Pueblos. Their faces are a little more hirsute than those of Indians farther east. Many have occiputs so flattened that the skulls are brachycephalic or hyperbrachycephalic, a feature resulting from the hard cradle board on which the head rests in infancy. According to Hrdlicka they approach the Pueblos physically much more closely than the Apache, notwithstanding their linguistic connection with the latter. In general their faces are intelligent and pleasing. They are celebrated for intelligence and good order. There is nothing somber or stoic in their character. Among themselves they are merry and jovial, much given to jest and banter. They are very industrious, and the proudest among them scorn no remunerative labor. They do not bear pain with the fortitude displayed among the militant forces of the north, nor do they inflict upon themselves equal tortures. They are, on the whole, a progressive people. Descent is in the female line; a man belongs to the clan of his mother, and when he marries must take a woman of some other clan. The social position of the women is high, and their influence great. They often possess much property in their own right, which marriage does not alienate from them.

The ordinary Navaho dwelling, or hogan, is a very simple structure, although erected with much ceremony. It is usually conical in form, built of sticks set on end, covered with branches, grass and earth, and often so low that a man of ordinary stature cannot stand erect in it. One must stoop to enter the doorway, which is usually provided with a short passage or storm

door. There is no chimney; a hole in the apex lets out the smoke. Some hogans are rude, polygonal structures of logs laid horizontally; others are partly of stone. In summer, "leanto" sheds and small inclosures of branches are often used for habitations. Sweat houses are small, conical hogans without the hole in the apex, for fires are not lighted in them; the temperature is increased by means of stones heated in fires outside. Medicine lodges, when built in localities where trees of sufficient size grow, are conical structures like the ordinary hogans, but much larger. When built in regions of lowsized trees, they have flat roofs. Of late, substantial stone structures, with doors, windows, and chimneys are replacing the rude hogans. One reason they built such houses is that custom and superstition constrained them to destroy or desert a house in which death had occurred. Such a place was called chindihogan, meaning "devil-house." Those who now occupy good, stone houses, carry out the dying and let them expire outside, thus saving their dwellings, and indeed the same custom is sometimes practiced in connection with the hogan. No people have greater dread of ghosts and mortuary remains.

The most important art of the Navaho is that of weaving. They are especially celebrated for their blankets, which are in high demand among the white people on account of their beauty and utility; but they also weave belts, garters, and saddle girths-all with rude, simple looms. Their legends declare that in the early days they knew not the art of weaving by means of a loom.

The

The use of the loom was probably taught to them by the Pueblo women who were incorporated into the tribe. They dressed in skins and rude mats constructed by hand, of cedar bark and other vegetal fibers. The few basket makers among them are said to be Ute or Paiute girls, or their descendants, and these do not do much work. What they make, though of excellent quality, is confined almost exclusively to two forms required for ceremonial purposes. Navaho make very little pottery, and this of a very ordinary variety, being designed merely for cooking purposes; but formerly they made a fine red ware decorated in black with characteristic designs. They grind corn and other grains by hand on the metate. For ceremonial purposes they still bake food in the ground and in other aboriginal ways. For many years they have had among them silversmiths who fabricate handsome ornaments with very rude appliances, and who undoubtedly learned their art from the Mexicans, adapting it to their own environment. Of late years many of those who have been taught in training schools have learned civilized trades, and civilized methods of cooking.

By treaty of Canyon de Chelly, Arizona, September 9th, 1849, the Navaho acknowledged the sovereignty of the United States. By treaty of Fort Sumner, New Mexico, June 1st, 1868, a reservation was set apart for them in Arizona and New Mexico, and they ceded to the United States their claim to other lands. Their reservation has been modified by subsequent Executive orders.

In reference to the religion of the Navahos, I quote from "A Little History of the Navajos," by Oscar H. Lipps, 1909:

"Navajo mythology is replete with legends handed down from father to son telling the origin of every good and evil thing known to his simple life. While he does not contemplate a First Great Cause or its attendant effect, yet his legends contain the story of the creation of his present world—the sun, moon, stars, sky, rivers, mountains, cliffs and canyons. He has a legend of a flood which destroyed all the wicked people. There is also the Wind god, Rain god, War god, etc., to whom he attributes omnipotent powers.

"While the Navajo has produced no literature and has no great epics or pyrics, still he has created elaborate dramas. All of his dreams are founded on myths. Many of these myths are very long so that perhaps few Navajos know thoroughly more than two or three of the great myths. Like the myths of most all other people, they may be either explanatory, such as attempts to explain the mysteries of existence and universal life; aesthetic, those designed to elicit emotion and give pleasure; or the romantic myth, which displays the character of some favorite hero. In Navajo mythology may be found all of these classes of myths."

I insert a few of these myths and legends, taken from recognized authorities:

CREATION OF THE FIRST MAN AND WOMAN.

(By Dr. Matthews.)

"The gods laid a buckskin on the ground with the head to the west; on this they placed two ears of corn, one yellow, one white, with their tips to the east; and over the corn they spread another buckskin with its head to the east; under the white ear they put the feather of a white eagle, under the yellow ear the feather of a yellow eagle. Then the white wind blew from the east and the yellow wind blew from the west, between the skins. While the wind was blowing, eight of the Mirage people came and walked around the objects on the ground four times, and as they walked the eagle feathers, whose tips protruded from between the buckskins, were seen to move. When the Mirage people had finished their walk, the upper buckskin was lifted, the ears of corn had disappeared; a man and a woman lay there in their stead. The white ear of corn had been changed into a man, the yellow ear into a woman. The pair thus created were First Man and First Woman.

MYTH OF THE OLD MAN AND WOMAN OF THE FIRST WORLD. (By Stevenson.)

"In the lower world four gods were created by Etseastin and Etseasun. These gods were so annoyed by the ants that they said: 'Let us go to the four points of the World.' A spring was found at each of the cardinal points, and each god took possession of a spring, which he jealously guarded.