The St. Johns herald., 1895-07-11
ZINC ENVELOPES
Methods of tho Navajo Indians in Capturing the T-mii Animal
Pens in Winch Hundreds of the Wary Creatures Are Corrl!ed at Oace-A Cruel Practice That Should
 Be Checked.

Few people in the west, ana scarcely any in the east, have any idea of the unique manner in which the Navair Indians have from time i.nmemor:al caught antelopes, writes 2 corresp0- ent at Helen. V. NJ. Thousands of the beautiful creatures still abou4d upo the vast tablelands of this territory In the country just south Of the Nara 10 reserva: ion, and between l. and tn, Atlantic 6 Pacific railroad, one ire gucntly comes upon loG~, straigll rows of the trunks of trees and t!i. branches of ce lar an pine. strctcl3in for miles across these treelcss plaIn. In many places. says tho Chicago Jour nal. they are nearly r3stel away. an only the larger limbs and trunks nov mark these lines These are th" ruin of ancient antelope corrals or pen The large bands of antclopcs have lon, since been destroyed in this part of tn country, and only small herls Of iron. five to ten can be seen. These ar; mostly hunted dor n upon the Amer ican or white r3an's plan. However directly sonth Of NinsloTy. about fit miles di tant, large bands of thes graceful creatures still roam, and thcr, is in existence there 2 new corral that is in running order at the present time. It is here that the old men of the tribe who believe in the ancient manner oi catching game. enjoy their annual hunt.
 This corral was built in 1890 by the order of the oll chief. GanO Mumcho and his son. Many Horses. A place was selected where a slight hill wa found upon the border of q wide prai- rie. Not even sagebush could be seen, and trees for the corral hal to be brought from the cedar-covereI hill nearly ten miles away. They were cut and dragged to the place by the me- md boys on horseback. 4 close pen. cir cular in form, about one hundred feet across, was first built against the steep side of the hill, so that the tops of the posts used could not be seen from the opposite side. Two lines of trees were then dragged and laid loosely upon the ground, but close enough to appear like brush fence. These lines at tn, pen are about twenty yards apart anc run almost parallel for one hundred. yards or so and then spread apart atan angle of about thirty degrees and eE- tend across the plains for four and a half or five miles.
 When the party reaches the corral for the annual hunt the chief first se- lects the officers, four to watch each point of the compass around the pen. For each pit is dug deep enough to put him out of sight. The less space required the more the occupant is es- teemcd and considered worthy of pro motion later on. The chief and his as. sistant then tal=, thcir places at the right side of the entrance to the pen. standing in hole duc' f2r the pur- pose. and just deep enol.rh 10 hide all except their heads. Frop. f-4 to eight Indians on the Gectest horses are set out at daybrcalI to surround a band of antelopes and head them toward the corral. An antelope when startled keeps as far as possible away from any place where an enemy might be hiding hence they keep as far away from the wings of the corral. which are on either side of them, as they can. After being closed in upon they cannot turn back. as the drivers are in hot pursuit, and they make a dash for the top of the hill, which to them appears to be the only opening between the horrid lines of brush fence. But, alas for them, they find themselves inclosed in a stout pen, around which they run in Q circle, never trying to jump over. The shouts and yells of the Indians at length so completely tcrrify the poor animals that they stand trembling and appar- ently unconscious of the Indians, who now approach and kill them with clubs, ha:chets, stones or anything at hand. As many as two hundred and fifty have been caught at one time in this man. ner. and for wholesale destruction of game it surpasscs any murdcring proc ess in vogue, and should be stopped en- tirely.