to grow. The hair on the head is seldom cut, and with both sexes is allowed to grow long. The men tie it in a knot behind, and wrap a high-colored "banda" around the forehead, thus confining the hair and adding considerably to their own picturesqueness.

Being a prosperous people, they are generally contented looking, and wear that air of complacent self-satisfaction that is a sure sign of prosperity. It seems clearly to say: "We are a good people, a specially favored because specially deserving people, hence look upon us and understand our prosperity." There are no beggars among the better class of the Navahoes, and men as well as women are hard workers. As a nation they are decidedly producers. Mr. Cotton has large gangs of them working at grading, etc., on the Santa Fé Railway, and they can be found helping white men in as many and as various occupations as the Chinese in California. The industry of the women is proverbial, for seldom will one be found idle, her greatest seeming pleasure being to have her hands constantly occupied. What with carding the wool, washing, dyeing, and spinning it, preparing the dyes (after collecting them) for coloring it, and then weaving the blankets for which they are famous, going out into the mountains to collect the wild seeds and roots of which they are fond, caring for the corn, tending the sheep and goats, preparing the daily food, and many other duties that they impose upon themselves, none can say they are not models of industry. Men, women, and children alike are fearless riders. The wealth of many a man is determined by his possessions of horses and sheep, and from earliest years the boys are required to attend to the bands of horses. In their semi-nomad life the women ride about with the men, and thus become skilled riders. They sit astride, mounting and dismounting as easily as the men, and riding wherever occasion demands.

The saddles are made by the men, and are a modification of the big-horned Mexican variety. The tree is cut out with infinite patience and care, and is then covered with rawhide or bought leather, and adorned with rows of brass-headed nails. The girth, or cinch, is home woven, of wool, cotton, or horsehair, the former being preferred.

The Antelope Priests leaving their Kiva for the Snake Dance.

The Widow, Daughters, and Grandchildren of the Navaho Chief, Manuelito.

That the Navahoes are or were expert engineers, and could construct difficult trails, is evidenced by their trails into Chaca Canyon from the mesa above. Simpson thus describes what he saw in 1849: "A mile further, observing several Navahoes high above us, on the brink of the north wall, shouting and gesticulating as if they were very glad to see us, what was our astonishment when they commenced tripping down the almost sheer wall before them, as nimbly and dexterously as minuet dancers! Indeed, the force of gravity, and their descent upon a steep inclined plane, made such a kind of performance absolutely necessary to insure their equilibrium."

They are a remarkably intelligent people, and their faces are, as a rule, pliant and expressive. There is none of the proverbial stolidness to be found among any except very few of the older men of the Navahoes. If you are unwelcome you will know it,—surly looks and words will ask your mission and bid you begone. On the other hand, if you are welcome, glad smiles will light up the faces of your friends, and you will hear sweet words uttered by melodious and tuneful voices. It is seldom that your courteous advances will be repelled, though they are very ready to resent unwelcome intrusions. I have often sat for hours in the hogans of entire strangers, and the conversation of men and women was general and punctuated with laughter and smiles, showing that they know how to make and appreciate jokes.

The Navahoes play a game common in the Southwest, which they call nanzosh. It is a simple game, yet they seem to get endless fun and amusement from it, often gambling large sums upon their favorite players, for, while it looks and is simple, it is not easy to play so as to win. It requires great skill and accurate throwing. The implements are two long poles and a small hoop. The poles are generally of alder and in two pieces, a fathom long, and a long, many-tailed string called the turkey-claw is fastened to the end of each. Two players only are needed. One throws the hoop. Both follow, and when they think the hoop is about to fall, they throw their respective poles so that the hoop, in its fall, will rest upon those portions of their poles that give the highest counts.

Catlin describes a similar game played by the Mandans, though their pole is a single piece of wood, as is that of the Mohaves and Yumas, both of whom have the same game.

The taboo is in existence in all its force among the Navahoes. The most singular of these is that which forbids a man ever to look upon the face of his mother-in-law. Among civilized people it is a standard subject for rude jesting, this relationship of the mother-in-law, but with the Navahoes, the white man's jest is a subject of great earnestness. Each believes that serious consequences will follow if they see each other; hence, as it is the custom for a man to live with his wife's people, constant dodging is required, and the cries of warning, given by one or another of the family to son or mother-in-law, are often heard. I was once photographing the family of Manuelito, the last great war-chief of the Navahoes. The widow of the chief, her two daughters, their husbands and children, made up the group. But there was no getting of them together. I would photograph the mother with her daughters and grandchildren, but as soon as I called for the daughters' husbands, the mother "slid" out of sight, and when I wished for her return, the men disappeared.

Then, too, a Navaho will never touch fish, much less eat it. According to one of the shamans, the reason for this is, that some of their ancestors were once turned into fish in the San Juan River, and, were they to eat fish, they might thus become cannibals, and eat descendants of their own ancestors. As neither Matthews nor Stephen refers to this cause of the taboo, I merely give it for what it may be worth. The former tells of a white woman, who, in a spirit of mischief, threw a pan of water in which fish had been soaked over a young Navaho. He changed his clothes and bathed himself carefully, in order that no taint of the tabooed fish might remain upon him. I have had a great deal of fun by innocently offering candy in the form of fish to Navahoes. As they are fond of candy, it was a strong proof of the power of the taboo that they invariably refused to touch it.

Superstition naturally forms a large part of the Navaho's thought. He believes in charms, amulets, fetishes, witchcraft, taboos, magic, and all the wondrous things he can conceive. His name for a personal fetish is Bizha, "his treasure, something he especially values; hence his charm, his amulet, his personal fetish, his magic weapon, something that one carries to mysteriously protect himself."

The talisman or amulet for the gambler is a piece of fine turquoise, because Noholipi, a gambling god, who appears in their Origin Legend, was made successful always with a large piece of this precious stone.

There are quite a number of medicine-men, or shamans, among the Navahoes, some good, others bad. It has been my privilege to know several who are men of dignity and character.

Dr. Matthews, in writing of them, thus strongly expresses himself: "There are, among the Navahoes, charlatans and cheats who treat disease; men who pretend to suck disease out of the patient, and then draw from their own mouths pebbles, pieces of charcoal, or bodies of insects, claiming that these are the disease which they have extracted. But the priests of the great rites are not to be classed with such. All of these with whom the writer is acquainted are above such trickery. They perform their ceremonies in the firm conviction that they are invoking divine aid, and their calling lends dignity to their character." Of Hatali Natloi, the smiling chanter, he says: "He would be considered a man of high character in any community. He is dignified, courteous, kind, honest, truthful, and self-respecting."

This is the universal testimony of all who know this class of men with reasonable intimacy. Though the white man may believe the performances of a shaman ridiculous or superstitious, that need not interfere with his respect and esteem.

To understand this subject aright, one must clearly apprehend the Indian meaning of the terms "medicine," and "medicine-men." Oftentimes the latter are called priests, sometimes thaumaturgists, oftener shamans, and, of course, by all unknowing white men are unhesitatingly denounced as frauds and humbugs. Now to the Indian all things that work injury to him are bad medicine. If you write his name (or any scrawl he cannot understand) on a piece of paper and look at it solemnly and then at him, at the same time shaking your head, you can persuade him into the belief that it is "bad medicine." Owen Wister recently wrote in one of the popular magazines an interesting story, the whole plot of which was based upon his knowledge of this fact.

With the Navaho it is "bad medicine" to touch an achindee hogan (or house). When a person dies within a house, the rafters are tumbled over the body, and the whole set on fire. After that it would be exceeding "bad medicine" for a Navaho to go near the spot, or touch a piece of wood belonging to that hogan; for the spirit (the achindee) is supposed to remain in the locality, and he resents any undue intrusion into his domain. Before I was aware of the custom and feeling, I camped near an abandoned and partially burned hogan. When I sent my Navaho man to it for wood for a fire, he went half a mile away into the mountain and stayed there. I was unable to understand his feeling, but later I learned that except under the pangs of direst hunger, he would never have touched a morsel of food prepared over a fire in which wood from the achindee hogan had been used.

Medicine-men are often used as instruments for the working of private revenge. Cowards are to be found among Indians as among white men. Among white men these despicable wretches attack their foes through the columns of newspapers or in the pages of magazines, while among the former they call in the services of a medicine-man. This hired charlatan then either directly or by proxy works upon the fears of the man he is hired to injure. Sometimes he actually poisons or otherwise harms him under pretence of protecting him. But the Indian is dreadfully superstitious, and to work upon his mind is easy, and he soon imagines himself to be sick.

For the cure of disease the better class of Navaho shamans have a system of chanting, praying, dancing, bathing, sweating, etc., that Dr. Matthews has fully described in the United States Bureau of Ethnology reports. The complexity of these ceremonies cannot be comprehended or conceived by those whose knowledge of the Indian is superficial and casual.

If, however, a shaman makes himself unpopular, or fails to cure in several successive cases, or earns the enmity of a treacherous shaman foe, he is liable to be accused of witchcraft, and if a sufficient number of the people can be made to believe the charge he is speedily done away with. One of the shamans made famous by Dr. Matthews was recently killed on account of his harsh and tyrannical manner. He was accused of witchcraft and shot. Hence it will be seen that the Navaho is not yet perfect—any more than his white brother. No, indeed!

There are other points in which he is similar to his brother of the white skin. Some years ago I journeyed in a wagon with an old Arizona pioneer, Franklin French, from Winslow, on the line of the Santa Fé, through the Hopi country, the Mormon town of Tuba City, past the Navaho settlements of Willow Springs, Echo Reef, etc., to Lee's Ferry of the Colorado River.

Beyond Willow Springs we camped one night, and I went to a Navaho hogan to purchase corn and vegetables for ourselves, and feed for the horses. Everything was six prices too high, but the Navahoes knew I was in need of their articles and raised the prices accordingly. It is not only the white man that understands the principle of "cornering the market." We compromised, however, and, after a hearty supper and a chat around the camp-fire, I rolled myself up in my blankets ready to sleep until called for breakfast in the morning.

But what a babel of confusing and distressing sounds it was that awakened me! Surely we must be beset by a band of marauding Navahoes, bent on murdering us! No; it was only a wordy fight between my driver and three Navaho women, who had come to demand compensation for depredations committed in their corn-field by our horses. Hobbled, and turned loose, they had discovered somehow, during the night, that on Echo Reef were corn and other good fodder to be had in the place of the scant feed offered below; so, following their noses, they had wandered into corn-fields and melon-patches to their own delectation, but the manifest injury of the crops. What was to be done about it? French was advising that the Navahoes imitate the example of the Hopis and cut off a portion of the ear of each offending animal, but the women angrily laughed him to scorn and vociferously demanded cinquo pesos for the damage. These were not forthcoming, but I urged the squaws on, telling them to insist that the hoary-headed old miser pay them their just demands, and informing them, in purest English, of the opinions French had expressed regarding them, as a people, the night before. The aborigines didn't quite know what to make out of my fluent verbosity, and French at last impatiently turned to me and told me there'd be a "pretty general monkey and parrot time started here pretty quick, if I didn't let up, and that'll be follered by a pretty tall foot-race between us two, in which you'll be 'way off in the lead." So we compromised with our dusky visitors by inviting them to eat up the remnants of our breakfast, and then carry away a little coffee and sugar. The only thing I am now afraid of is that, at the next visit I make them, they will privately and stealthily, under the cover of night, lead our steeds into the forbidden fields, and encourage them in their thefts, in order that they may enjoy another "compromise."

Primitive peoples at an early date felt the desire for personal adornment. With the Navaho this found expression in painting the body with various colored ochres or clays, in fashioning garments out of the skins of animals, in wearing head-dresses and other fantastic ornaments made from feathers, and in necklaces, bracelets, anklets, and wristlets made of small flint arrowpoints, or of the dried seeds of juniper, pinion, and other plants, or of bones. Later they secured beads of shell, turquoise, and coral by barter.

But nearly all this primitive decoration received a rude shock of displacement when the Mexican colonist came upon the scene, with his iron, copper, and silver adornments glittering in the sunlight. From coveting, the Navaho took to possessing by fair means or foul. He would barter his skins or other native possessions for the precious metals, using brass and copper for the making of ornaments, and iron for tipping his arrows. Silver, however, has never lost its charm for him. The Mexican vaquero, trapped out in the glittering metal, has ever been his ideal of personal adornment, and he retains it to this day. Silver is the only coin they care to accept, though the better educated now know the superior value of gold.

There are some clever, skilful silversmiths among them—peshlikais, as they call themselves. In crucibles of their own manufacture they melt the precious metal, using a crude and primitive blast furnace, with charcoal as fuel, and the molten silver is then poured into moulds which they have shaped out of sandstone or other rock. They understand the art of uniting two pieces of metal together, for many of their ornaments are hollow and globular, originally made in two parts and then joined. Scarcely a man or woman of any standing in the tribe does not possess a home-manufactured necklace of silver beads or articles of some design,—a finger ring or two, one or more bracelets, and sometimes a pair of ear pendants. Above all they covet the belt with large silver disks. Each of these disks is made of two or more silver dollars, melted and run into a flat mould. This thick sheet is then hammered out to the required size and shape, which is either oval or circular, and chased with small tools. The border is generally filleted and the edges scalloped. When finished each disk has a value of twice its original cost in coin silver. Sometimes a belt will contain eight or nine disks and a buckle, which cannot be bought for less than thirty-six to forty dollars. This, too, is actual cost price. If the Navaho doesn't care to part with it, an extra five or ten dollars, or even more, is required to induce him to let it go.

In addition to these objects of personal adornment, many of the more wealthy have silver bridles. The bridle itself is made of leather or woven horsehair, and then the silver strips and bars, artistically chased and decorated, are placed and fastened on the headstall. Silver buttons of pretty and tasty design are commonly used on gaiters and moccasins. These are made from beaten coins, twenty-five and fifty-cent pieces, and the obverse side is often found in its original state as stamped in the United States or Mexican mint.

The bracelets are of various designs, sometimes simple round circlets; other times the silver is triangular, but the most common shape is a flat band, on the outer side of which chasings and gravings are made. These bracelets are made so that they can be slipped sideways over the wrist. These and all the other articles mentioned are worn equally by women and men.

The finger rings are often adorned with a rude setting of turquoise or garnet. The former is found in various parts of New Mexico, and on their reservation they dig garnets, spinel rubies, jacinths, peridots, opals, smoky topaz, and crystal spar in large quantities. From the Petrified Forest they obtain jasper, carnelian, chalcedony, agate, and amethyst. All these objects are rudely polished and shaped, and used on rings, ear pendants, or necklaces.

It has been stated that the Navaho is exceedingly superstitious about making or allowing to be made any representation of a snake, and that on one occasion a silversmith who offended by beginning to make a bracelet of rattlesnake design was cruelly beaten, his workshop demolished, and the hated emblem destroyed. This may be true, but I have ridden all over the Navaho reservation wearing both a rattlesnake ring and bracelet, and have had several made for me, on different parts of the reservation, by different peshlikais. I am now wearing a ring of rattlesnake design made by a Navah silversmith and given to me with this thought as explained to me by the donor: "The snake watches and guards for us our springs and water-courses. Water is the most precious thing we possess in the desert. I make for you this ring in the form of a snake, that the power that guards our most precious thing may always guard you."