--- title: Improvement Era description: Monthly periodical of the Mormon church, 1897 onward. This library holds the issues of November 1897 to December 1930. authors: - Anderson, J. F. collections: - periodicals tags: - magazine - improvement-era periodical: Improvement Era volume: 18 number: 2 published: 1914-12 publisher: Young Men’s Mutual Improvement Associations publisher_place: Salt Lake City language: en type: magazine reference: 'Anderson, J. F., "The Navajo Indians", *Improvement Era* 18, no. 2 (December 1914): 112–118.' source: url: https://archive.org/details/improvementera1802unse transcription: Transcribed from the Internet Archive scan of each issue (the item for each issue is named in the issue's own source); unnumbered advertising leaves are omitted, printed page numbers are kept as page markers. identifier: improvementera1802unse start_page: 112 end_page: 118 rights: status: public-domain basis: US publication 1930 or earlier (published 1914-12) source: https://archive.org/details/improvementera1802unse publication_year: 1914 note: The Internet Archive item metadata carries a blanket "© Copyright by Intellectual Reserve, Inc." notice. The library owner judged it inapplicable because this issue was published in 1914, before 1931; a scan-level notice does not restore copyright. --- # The Navajo Indians The Navajo Indians 15Y J. F. ANDERSON, PRINCIPAL MILLARD COUNTY HIGH SCHOOL, AND MEMBER OF THE UTAH ARCHAEOLOGICAL EXPEDITION, 1913 The largest Indian reservation in the United States occupies something more than eighteen million acres right in the heart of the great southwest, and has a population of about twenty-seven thousand Navajos. This arid area of the Navajo reservation is three times as large as the state of Massachusetts, twenty-six times the area of Rhode Island, and more than half as large as England and Wales. It includes parts of the states of New Mex- ico, Arizona and Utah. Because of the scattered pas- toral life of the Navajos, and the roughness of the country, the population can only be estimated. The census of 1910 places the es- timate at twenty-seven thousand, showing an increase of about eighteen thousand since Kit Car- son counted them, at the time of the Bosque Rodondo in the six- ties. They are still rapidly in- THE HOGAN OR HOME OF THE creasing, and are one of the few NAVAJO tribes in America that are thriv- of posts, bark and earth. The It is built entrance always faces the east. ing under the restraints of reser-, vation life. The Navajos are wards of the government, but may be said xo be self-supporting. It has been the policy of the government at Washington to interfere as little as possible with the civil life of the tribe. Their system of government is surprisingly advanced and is almost a pure democracy. The "head men" and their subordinates hold office by popular voice and the tenure of office hinges on good behavior and prowess. They will "recall" an incompetent official and select a successor who, by personality courage and superior wisdom, possesses the confidence of his tribesmen. All have suffrage in Navajo land— women as well as men. THE NAVAJO INDIANS 113 One may rise from poverty and obscurity to power and prestige. There is no chief over the whole tribe, but a number of "head men." When one of these dies, his son may or may not succeed him, depending upon the will of the people. The tribe impresses one as an unusually strong, virile, industrious and intelligent type of. red men. Due in part to their contact with whites of the better type, they are rapidly forsaking some of the meaner propensities, both native and those acquired from early Spanish explorers. The person who seems to be influencing the life of Navajos most is Mrs. John Wetherill of the Kayenta trading post, Arizona. Photo by Brooks, Utah Arch. Exped. THE NAVAJO AND HIS HORSE ON THE PAINTED DESERT This cultured woman wields more power among them than any chief, or "head man." She is a white woman adopted into the tribe and is a real leader among them, holding her position as a recognition by the Indians of her sympathetic interest in their life. A queen could hardly be more loved by her subjects. She is at once the judge, physician, interpreter, adviser and best friend of her devoted wards. She knows their language perfectly and has so aided them in modifying many of their festivals and ceremonies as to rid them of the more gruesome and cruel features. She has even been able to exercise an uplifting influence on their marriage and divorce customs, which has not been easy, for they 114 IMPROVEMENT ERA have long been accustomed to trial marriages, changing their wives or increasing their numbers as often as they were inclined, without restriction. Some of the social customs of the Navajo are peculiarly primitive. They are conservative traders and know how to drive a good bargain. As media of exchange, they use beads, silver ornaments of their own handiwork, goats, sheep, horses, and anything of value. Garnets and turquoises are convenient forms of native money. Until recent years they even bartered in slaves, but this practice is almost, if not quite, abandoned. Navajo A will seldom accept a check or a greenback, for he is unable to determine its value and, be- sides, is suspicious of paper money. They have a tendency to extravagant borrowing among themselves, resulting in a system of peonage like that in Mexico. ANavajo is nearly always willing to sign a promissory note. The sig- nature is often an X, or the thumb print of the signer on paper, or a substitute for paper. Like most aborigines, the Navajo is not always ready to redeem his pledge, and his failure to do so often brings about a disagreeable situation, frequently ending in a quarrel. He is an "Indian trader" and Photo by Harper, Utah Arch. Exped. thinks it his privilege to "trade A NAVATO LEATHER ARTIST AT WORK IN HIS FOREST HOME back" at will. It is — a land of contrast the forests and Self-torture is not uncom- desert plains side by side. mon and is practiced in some of their ceremonies. They are prone to demonstrate their stoicism by self-scourging or by subjecting themselves to ordeals of endurance to arouse admiration and to inure themselves to pain. The Navajo enjoys a good joke, and after he loses his native reticence he laughs heartily. A man with keen wit is held in high esteem and a huddlcchczzly (humorist) never lacks company. Honesty is a leading virtue among them. Petty thieving is almost entirely absent, but the less scrupulous among them will sometimes perpetrate a theft on a large scale, if there is little danger of detection. Once detected, however, they will frankly confess the deed. During all his travels among the Navajos, Prof. I'll E NAVAJO INDIANS 115 Byron Cummings of the Utah Expedition has never lost, by theft, a single article of equipment. Camp could always be left with the assurance that bridles, guns, tools and food would be undisturbed. The attitude of the Navajo toward telling a lie is quite the reverse. He will lie glibly, but when his falsehood is discovered he confesses frankly without sign of embarrassment. Both women and men smoke. When the early Spanish explorers penetrated the country they found the Indians smoking the Photo by Harper, Utah Arch. Exped. TYPICAL SCENERY IN NAVAJO LAND leaves of native plants, using hollow reeds as cigarettes. Since the introduction of tobacco it has been preferred to the native plants. Their method of salutation is not elaborate except in the meeting of relatives and friends who have long been separated. At such a meeting, close relatives will sometimes embrace each other. They never shake hands nor kiss, except where they have been taught to do so by the Pelicanos (Americans). Ordinarily in meeting they simply face each other with a pleased look, and remain silent as a rule. When enemies or persons unfriendly to each other meet, there is no sign of recognition unless the animosity is so great as to provoke a quarrel. Their methods of transportation are primitive. They travel on desert mustangs, on burros or afoot. The endurance of a 116 IMPROVEMENT ERA Navajo is almost as remarkable as that of a Hopi. A native can trot all day alongside a horse with only a little parched corn and water for food and will show little fatigue. The Navajo is a child of the desert, and adapted by nature to survive in a land of thirst, --cant food and a torrid sun. Superstition is a ruling factor in Navajo life. Numerous* taboos, bugaboos, mystic myths and legends enthrall the minds of these credulous people. All water animals are taboo, and it is considered a serious religious offense to shed the blood or eat the flesh of fish, ducks, beavers, otters or any aquatic animal. Eggs are also banned. It is believed that a water animal is the second incarnation of an un- faithful woman, and is therefore chindce (possessed of evil spirits). To whistle after dark may bring great disaster, they believe, and all whistling is confined to daylight hours. A native horsewrangler with the Utah expedition, who could whistle loudly and beautifully, steadfastly refused to whistle one night to attract the attention of lost comrades. He preferred to yell. , They believe that spirits of the other world give them warnings manifested by ringing in tie ears, belching, biting the tongue and nu- merous other happenings. For instance, a jour- ney will often be abandoned if a ringing in the ears is felt upon starting out. Religious rites,, chants, and songs out of season are con- sidered to invite disaster. Games and legends out of season are scrupulously avoided. The most troublesome taboo of all is the -—& which prohibits a man from looking upon the face of his mother-in-law. They believe that those who violate this taboo will in time Photo by Fracier. become blind. This, they declare, is the reason Utah Arch. Exped. that so many Navajos are blind. For a person A TYPICAL YOUNG to be blind is to them indication that such per- NAVAJO ERAVE son or a near relative has violated the mother- in-law tabco, and thus incurred the wrath of the gods. ,JBut there is a natural reason for so much blindness among the Indians of the desert. The glaring sunlight, intensified by its reflection from the many-colored sands and cliffs is, in time, destructive to the strongest retina. Members of the Utah Expedition protected their eyes with amber-colored glasses. In order to avoid being seen by her son-in-law, a mother will arrange to visit her daughter during the absence from home of the husband. The daughter, unaccompanied by her husband, may visit her mother's home at any time and remain as long as she THE NAVAJO INDIANS 117 desires without being called for by her husband, whose only recourse is to send a friend or a relative for his squaw. If the mother of a maiden be a widow, a man will sometimes overcome the mother-in-law taboo by first marrying the mother and then the daughter. Thus he escapes the taboo by becoming his own father-in-law. The taboo forbids the killing, by shedding blood, of a bear, coyote, wildcat, eagle or snake. These animals are either to be avoided or killed bv strangulation. Carcasses of all animals not used for food are avoided. The birth of a child during an eclipse of the sun is considered a bad omen, and the wrath of the gods can only be appeased, they believe, by the killing of the child at birth. Photo by Ryncarson, Utah Arch. Exped. PROF. CUMMINGS MEETING TWO OF HIS NAVAJO FRIENDS AT MONTICELLO, UTAH These Indians have just brought in a band of desert mustangs for the use of the Utah expedition. During an eclipse it is required that everyone remain in absolute silence. Manifestations of greed or gluttony are religiously avoided. Hoarding is so strongly banned that misers are unknown. Almost invariably the Nava- jos will object to being photo- graphed. They have been told by their medicine men that a Photo by Stratton, Utah Arch. Exped. cameia is an instrument contain- MRS vvetherill and one of j„g evil spirits which enter the her navajo wards body of the person photographed. They also believe that one who is photographed loses strength 118 IMPROVEMENT ERA and that the strength lost goes to compose the picture taken. It isalmost impossible to induce them to pose for a picture, even for a money consideration. They know so little of the mechanism of the camera, however, that it is often possible to "snap" them without being discovered in the act. If a Navajo discovers that his picture has been taken without his consent; his rage is terrible, and the unfortunate photographer does well to save his camera from being demolished by the offended savage. One of the Navajo guides with the Utah party deserted the expedition for a whole day, at a critical time, because he discovered that an attempt had been made to photograph him. The Navajo is a proud, independent, industrious Indian, high Photo by Brooks, Utah Arch. E.vped. NAVAJO CHILDREN CARRYING WATER IN WATER-TIGHT BASKETS Water is a scarce and precious necessity in the Painted Desert. in the scale of intelligence. He does so well under his own system of government and social life that it is not likely that the government at Washington will radically interfere.