Bisbee daily review., 1908-04-19

by the savage love of the beautiful, the Navajo blanket, worthy child of the two, was born amid the mountains and canons of the desert. Unlike us sister handicrafts. pottery and basket ". it is of comparatively recent birth, but traces it's legitimate lineage to the dinmest reaches of the past, far beyond oldest legend or tradition, back, back to the yelled mystery of the earliest human life that left its trace upon our continent.
 Navajo land. situated in northwest ern New Mexico and northeastern Ari- zona, is a great arid reservation, equal in area to that d the combined states of Massachusetts and Connec- ticut. Over it broods the radiant peace of the desert, and the fathom- less question of Americas greatest mystery; for in it's rugged mountain clefts, the sandstone walls are honey combed with the homes of the an cient inhabitants of the land, and the over-hanging cliffs offered back-wall floor and roof to the earliest home seekers Within this Navajo reserya' tion, we find more and more valuable relics of this long distant people than in any other region of equal extent in America.
 Who we're they? Whence cane they? Whither did they vanish? Their mountain homes echo our questions.
 The Navajos, the present occupants of the land, are comparatively new corners in the Southwest. They, them selves, and their Pueblo neighbors have corroborative legends which would fix the date of their coming as the latter half of the Thirteenth Cen. tury. They are of Athabaskan stock related to the\ Indians of British Co lumbia, from whence they originally migrated. At the time oT their com, ing. they were comparatively few in number, and were probably checkeu in their journey southward by the superior numbers of the Pueblos whose northern boundaries they had invaded. All of the former occupants of their territory had disappeared be fore their coming, and, to their super. stitious fear of ancient ruins, as lnucn as to the wonderful perservatiye agency of the high dry climate, must be ascribed the remarkable state Of preservation of the ruins These carry Nayajos were a savage, warlike peo- pie and their frequent predatory anu murderous raids upon their neighbors were never effectually checked until after the American occupation.
 The early Spanish conquerors brought sheep with them; / and the Navajos stole them. Their country never sheltered many wild anlmaIs, the nights and winters were cviu. clothing was essential, the valleys ot their arid land furnished fair pasture and necessity, grim mother of the race forced their obvious destiny up, on them. They have changed Ii v,n :, fierce band of murderous savages u a race of peaceful shepherd. Every valley shelters a flock of sheep. az gregating half million, and from the increase of their flocks and the prod uct of the looms Of their women, the Navajos have grown rich.
 After the Pueblo rebellion, which in 1880, drove out the white man, Une Spanish Teconquered the land asu ruled it with a fierce severity. To escape the cruelty of the conqueror many Pueblosl chose the lesser evil and, deserting their dearly loved homes, bidding farewell to their slow ly evolved civilization they fled to the Nayajos. To this influx of a peo pie so far their superiors, is due .nucI d the present prestige of the Navajo The new-consers were not suficIenr in number to civilize their benefac tors, but did much to elevate them; the most beautiful beliefs of the Nav ajo are gifts received at that time To this amalgamation of race, is largely due his physical superiority tc other Indians today, for the Navajo Is not degenerate, but a fine sLrap ping fellow, whose race is increasing rapidly in numbers; and last, Dul most important, industrialy, the Pu eblo immigrants taught the NaYajos to weave.
 The Pueblos had praeticed the art or weaving Tor ages, probably lnre,, iting the knowledge of it from the cliff dwellers, in whose ruins we stiI lind exquisite textiles. The Navains were not apt pupils, and it was no until l750 that they became to an, degree proficient in the art that was destined to raise them far above tht level of their race.
 As weaving grew among the Maya. jos. it declined among the Pueblo, and gradually the Nayajos became tbt WeaVers for the entire West In earl, times, parties of Indians From ldaoC and even Montana came Co trade fol the far-famed blanket. The Navajo, have few minor industries notabI, woyk in silver; but the principal bus mess or the men is herding the shcC, ana goats, and practically all of tht women are skilled weavers. the fin, maiden early receiving lessons in tb, art of her mother. With the bound aries or their reservation, they are !, nomadic people, wandering sho,, with their flocks as the need of nae tnure' or the urging of the insatiabl, "ander-iust may lead them. and wherever the temporary hogan ma, pc built there the loom is set up anI tnese patient slaves of the blanke ply their weary craft through sum iner, winter, youth and age
 The method of yeaving fin voo,,, among the Navajos is the most nrir, Nlve imaginable; and, with tbeir sim pie looms and few appliances ...., skih IS required on the part of tn, weaver to produce such truly beauti fui results So largely does this her sonai element enter into the eouation mat shall not attemp to give d oe taiieo description of the process, fol none Of my leaders could learn tt compete successfully with the Naval,
 weayers without long educational so journ among them.
 The wool is not washed before it i,