Gallipolis journal. [volume] (Gallipolis, Ohio) 1837-1919, 1868-06-18
THE NAVAJO INDIANS.
TRADITION
of the Creation of the World,
their God, and the Origin
Of Death.
Furnished to the Gallipolis Journal.
Fort SUMNER, n. NJ, !
April 18th, 1868. I

| DEAR DOCT0R:-
l promised il. my
last letter, that I would soon have a
stalk" with principal ''medicine man.
| (priests) Navaio's, and ascertain if
possible their ideas of the "God"
they worship, and the reason for
their personating their Deity with
the attributes of woman. To graft
fly my own curiosity and to edify you,
/ have had three hours very in
teresting interview with Barbarita,
the head chief, and his most intelli-
gent "mediclne man," on the subject
of the creation of the world and
their Theological belief. .s
They believe the earth has two ex-
isting worlds, inhabited by man, an
imsls and birds. That the interior
Of the earth was tinlsned anu p..
pied long before the exterior was
prepared fer mans existence. The
Navajo's were the first of the human
family created after the external
crust of our Globe was in state to
subsist man, the beasts of the field
and the fowls of the air. They have
no idea of the sea or its fishes great
and small. Long before their peo-
pie were made, the surface Of the
earth was merass, water and mud,
in which lived huge monsters that
were ever at war with each other and
SO displeased the creator of the world
that he destroyed them, TO make
preparations for mans existence
The world was then very dark, and
neither sun OF moon had been crea-
ted. The first human being that was
created, while yet the external crust
was still mainly covered with mud
and water, and only the top of one
high mountain dry, was a Navajo
woman perfect in beauty, in purity.
She sprang out of the earth self-crer
ated, and lived on the top of the
high mountain, ever since covered
with pure snow, beyond the San Juan
River, towards the setting sun. She
lives there still, no man having yet
been made perfect enough to marry
or to ascend up to her holy and pure
place in the clouds. Then the Nava-
o nation was created with woman in
her perfection for their God, and the
earth for their possession and heri
tage. TsUo birds only W ere yet made,
and from these sprang all the fowls
of the air: the blue jay and the wild
turkey They came in time to wo-
man high up on the mountain, the
blue jay bearing the seed of all flow-
ers and trees, and the wild turkey the
corn and the wheat. With them be-
gan flowers and trees to grow, the
blue jay scattering the seed, and the
corn and the wheat were planted by
the wild turkey. The pure Navajo
woman was and still is self illumina-
ted, all around her is light, and she
shines at the setting sun. The blue
jay and the turkey, when trees had
grown for them to lodge in, and corn
and wheat were everywhere abun-
dant, multiplied very greatly, the
jay building its nest in the trees and
the turkey on the earth. The flowers
were very many and of colors very
brilliant and bright; and the plumage
and feathers of the birds took the
hues Of the flowers, and SO birds be-
came very beautiful all over the
earth. The turkey made her first
nest in a trough, while the waters still
cursed much of the land and the
wind pressed the water up around
her nest, and the feathers of her tail
laid over in the water, mixed with
mud. Thus the turkey has ever been
mottled-black and white, the ends
around her tail feathers being white
fringed by the white foam Of the wa
ter. All the birds of the earth have
multiplied and increased from these
t,oo, those that fly in the air most and
live in branches of trees, and among
their flowers, being more beautiful
in their plumage than those living
more on the ground and resting on
the earth.
In progress of time, before men
were made, there came up from the
inner world four great beasts, by
boring through the crust, and fire
and water came up after them
through the large hole they made
and threatened the destruction of al