Omaha daily bee., 1902-06-19
THE NAVAJO VI
Her Rule in the Tribe n Survival OF
Primitive MatriRrchRte.

social position of great independence. Her
property rights are carefully respected.
She owns much OF the wealth OF the tribe
and her children belong to her alone, A
woman may have hundreds Of sheep when
she marries and not one becomes the prop
erty Of her husband. Descent Is traced
through the female line. II is a survival
Of the primitive matriarchate.
The Navajo women has no permanent
home. The progress Of the tribe has been
greatly impeded by its dark superstition
that every death is caused directly by
Chinde, the devil, and that evil spirits
linger about the dead body. The house is
never occupied again. The corpse is buried
in the floor and the house pulled down over
1t and a Navajo would freeze before he
would make a fire from the logs Of one Of
those deserted heaps. So the Navajo
hogan" is a poor, temporary affair, a mere
circular hut of logs and stones, with a hole
in the roof for the smoke and a blanket
for the door. In the summe the Navajo
woman loves to move into a brush
"wickyup" made Of greasewood boughs.
There she sets Up her loom In the shadow
Of the rocks and lives in the open air all
summer.
Her work.
The Navajo woman can make very good
baskets, but she does not care to do Il
often, preferring to buy them from her
Apache cousin. She makes them herself
only when they are wanted for some sacred
purpose; for medicine, marriage, or other
ceremonies. She tans buckskiR, and makes
her own footwear. both moccasins and high
bottines. She knits stockings, without any
toes or heels. She makes but little pot
terry, and that is coarse and poor, and she
N4AAV- -
which seems the distinguishing art Of all
Indian women. In fact, the Navajo woman
has found her artistic development in the
famous blankets. which seems to be the
passion of her life. She made 1t first of
the 'bayeta" cloth. which she got from
the Spaniard. This she unravelled, and
twisted two or three OF it's strands into one,
making a very strong fiber. Then she
wove into a fabric almost waterproof, and
practically ndestructible. The bayeta
cloth supplied the distinctive red OF the
blanket. For the other %colors. she dyed
her wool with dyes made by herself from
herbs Of the country. OF late years, the
blanket has degenerated. She has put cot
ton in It; she has used the common yarn
and dyes furnished by the traders. Further
more, she is as initiative as a japanese.
and when she first beheld the famboyant
advertisement of Blanks baking powder,
the printed calico Of Pawtucket, or the to-
mato blushing upon It's can, she straight
way wove them into her blanket, with
unique and startling effect. But when
she sought to sell these progressive
products to the white man. she found he
would not buy, which puzzled her very much.
they being his own patterns. The Hyde
exploring expedition. which is conducted In
connection with the American Museum of
National History in New York. is doing n
great deal to restore the blankets to the
old standards. DR.. George II. Pepper, who
is connected with this expedition, has one
blanket for which he would not take 81, 900.
Every Navajo mar who has ever seen II
has uttered gutteral calculations. to the
effect that the woman must have been
crazy. and that II it were known who she
was, she would be killed. 1t is one OF the
greatest pieces Of sacrilege ever per-
petrated. Every figure on 1t is sacred, and
reveals to an impious world som secret
OF the medicine men; some tale Of the
inner religion of the tribe. 1t is a sad COM
mentary on the danger Of intrusting state
secrets in certain directions.
Owners of Property.
The women are the sheep owners OF the
tribe. They have focks ranging from
twenty-five to $500 in number and under
stand perfectly we'll how to drive a sharp
bargain for their wool. They get wool
from a sheep, and It sells at from Z 10 II
cents.
One would not think that crops could be
raised in this land Of drouth, but the
Navajo woman plants her garden in the
canyon bottoms at the foot OF the mesas,
where It catches all moisture from the table
- -. ChA AAaa not HaNaa ANaNAaa
although this is the original lone OF the
potato, which grows wild In Navajo land
But she raises wheat, beans, squashes,
peaches and a few apples, a little alfalfa
and most of all-corn. Corn Is a part oil
the Navajo woman's life. From the cradle
to the grave 1t has a part in every social
and religious ceremony. She grinds 1t on o
metate-a slab of stone followed In the
center-crushing the kernels by hand with
another stone; and she can make one of the
most delicious dishes in the world OF greer
corn ground in this way. She cuts the corr
from the fresh ears, grinds It into a soft
milky mass and throws 1t into the boiling
water with a little salt, and a few pinchei
Of aromatic wild herbs. Then she stirs 4
until 1t is we'll cooked and serves up in the
food basket a dish fit for an %epicure..
Unlike most Indian women, she Is mo-
cursed Win a lazy nuspdnu' Inc NaNaJ'
Is willing to work at any kind Of remunera.
tive labor. He works on the farm, he hal
great herds OF horses and he is almost al
celebrated for his silver work as his wifi
is for her blankets. He beats out thos'
beautiful, barbaric silver disks which thu
Navajo woman wears upon her belt. A bel
OF this kind is worth from $40 to $50, an'
serves as a bank account to the amily
= being pawned in times OF stress and re
deemed in better days.
! Indian music is one Of the most interest
4 ing things in ethnology. The Navajos havl
thousands OF songs, which embody thei
: tribal myths in a very fascinating way
. But, curiously enough, the Navajo womal
never sings. Indian women Of other tribe
, have their W songs and sing in the cere
monial songs with the men. Her Puebl
women neighbors have many fine songs
notably the corn grinding song OF the Zun
, women, which Is very wild and musica.
But the Navajo woman Is quite songless
Ear blanket IL her art. This silent, print