The Coconino sun., 1927-02-18
the bfltlSn lie
Yangtse river.

Tho Navajo tribe, approximately
! 10000 souls. occupy q reservation in
! the northwest corner of New Mexico,
/ the southwest corner Of Utah and the
northeast corner of Arizona. AS a rule
they adhere to their own religion.
| They worship the sun, the moon, the
stars. the storm. the lightning, the
thunder. Many have been converted
to the views of the white nlan and
realize that these are bat the handi-
work of the Almighty. But, most of
them see the Almighty 2 in the thing
itself. They are clean morally and
are very Industrious. The country
they occupy is nothing but vast
desert and it takes constant effort OIL
the rart Of every member of the fam
ily to keep the wolf from the door.
"The Navajo are self-supporting
and have been since the memory Of
man runneth not to the contrary"
stated Supt. A. HI. Kneals. of the San
Juan Agency, Shiprock, New Mexico.
"This support is gained largely
through sheep husbandry. In addi-
ton to sheep they raise goats, cattle
and horses, and do blanket weaving.
"For administrative purposes the
entire Navajo reservation is divided
into six jurisdictions with headquar-
ters at Crown Point, New Mexico:
Shiprock, New Mexico; Fort Defiance,
Arizona; Keams Canyon, Arizona; !;
Leupp, Arizona, and Tuba City, Ari-
zona.
There are no old-time chieftains
remaining. Each clan has one or two
head men whose advice is sought by
the lesser members of the clan. The
tribe as a whole is represented by a
tribal council chosen by the people,
each jurisdiction being represented
on the council The tribal council
consists of twelve members with
twelve alternates.
'The younger Navajo ard many Of
the older ones as well have broken
away from the old tribal life and are
shaping their lives after the white
mans pattern. The schools chiefly
are responsible fer this. Practically
every Navajo child of school age is in
school. These schools are maintained
by the federal government and the
children are not only taken through
the grades and high school but at the
same time are taught the trades in
addition to farming, dairying, stock
raising, cooking, baking, dressmak-
ing, manding, knitting, weaving, etc''
A trip on to the reservation reveals
that the larger number of the Navajo
live in hogans, although many live in
stone, log, frame, or adobe houses.
The hogan is very practical as the
Navajo occupy different portions of
the range ct different times Of the
year. That is to say they follow their
flocks and herds. Hence it readily
may be seen that each family so iiv-
ing must have different habitations,
and the hogan being simple in con-
struction and economically built is pe-
euliarly adapted to this method Of
living.
Practically every family has at
least one hogan on the winter graz
ing range, and one hogan on the sum
ner grazing range. The fact that the
hogan and it's immediate surround
ings are hnoccupied for d considerable
period of time gives the elements an
opportunity to clean up the place and
make it sanitary. 1t is a more sani-
tary arrangements than would exist If
the family lived in one location the
year round
A hogan is a single-roomed struc-
ture built Of logs, something in the
shape of an inverted bowl or teacuD
with the door invariably to the east
so that the spirit of the morning, the
best of all spirits may find ready en-
trance to drive out the evil spirits of
the night.
The logs Of which the hogan is built
are plastered on the outside with
adobe clay until the whole thing
takes on the appearance of an earth
en- mound. It is well ventilated and
we'll lighted through the hole in the
top, which permits the sun to search
out nearly every corner of the hogan
at some time during the day. 1t is
warm and wind-proof and an excellent
shelter from desert sandstorm or
from the binding rays Of the sun in
July and August.
sThe Navajo" explained Superin-
tendent Kneale, "belong to the Atha-
pascan family. They are quick to
pick up anything that adds to their
income. A few years ago their sheen
clipped an average of about two and
one-haf pounds each. A few Ram
bnlillet rams were purchased by the
government and placed with few of
their flocks. The Indians soon appre-
ciated the difference in the wool clip
and in the lambs as a result Today
nearly all the sheep oflgmy jurisdic-
tion are grades Rambouillets.
During the past four years 1,50O
pure bred Rambouillet rams have
been bought by these Indians and as
result the average wool clip is well
over eight and one-half pounds. Their
lambs have increased in weight from
approximately thirty-eight pounds to
more than fifty-eight pounds"
One Of the chief sources of income
to families Of this tribe is the Navajo |