Navaho Legends

by Unknown

NOTES.

1. How and when the name Navajo (pronounced Nă′vă-ho) originated has not been discovered. It is only known that this name was given by the Spaniards while they still claimed the Navaho land. The name is generally supposed to be derived from navaja, which means a clasp-knife, or razor, and to have been applied because the Navaho warriors carried great stone knives in former days. It has been suggested that the name comes from navájo, a pool or small lake. The Navahoes call themselves Dĭnéʻ or Dĭné, which means simply, men, people. This word in the various forms, Dénè, Tinnéh, Tunné, etc., is used as a tribal designation for many branches of the Athapascan stock.

2. The Carrizo Mountains consist of an isolated mountain mass, about 12 miles in its greatest diameter, situated in the northeast corner of Arizona. It is called by the Navahoes Dsĭlnáodsĭl, which means mountain surrounded by mountains; such is the appearance of the landscape viewed from the highest point, Pastora Peak, 9,420 feet high.

3. The San Juan River, a branch of the Colorado of the West, flows in a westerly direction through the northern portion of the Navaho Reservation, and forms in part its northern boundary. It is the most important river in the Navaho country. It has two names in the Navaho language: one is Sánbĭtoʻ (Water of Old Age, or Old Age River), said to be given because the stream is white with foam and looks like the hair of an old man; the other is Toʻbaká (Male Water), given because it is turbulent and strong in contrast to the placid Rio Grande, which the Navahoes call Toʻbaád, or Female Water. (See note [137].) Perhaps the river has other names.

4. Tu-ĭn-tsá is derived from toʻ or tu (water) and ĭntsá or ĭntsá (abundant, scattered widely). The name is spelled Tuincha, Tuintcha, and Tunicha on our maps. The Tuincha Mountains are situated partly in New Mexico and partly in Arizona, about 30 miles from the northern boundary of both Territories. They form the middle portion of a range of which the Chusca and Lukachokai Mountains form the rest. The portion known as Tuĭntsá is about 12 miles long. The highest point is 9,575 feet above sea-level. The top of the range, which is rather level and plateau-like, is well covered with timber, mostly spruce and pine, and abounds in small lakes and ponds; hence the name Tuĭntsá.

5. The basket illustrated in [fig. 16] is made of twigs of aromatic sumac (Rhus aromatica, var. trilobata). It is 13′ in diameter and 3–⅜′ deep. In forming the helical coil, the fabricator must always put the butt end of the twig toward the centre of the basket and the tip end toward the periphery, in accordance with the ceremonial laws governing the disposition of butts and tips (see notes [12] and [319]). The sole decoration is a band, red in the middle with black zigzag edges. This band is intersected at one point by a narrow line of uncolored wood. This line has probably no relation to the “line of life” in ancient and modern pueblo pottery. It is put there to assist in the orientation of the basket at night, in the dim light of the medicine-lodge. In making the basket, the butt of the first twig is placed in the centre; the tip of the last twig, in the helix, must be in the same radial line, which is marked by the uncolored line crossing the ornamental band. This line must lie due east and west on certain ceremonial occasions, as for instance when the basket, inverted, is used as a drum during the last five nights of the night chant. The margin of this, as of other Navaho baskets, is finished in a diagonally woven or plaited pattern, and there is a legend, which the author has related in a former paper,[321] accounting for the origin of this form of margin. If the margin is worn through or torn, the basket is unfit for sacred use. The basket is one of the perquisites of the shaman when the rites are done; but he, in turn, must give it away, and must be careful never to eat out of it. Notwithstanding its sacred uses, food may be served in it. [Fig. 25] represents a basket of this kind used as a receptacle for sacrificial sticks and cigarettes. In this case the termination of the helix must be in the east, and the sacrifices sacred to the east must be in the eastern quarter of the basket.

[Fig. 17] shows the other form of sacred basket. It is also made of aromatic sumac, and is used in the rites to hold sacred meal. The crosses are said to represent clouds, and the zigzag lines to indicate lightning.

6. The ceremonies of “House Dedication” are described at some length by Mr. A. M. Stephen in his excellent paper on “The Navajo,”[329] and he gives a free translation of a prayer and a song belonging to these rites.

7. A-na-yé, or a-ná-ye, is composed of two words, aná and yéi or ye. Aná, sometimes contracted to na, signifies a member of an alien tribe,—one not speaking a language similar to the Navaho,—and is often synonymous with enemy. Ye (see [par. 78]) may be defined as genius or god. The anáye were the offspring of women conceived during the separation of the sexes in the fourth world.

8. Ti-é-hol-tso-di is a water god, or water monster, a god of terrestrial waters,—not a rain god. He seems akin to the Unktehi of the Dakotas. He is said to dwell in the great water of the east, i.e., the Atlantic Ocean. Although commonly spoken of as one, there is little doubt that the Navahoes believe in many of the Tiéholtsodi. Probably every constant stream or spring has its own water god, (See note [152].) A picture of this god is said to be made in a dry-painting of the rite of hozóni hatál, but the author has not seen it. Tiéholtsodi is described as having a fine fur, and being otherwise much like an otter in appearance, but having horns like a buffalo. (See [pars. 140], [187], [484], [485].)

9. Tsús-kai or Tsó-is-kai is the name given by the Navahoes to a prominent conical hill rising 8,800 feet above sea-level, in northwestern New Mexico, about twenty-six miles north of Defiance Station on the Atlantic and Pacific Railroad. It is called Chusca Knoll, Chusca Peak, and Choiskai Peak by geographers. It rises abruptly four hundred feet or more above the level of the neighboring ridge, is visible at a great distance from the south (but not from the north), and forms a prominent landmark. The Navahoes limit the name Tsúskai to this knoll, but the Mexicans, and following them the Americans, apply the name in different forms (Chusca Mountains, Sierra de Chusca, Chuska, Chuskai, Tchuskai, etc.) to the whole mountain mass from which the knoll rises. The name, not accurately translated, contains the words for spruce (tso) and white (kai).

10. The bath forms an important part of the Navaho rites, being administered on many occasions, and it is often mentioned in the tales. It usually consists of a suds made in a water-tight wicker basket by soaking the root of some species of yucca (see note [88]) in water; the root of Yucca baccata being usually preferred, as it seems richest in saponine. After the application of the suds, the subject is commonly rinsed off with plain water and dried by rubbing on corn meal. In different ceremonies different observances are connected with the bath. In the myth of “The Mountain Chant,”[314] pp. 389, 390, a bath is described as part of the ceremony of the deer-hunt. It is given, no doubt, in preparing for the hunt, for practical as well as religious reasons. It is important that the hunter should divest himself as much as possible of his personal odor when he goes to kill game.

11. Pollen (Navaho, thaditín) is obtained, for sacred uses, from various plants, but Indian corn is the chief source of supply. The pollen is carried in small buckskin bags, which also usually contain small sacred stones, such as rock crystal and pyrophyllite, or small animal fetishes. The administration or sacrifice of pollen is a part of all rites witnessed, and almost always follows or accompanies prayer. It is used in different ways on different occasions; but the commonest way is to take a small pinch from the bag, apply a portion of it to the tongue and a portion to the crown of the head. For some purposes, the shaman collects a quantity of pollen, puts it in a large bag, immerses in it some live bird, insect, or other animal, and then allows the prisoner to escape. This is supposed to add extra virtue to the pollen. In one kind called iʻyidĕzná a bluebird, a yellowbird, and a grasshopper are put in the pollen together. In note [49] we have a mythic account of pollen put on the young of the sea monster and then preserved. Pollen which has been applied to a ceremonial dry-painting is preserved for future uses. Pollen in which a live striped lizard has been placed is used to favor eutocia. The term thaditín is applied to various things having the appearance of an impalpable powder, such as the misty hues of the horizon in the morning and evening, due in Arizona more frequently to dust in the air than to moisture. Captain Bourke, in “The Medicine-men of the Apache,”[295] chapter ii., describes many modes of using pollen which exist also among the Navahoes.

12. The following are a few additional observances with regard to kethawns:—

In cutting the reed used for a series of cigarettes, they cut off a piece first from the end nearest the root, and they continue to cut off as many pieces as may be necessary from butt to point. The pieces, according as they are cut, are notched near the butt (with a stone knife), so that the relations of the two extremities of the piece may not be forgotten. All through the painting of the cigarettes, and the various manipulations that follow, the butt end must be the nearer to the operator, and the tip end the farther away from him. Since the cigarette-maker sits in the west of the medicine-lodge facing the east, the cigarettes, while there, must lie east and west, with the tips to the east. If a number of cigarettes are made for one act of sacrifice, the first piece cut off is marked with one notch near the base, the second piece with two notches, the third piece with three notches, the fourth piece with four notches, all near the butt ends. This is done in order that they may always be distinguished from one another, and their order of precedence from butt to tip may not be disregarded. When they are taken up to be painted, to have the sacred feathers of the bluebird and yellowbird inserted into them, to be filled with tobacco, to be sealed with moistened pollen, or to be symbolically lighted with the rock crystal, the piece that came from nearest the butt (the senior cigarette, let us call it) is taken first, that nearest the tip last. When they are collected to be placed in the patient’s hands, when they are applied to his or her person, and finally when they are taken out and sacrificed, this order of precedence is always observed. The order of precedence in position, when sacrifices are laid out in a straight row, is from north to south; the senior sacrifice is in the northern extremity of the row, the junior or inferior in the southern extremity. When they are laid out in a circle, the order is from east back to east by the way of the south, west, and north. The gods to whom the sacrifices are made have commonly also an order of precedence, and when such is the case the senior sacrifice is dedicated to the higher god, the junior sacrifice to the lower god. When it is required that other articles, such as feathers, beads, powdered vegetable and mineral substances, be sacrificed with the cigarettes, all these things are placed in corn-husks. To do this, the husks are laid down on a clean cloth with their tips to the east; the cigarettes are laid in them one by one, each in a separate husk, with their tip ends to the east; and the sacred feathers are added to the bundle with their tips also to the east. When dry pollen is sprinkled on the cigarette, it is sprinkled from butt to tip. When moist pollen is daubed on the side of the cigarette, it is daubed from butt to tip. (From “A Study in Butts and Tips.”)[319] The hollow internode of the reed only is used. The part containing the solid node is discarded and is split up, so that when thrown away the gods may not mistake it for a true cigarette and suffer disappointment. All the débris of manufacture is carefully collected and deposited to the north of the medicine-lodge. The tobacco of commerce must not be employed. A plug of feathers, referred to above, is shoved into the tube from tip to butt (with an owl’s feather) to keep the tobacco from falling out at the butt. The moistened pollen keeps the tobacco in at the tip end. The rules for measuring kethawns are very elaborate. One or more finger-joints; the span; the width of the outstretched hand, from tip of thumb to tip of little finger; the width of three finger-tips or of four finger-tips joined,—are a few of the measurements. Each kethawn has its established size. This system of sacrifice is common among the pueblo tribes of the Southwest, and traces of it have been found elsewhere. [Fig. 23] represents a thing called ketán yaltí, or talking kethawn (described in “The Mountain Chant,”[314] p. 452), consisting of a male stick painted black and a female stick painted blue. [Fig. 24] shows a kethawn used in the ceremony of the night chant; a dozen such are made for one occasion, but male and female are not distinguished. [Fig. 25] depicts a set of fifty-two kethawns, used also in the night chant: of these the four in the centre are cigarettes lying on meal; the forty-eight surrounding the meal are sticks of wood. Those in the east are made of mountain mahogany, those in the south of Forestiera neo-mexicana, those in the west of juniper, and those in the north of cherry. A more elaborate description of them must be reserved for a future work.

13. “Sacred buckskin” is a term employed by the author, for convenience, to designate those deerskins specially prepared for use in making masks and for other purposes in the Navaho rites. The following are some of the particulars concerning their preparation; perhaps there are others which the author has not learned: The deer which is to furnish the skin must not be shot, or otherwise wounded. It is surrounded by men on foot or horseback, and caused to run around until it falls exhausted; then a bag containing pollen is put over its mouth and nostrils, and held there till the deer is smothered. The dead animal is laid on its back. Lines are marked with pollen, from the centre outwards along the median line of the body and the insides of the limbs. Incisions are made with a stone knife along the pollen lines, from within outwards, until the skin is opened; the flaying may then be completed with a steel knife. When the skin is removed it is laid to the east of the carcass, head to the east, and hairy side down. The fibulæ and ulnæ are cut out and put in the skin in the places where they belong,—i.e., each ulna in the skin of its appropriate fore-leg, each fibula in the skin of its appropriate hind-leg. The hide may then be rolled up and carried off. Both ulnæ are used as scrapers of the skin. If masks are to be made of the skin, the fibulæ are used as awls,—the right fibula in sewing the right sides of the masks, the left fibula in sewing the left sides of the masks. Other rules (very numerous) for making the masks will not be mentioned in this place. Fibulæ and ulnæ other than those belonging to the deer that furnished the skin must not be used on the latter.

14. This mask, made of leaves of Yucca baccata, from which the thick dorsal portions have been torn away, is used in the rite of the night chant. The observances connected with the culling of the leaves, the manufacture of the mask, and the destruction of the same after use, are too numerous to be detailed here. The author never succeeded in getting such a mask to keep (the obligation on the shaman to tear it up when it has served its purpose seemed imperative), but he was allowed to take two photographs of it, one before the fringe of spruce twigs was applied, the other when the mask was finished, as shown in [fig. 26].

15. The following account taken from “The Prayer of a Navajo Shaman,”[315] and repeated here at the request of Mr. Newell, shows how definitely fixed was the limit of this part of the tale in the mind of the narrator:—

“In none of my interviews with him (Hatáli Nĕz) had he shown any impatience with my demands for explanations as we progressed, or with interruptions in our work. He lingered long over his meals, lighted many cigarettes and smoked them leisurely, got tired early in the evening, and was always willing to go to bed as early as I would let him. When, however, he came to relate the creation myth, all this was changed. He arrived early; he remained late; he hastened through his meals; he showed evidence of worry at all delays and interruptions, and frequently begged me to postpone minor explanations. On being urged to explain this change of spirit he said that we were travelling in the land of the dead, in a place of evil and potent ghosts, just so long as he continued to relate those parts of the myth which recount the adventures of his ancestors in the nether world, and that we were in danger so long as our minds remained there; but that when we came to that part of the tale where the people ascend to this—the fifth and last world—we need no longer feel uneasy and could then take our time. His subsequent actions proved that he had given an honest explanation.

“It was near sunset one afternoon, and an hour or more before his supper time, that he concluded his account of the subterranean wanderings of the Navajos and brought them safely through the “Place of Emergence,” in the San Juan Mountains, to the surface of this world. Then he ceased to speak, rolled a cigarette, said he was tired, that he would not be able to tell me any more that night, and left me.

“After his departure I learned that he had announced to some of his friends during the day that he would have to pray at night to counteract the evil effects of his journey through the lower world. After his supper he retired to the apartment among the old adobe huts at Defiance in which he had been assigned room to sleep. I soon followed, and, having waited in the adjoining passage half an hour or more, I heard the voice of the old man rising in the monotonous tones of formulated prayer. Knowing that the rules of the shaman forbade the interruption of any prayer or song, I abruptly entered the room and sat down on the floor near the supplicant.”

(Thus the prayer in question became known to the author.)

15a. “Tune us the sitar neither low nor high.”—The Light of Asia.

16. Hatál, in Navaho, means a sacred song, a hymn or chant,—not a trivial song: hence the names of their great ceremonies contain this word, as dsĭlyĭ′dze hatál (the mountain chant); klédzi hatál (the night chant), etc. The man who conducts a ceremony is called hatáli (chanter or singer). As equivalents for this word the author uses the terms shaman, priest, medicine-man, and chanter. One who treats disease by drugs is called azé-elĭ′ni, or medicine-maker.

17. No antecedent. We are first told to whom “they” refers in [paragraph 139].

18. In symbolizing by color the four cardinal points, the Navahoes have two principal systems, as follows:—

	East.	South.	West.	North.
First System	White.	Blue.	Yellow.	Black.
Second System	Black.	Blue.	Yellow.	White.

Both systems are the same, except that the colors black and white change places. The reasons for this change have not been satisfactorily determined. In general, it seems that when speaking of places over ground—lucky and happy places—the first system is employed; while, when places underground—usually places of danger—are described, the second system is used. But there are many apparent exceptions to the latter rule. In one version of the Origin Legend (Version B) the colors are arranged according to the second system both in the lower and upper worlds. In the version of the same legend here published the first system is given for all places in the lower worlds, except in the house of Tiéholtsodi under the waters ([par. 178]), where the east room is described as dark and the room in the north as being of all colors. Yet the Indian who gave this version (Hatáli Nĕz), in his Prayer of the Rendition (note [315]), applies the second system to all regions traversed below the surface of the earth by the gods who come to rescue the lost soul. Although he does not say that the black chamber is in the east, he shows it corresponds with the east by mentioning it first. Hatáli Natlói, in the “Story of Natĭ′nĕsthani,” follows the first system in all cases except when describing the house of Tiéholtsodi under the water, where the first chamber is represented as black and the last as white. Although in this case the rooms may be regarded as placed one above another, the black being mentioned first shows that it is intended to correspond with the east. In all cases, in naming the points of the compass, or anything which symbolizes them, or in placing objects which pertain to them (note [227]), the east comes first, the south second, the west third, the north fourth. The sunwise circuit is always followed. If the zenith and nadir are mentioned, the former comes fifth and the latter sixth in order. The north is sometimes symbolized by “all colors,” i.e., white, blue, yellow, and black mixed (note [22]), and sometimes by red. In the myth of dsĭlyĭ′dze hatál[314] (the story of Dsĭ′lyiʻ Neyáni) five homes of holy people underground are described, in all of which the second system is used. See, also, note [111], where the second system is applied to the house of the sun. In the story of the “Great Shell of Kĭntyél” at the home of the Spider Woman underground, in the sky world, the east is represented by black and the north by white. (See [par. 581] and note [40].)

19. There are but three streams and but nine villages or localities mentioned, while twelve winged tribes are named. Probably three are supposed to have lived in the north where no stream ran, or there may have been a fourth river in the Navaho paradise, whose name is for some reason suppressed.

References to the sacred number four are introduced with tiresome pertinacity into all Navaho legends.

20. Version B.—In the first world three dwelt, viz.: First Man, First Woman, and Coyote.

21. The swallow to which reference is made here is the cliff swallow,—Petrochelidon lunifrons.

22. The colors given to the lower worlds in this legend—red for the first, blue for the second, yellow for the third, and mixed for the fourth—are not in the line of ordinary Navaho symbolism (note [18]), but they agree very closely with some Moki symbolism, as described by Victor Mindeleff in his “Study of Pueblo Architecture,”[324] p. 129. The colors there mentioned, if placed in order according to the Navaho system (note [18]), would stand thus: red (east), blue (south), yellow (west), white (north). Mixed colors sometimes take the place of the north or last in Navaho symbolism. Possibly Moki elements have entered into this version of the Navaho legend. (See [par. 91].)

23. Version B.—In the second world, when First Man, First Woman, and Coyote ascended, they found those who afterwards carried the sun and moon, and, beyond the bounds of the earth, he of the darkness in the east, he of the blueness in the south, he of the yellowness in the west, and he of the whiteness in the north (perhaps the same as White Body, Blue Body, etc., of the fourth world in the present version. See [par. 160]). Sun and First Woman were the transgressors who caused the exodus.

24. Version B.—When the five individuals mentioned in note [23] came from the second world, they found the “people of the mountains” already occupying the third world.

25. Version B.—The people were chased from the third world to the fourth world by a deluge and took refuge in a reed, as afterwards related of the flight from the fourth world.

26. In the Navaho tales, when the yéi (genii, gods) come to visit men, they always announce their approach by calling four times. The first call is faint, far, and scarcely audible. Each succeeding call is louder and more distinct. The last call sounds loud and near, and in a moment after it is heard the god makes his appearance. These particulars concerning the gods’ approach are occasionally briefly referred to; but usually the story-teller repeats them at great length with a modulated voice, and he pantomimically represents the recipient of the visit, starting and straining his attention to discern the distant sounds.

Nearly every god has his own special call. A few have none. Imperfect attempts have been made in this work to represent some of these calls by spelling them; but this method represents the original no better than “Bob White” represents the call of a quail. Some of the cries have been recorded by the writer on phonographic cylinders, but even these records are very imperfect. In the ceremonies of the Navahoes, the masked representatives of the gods repeat these calls. The calls of Hastséyalti and Hastséhogan are those most frequently referred to in the tales. ([Pars. 287], [378], [471], etc.)

27. Yellow corn belongs to the female, white corn to the male. This rule is observed in all Navaho ceremonies, and is mentioned in many Navaho myths. ([Pars. 164], [291], [379]; note [107], etc.)

28. An ear of corn used for sacred purposes must be completely covered with full grains, or at least must have been originally so covered. One having abortive grains at the top is not used. For some purposes, as in preparing the implements used in initiating females in the rite of klédzi hatál, not only must the ear of corn be fully covered by grains, but it must be tipped by an arrangement of four grains. Such an ear of corn is called tohonotĭ′ni.

29. The Navaho word nátli or nŭ′tle is here translated hermaphrodite, because the context shows that reference is made to anomalous creatures. But the word is usually employed to designate that class of men, known perhaps in all wild Indian tribes, who dress as women, and perform the duties usually allotted to women in Indian camps. Such persons are called berdaches (English, bardash) by the French Canadians. By the Americans they are called hermaphrodites (commonly mispronounced “morphodites”), and are generally supposed to be such.

30. These so-called hermaphrodites (note [29]) are, among all Indian tribes that the author has observed, more skilful in performing women’s work than the women themselves. The Navahoes, in this legend, credit them with the invention of arts practised by women. The best weaver in the Navaho tribe, for many years, was a nátli.

31. Masks made from the skins of deer-heads and antelope-heads, with or without antlers, have been used by various Indian tribes, in hunting, to deceive the animals and allow the hunters to approach them. There are several references to such masks in the Navaho tales, as in the story of Natĭ′nĕsthani ([par. 544]) and in the myth of “The Mountain Chant,” page 391.[314] In the latter story, rites connected with the deer mask are described.

32. The quarrel between First Man and First Woman came to pass in this way: When she had finished her meal she wiped her hands in her dress and said: “Eʻyéhe si-tsod” (Thanks, my vagina). “What is that you say?” asked First Man. “Eʻéhe si-tsod,” she repeated. “Why do you speak thus?” he queried; “Was it not I who killed the deer whose flesh you have eaten? Why do you not thank me? Was it tsod that killed the deer?” “Yes,” she replied; “if it were not for that, you would not have killed the deer. If it were not for that, you lazy men would do nothing. It is that which does all the work.” “Then, perhaps, you women think you can live without the men,” he said. “Certainly we can. It is we women who till the fields and gather food: we can live on the produce of our fields, and the seeds and fruits we collect. We have no need of you men.” Thus they argued. First Man became more and more angry with each reply that his wife made, until at length, in wrath, he jumped across the fire.

33. During the separation of the sexes, both the men and the women were guilty of shameful practices, which the story-tellers very particularly describe. Through the transgressions of the women the anáye, alien gods or monsters, who afterwards nearly annihilated the human race, came into existence; but no evil consequences followed the transgressions of the men. Thus, as usual, a moral lesson is conveyed to the women, but none to the men.

34, 35. Notes 34 and 35 are omitted.

36. Version A.—Water in the east, black; south, blue; west, yellow; north, white. In the ceremony of hozóni hatál a picture representing Tiéholtsodi and the four waters is said to be made.

37. Version A says that the nodes were woven by the spider, and that different animals dwelt in the different internodes. Version B says that the great reed took more than one day to grow to the sky; that it grew by day and rested by night; that the hollow internodes now seen in the reed show where it grew by day, and the solid nodes show where it rested by night. Some say four reeds were planted to form one, others that one reed only was planted.

38. Version B.—The Turkey was the last to take refuge in the reed, therefore he was at the bottom. When the waters rose high enough to wet the Turkey he gobbled, and all knew that danger was near. Often did the waves wash the end of his tail; and it is for this reason that the tips of turkeys’ tail-feathers are, to this day, lighter than the rest of the plumage.

39. Version A.—First Man and First Woman called on all the digging animals (ĭ′ndatsidi dáltso) to help. These were: Bear, Wolf, Coyote, Lynx, and Badger. First, Bear dug till he was tired; then Coyote took his place, and so on. When badger was digging, water began to drip down from above: then they knew they had struck the waters of the upper world, and sent Locust up. Locust made a sort of shaft in the soft mud, such as locusts make to this day.

40. Version A says there were four cranes; Version B, that there were four swans. Both versions say that the bird of the east was black, that of the south blue, that of the west yellow, and that of the north white. (See note [18].)

41. Two versions, A and B, have it that the bird passed the arrows through from mouth to vent, and vice versa, but all make the Locust pass his arrows through his thorax. Another version relates that two of the birds said: “You can have the land if you let us strike you in the forehead with an axe.” Locust consented. They missed their aim and cut off his cheeks, which accounts for his narrow face now. Version A relates that the arrows were plumed with eagle-feathers.

42. Version A.—The Locust, before transfixing himself with the arrows, shoved his vitals down into his abdomen; then he changed his mind and shoved them high into his chest. That accounts for his big chest now.

43. A small lake situated somewhere in the San Juan Mountains is said to be the place through which the people came from the fourth world to this world. It is surrounded, the Indians tell, by precipitous cliffs, and has a small island near its centre, from the top of which something rises that looks like the top of a ladder. Beyond the bounding cliffs there are four mountain peaks,—one to the east, one to the south, one to the west, and one to the north of the lake,—which are frequently referred to in the songs and myths of the Navahoes. These Indians fear to visit the shores of this lake, but they climb the surrounding mountains and view its waters from a distance. The place is called Ha-dzi-naí, or Ni-ho-yos-tsá-tse, which names may be freely translated Place of Emergence, or Land Where They Came Up. The San Juan Mountains abound in little lakes. Which one of these is considered by the Navahoes as their Place of Emergence is not known, and it is probable that it could only be determined by making a pilgrimage thither with a party of Navahoes who knew the place. Mr. Whitman Cross, of the United States Geological Survey, who has made extensive explorations in the San Juan Mountains, relates that Trout Lake is regarded by the Indians as a sacred lake; that they will not camp near it, and call it a name which is rendered Spirit Lake. This sheet of water is designated as San Miguel Lake on the maps of Hayden’s Survey. It lies near the line of the Rio Grande Southern Railroad, at the head of the South Fork of San Miguel River. It has no island. A small lake, which accords more in appearance with the Navahoes’ description of their sacred lake, is Island Lake. This has a small, rocky island in the middle. It is situated on a branch of the South Fork of Mineral Creek, three miles southeast of Ophir, Colorado, at an altitude of 12,450 feet. Prof. A. H. Thompson has suggested that Silver Lake, about five miles southeasterly from Silverton, Colorado, may be the Place of Emergence. This lake is 11,600 feet above sea-level, and is surrounded by four high mountain peaks, but it has no island.

44. Version A.—Gánaskĭdi struck the cliffs with his wand. “Gong ê′” it sounded, and broke the cliffs open. Version B.—He of the darkness of the east cut the cliffs with his knife shaped like a horn.

45. Version A.—They prayed to the four Winds,—the black Wind of the east, the blue Wind of the south, the yellow Wind of the west, and the white Wind of the north,—and they sang a wind-song which is still sung in the rite of hozóni hatál. Version B.—They prayed to the four Winds.

46. The Kisáni, being builders of stone houses, set up a stone wall; the others, representing the Navahoes, set up a shelter of brushwood, as is the custom of the Navahoes now.

47. Tsĭ-dĭ′l, or tsĭn-dĭ′l is a game played by the Navaho women. The principal implements of the game are three sticks, which are thrown violently, ends down, on a flat stone, around which the gamblers sit. The sticks rebound so well that they would fly far away, were not a blanket stretched overhead to throw them back to the players. A number of small stones, placed in the form of a square, are used as counters; these are not moved, but sticks, whose positions are changed according to the fortunes of the game, are placed between them. The rules of the game have not been recorded. The other games were: dilkón, played with two sticks, each the length of an arm; atsá, played with forked sticks and a ring; and aspĭ′n.

48. Version A.—Coyote and Hastsézĭni were partners in the theft of the young of Tiéholtsodi. When Coyote saw the water rising, he pointed with his protruded lips (as Indians often do) to the water, and glanced significantly at his accomplice. First Man observed the glance, had his suspicions aroused, and began to search.

49. Other variants of the story of the restoration of Tiéholtsodi’s young speak of sacrifices and peace offerings in keeping with the Indian custom. Version A.—They got a haliotis shell of enormous size, so large that a man’s encircling arm could barely surround it. Into this they put other shells and many precious stones. They sprinkled pollen on the young and took some of it off again, for it had been rendered more holy by contact with the bodies of the young sea monsters. Then they put these also into the shell and laid all on the horns of Tiéholtsodi; at once he disappeared under the earth and the waters went down after him. The pollen taken from the young was distributed among the people, and brought them rain and game and much good fortune. Version B.—“At once they threw them (the young) down to their father, and with them a sacrifice of the treasures of the sea,—their shell ornaments. In an instant the waters began to rush down through the hole and away from the lower worlds.”

50. Some give the name of the hermaphrodite who died as Natliyilhátse, and say that “she” is now the chief of devils in the lower world,—perhaps the same as the Woman Chief referred to in the “Prayer of a Navaho Shaman.” [315] Version B says that the first to die was the wife of a great chief. (See note [68].)

51. Version A describes the making of the sacred mountains thus: Soon after the arrival of the people in the fifth world (after the first sudatory had been built and the first corn planted), some one said: “It would be well if we had in this world such mountains as we had in the world below.” “I have brought them with me,” said First Man. He did not mean to say he had brought the whole of the mountains with him, but only a little earth from each, with which to start new mountains here. The people laid down four sacred buckskins[18] and two sacred baskets[5] for him to make his mountains on, for there were six sacred mountains in the lower world, just as there are six in this, and they were named the same there as they now are here. The mountain in the east, Tsĭsnadzĭ′ni, he made of clay from the mountain of the east below, mixed with white shell. The mountain of the south, Tsótsĭl, he made of earth from below mixed with turquoise. The mountain of the west he made of earth mixed with haliotis or abalone shell. The mountain of the north he made of earth mixed with cannel coal.[158] Dsĭlnáotĭl he made of earth from the similar mountain in the lower world, mixed with goods of all kinds (yúdi althasaí). Tsolíhi he made of earth from below, mixed with shells and precious stones of all kinds (ĭnklĭ′z althasaí). While they were still on the buckskins and baskets, ten songs were sung which now belong to the rites of hozóni hatál. The burdens of these songs are as follows:—

• 1st. Long ago he thought of it.
• 2d. Long ago he spoke of it.
• 3d. A chief among mountains he brought up with him.
• 4th. A chief among mountains he has made.
• 5th. A chief among mountains is rising.
• 6th. A chief among mountains is beginning to stand.
• 7th. A chief among mountains stands up.
• 8th. A cigarette for a chief among mountains we make.
• 9th. A chief among mountains smokes.
• 10th. A chief among mountains is satisfied.

When the people came up from the lower world they were under twelve chiefs, but only six of them joined in the singing these songs, and to-day six men sing them. When the mountains were made, the god of each of the four quarters of the world carried one away and placed it where it now stands. The other two were left in the middle of the world and are there still. A pair of gods were then put to live in each mountain, as follows: East, Dawn Boy and Dawn Girl, called also White Shell Boy and White Shell Girl; south, Turquoise Boy and Turquoise Girl; west, Twilight Boy and Haliotis Girl; north, Darkness (or Cannel Coal) Boy and Darkness Girl: at Dsĭlnáotĭl, All-goods (Yúdi-althasaí) Boy and All-goods Girl; at Tsolíhi, All-jewels (Ĭnklĭ′z-althasaí) Boy and All-jewels Girl.

Version B speaks of the making of only four mountains, and very briefly of this.

52. Tsĭs-na-dzĭ′n-i is the name of the sacred mountain which the Navahoes regard as bounding their country on the east. It probably means Dark Horizontal Belt. The mountain is somewhere near the pueblo of Jemez, in Bernalillo County, New Mexico. It is probably Pelado Peak, 11,260 feet high, 20 miles N.N.E. of the pueblo. White shell and various other objects of white—the color of the east—belong to the mountain.

53. Tseʻ-gá-dĭ-na-tĭ-ni A-si-ké (Rock Crystal Boy) and Tseʻ-gá-dĭ-na-tĭ-ni A-tét (Rock Crystal Girl) are the deities of Tsĭsnadzĭ′ni. They were brought up from the lower world as small images of stone; but as soon as they were put in the mountain they came to life.

54. Tsó-tsĭl, or Tsóʻ-dsĭl, from tso, great, and dsĭl, a mountain, is the Navaho name of a peak 11,389 feet high in Valencia County, New Mexico. Its summit is over twelve miles distant, in a direct line, east by north, from McCarty’s Station on the Atlantic and Pacific Railroad. It is called by the Mexicans San Mateo, and was on September 18, 1849, named Mt. Taylor, “in honor of the President of the United States,” by Lieut. J. H. Simpson, U.S. Army.[328] On the maps of the United States Geological Survey, the whole mountain mass is marked “San Mateo Mountains,” and the name “Mount Taylor” is reserved for the highest peak. This is one of the sacred mountains of the Navahoes, and is regarded by them as bounding their country on the south, although at the present day some of the tribe live south of the mountain. They say that San Mateo is the mountain of the south and San Francisco is the mountain of the west, yet the two peaks are nearly in the same latitude. One version of the Origin Legend (Version B) makes San Mateo the mountain of the east, but all other versions differ from this. Blue being the color of the south, turquoise and other blue things, as named in the myth, belong to this mountain. As blue also symbolizes the female, she-rain belongs to San Mateo. [Plate III.] is from a photograph taken somewhere in the neighborhood of Chavez Station, about thirty-five miles in a westerly direction from the summit of the mountain.

55. Dot-lĭ′-zi Lá-i Na-yo-á-li A-si-ké, Boy Who Carries One Turquoise; Na-tá Lá-i Na-yo-á-li Atét, Girl Who Carries One (Grain of) Corn.

56. Do-kos-líd or Do-ko-os-lĭ′d, is the Navaho name of San Francisco Mountain, one of the most prominent landmarks in Arizona. The summit of this peak is distant in a direct line about twelve miles nearly north from the town of Flagstaff, on the Atlantic and Pacific Railroad, in Yavapai County, Arizona. The precise meaning of the Indian name has not been ascertained, but the name seems to contain, modified, the words toʻ and kos, the former meaning water and the latter cloud. It is the sacred mountain of the Navahoes, which they regard as bounding their land on the west. The color of the west, yellow, and the various things, mostly yellow, which symbolize the west, as mentioned in the myth, are sacred to it. Haliotis shell, although highly iridescent, is regarded by the Navahoes as yellow, and hence is the shell sacred to the mountain. In Navaho sacred songs, the peak is called, figuratively, The Wand of Haliotis. [Plate II.] is from a photograph taken on the south side of the mountain, at a point close to the railroad, two or three miles east of Flagstaff.

57. The name Na-tál-kai A-si-ké (White Corn Boy) is from natán (corn), lakaí (white), and asiké or ĭské (boy). The name Natáltsoi Atét (Yellow Corn Girl), comes from natán (corn), lĭtsói (yellow), and atét (girl). In [paragraph 291] mention is made of the creation of a White Corn Boy and a Yellow Corn Girl. It is not certain whether these are the same as the deities of Dokoslíd, but it is probable the Navahoes believe in more than one divine pair with these names.

58. Depĕ′ntsa, the Navaho name for the San Juan Mountains in southwestern Colorado, is derived from two words,—depé (the Rocky Mountain sheep) and intsá (scattered all over, widely distributed). These mountains are said to bound the Navaho land on the north. Somewhere among them lies Níhoyostsátse, the Place of Emergence (note [43]). Black being the color of the north, various black things, such as pászĭni (cannel coal),[158] blackbirds, etc., belong to these mountains. There are many peaks in this range from 10,000 to 14,000 feet high.

59. Tha-dĭ-tín A-si-ké (Pollen Boy), A-nil-tá-ni A-tét (Grasshopper Girl). In [paragraphs 290], [291], these are referred to again. In a dry-painting of klédzi hatál, Grasshopper Girl is depicted in corn pollen.

60. Dsĭl-ná-o-tĭl seems to mean a mountain encircled with blood, but the Navahoes declare that such is not the meaning. They say it means the mountain that has been encircled by people travelling around it, and that, when Estsánatlehi and her people lived there they moved their camp to various places around the base of the mountain. Of course this is all mythical. Had the author ever seen this mountain, he might conjecture the significance of the name; but he does not even know its location. The name of the Carrizo Mountains, Dsĭlnáodsĭl, meaning Mountain Surrounded with Mountains, is nearly the same; but when the writer visited the Carrizo Mountains in 1892 he was assured by the Indians that the sacred hill was not there. Dsĭlnáotĭl is rendered in this work Encircled Mountain, which is only an approximate translation. It is altogether a matter of conjecture why goods of all kinds—yúdi althasaí (see note [61])—are thought to belong to this mountain.

61. Yú-di Nai-dĭ-sĭ′s-i A-si-ké, Boy who Produces Goods, or causes the increase of goods; Yú-di Nai-dĭ-sĭ′s-i A-tét (Girl Who Produces Goods). Yódi or yúdi is here translated “goods.” It originally referred to furs, skins, textile fabrics, and such things as Indians bartered among themselves, except food and jewels. The term is now applied to nearly all the merchandise to be found in a trader’s store.

62. Tso-lí-hi, or Tso-lín-i, is one of the seven sacred mountains of the Navaho country. Its location has not been determined, neither has the meaning of its name. Perhaps the name is derived from tsó, the spruce (Pseudotsuga taxifolia). We can only conjecture what relation the mountain may have to jewels.

63. Tsoz-gá-li, a large yellow bird, species undetermined.

64. Ĭn-klĭ′z Nai-di-sĭ′s-i A-si-ké (Boy Who Produces Jewels); Ĭn-klĭ′z Nai-dĭ-sĭ′s-i Atét (Girl who Produces Jewels). Ĭnklĭ′z means something hard and brittle. It is here translated “jewels” for want of a better term. It is not usually applied to finished jewels, but to the materials out of which the Navaho jewels are made, such as shells, turquoise in the rough, cannel coal, and other stones, many of which are of little value to us, but are considered precious by the Navahoes.

65. A-kĭ-da-nas-tá-ni, signifying One-round-thing-sitting-on-top-of-another, is the Navaho name of an eminence called on our maps Hosta Butte, which is situated in Bernalillo County, New Mexico, 14 miles N.N.E. of Chavez Station on the Atlantic and Pacific Railroad. This butte or mesa has an altitude of 8,837 feet. Being surrounded by hills much lower, it is a prominent landmark.

66. Tseʻ-ha-dá-ho-ni-ge, or mirage-stone, is so called because it is thought in some way to look like a mirage. The writer has seen pieces of this in the pollen bags of the medicine-men, but never could procure a piece of it. They offered to exchange for another piece, but would not sell. A stone (Chinese idol) which they pronounced similar was analyzed by the chemists of the United States Geological Survey in Washington, and found to be silicate of magnesia, probably pyrophyllite. Such, perhaps, is the mirage-stone. The author offered the Chinese idol to one of the shamans in exchange for his mirage-stone; but, having heard that the stone image represented a Chinese god, the shaman feared to make the trade.

67. Tóʻ-la-nas-tsi is a mixture of all kinds of water, i.e., spring water, snow water, hail water, and water from the four quarters of the world. Such water Tóʻnenĭli is supposed to have carried in his jars. Water used to-day in some of the Navaho rites approximates this mixture as closely as possible.

68. The subject of the dead belonging to the Sun and the Moon is explained at length in the version of Náltsos Nigéhani (Version B) thus: “On the fifth day (after the people came up to the surface of this world) the sun climbed as usual to the zenith and (then) stopped. The day grew hot and all longed for the night to come, but the sun moved not. Then the wise Coyote said: ‘The sun stops because he has not been paid for his work; he demands a human life for every day that he labors; he will not move again till some one dies.’ At length a woman, the wife of a great chief, ceased to breathe and grew cold, and while they all drew around in wonder, the sun was observed to move again, and he travelled down the sky and passed behind the western mountains.… That night the moon stopped in the zenith, as the sun had done during the day; and the Coyote told the people that the moon also demanded pay and would not move until it was given. He had scarcely spoken when the man who had seen the departed woman in the nether world died, and the moon, satisfied, journeyed to the west. Thus it is that some one must die every night, or the moon would not move across the sky. But the separation of the tribes occurred immediately after this, and now the moon takes his pay from among the alien races, while the sun demands the life of a Navaho as his fee for passing every day over the earth.”

69. Many of the Indians tell that the world was originally small and was increased in size. The following is the version of Náltsos Nigéhani (B): “The mountains that bounded the world were not so far apart then as they are now; hence the world was smaller, and when the sun went over the earth he came nearer to the surface than he does now. So the first day the sun went on his journey it was intolerably hot; the people were almost burned to death, and they prayed to the four winds that each one would pull his mountain away from the centre of the earth, and thus widen the borders of the world. It was done as they desired, and the seas that bounded the land receded before the mountains. But on the second day, although the weather was milder, it was still too hot, and again were the mountains and seas removed. All this occurred again on the third day; but on the fourth day they found the weather pleasant, and they prayed no more for the earth to be changed.”

70. The story of the making of the stars is told in essentially the same way by many story-tellers. It is surprising that Hatáli Nĕz totally omitted it. The following is the tale as told by Náltsos Nigéhani: “Now First Man and First Woman thought it would be better if the sky had more lights, for there were times when the moon did not shine at night. So they gathered a number of fragments of sparkling mica of which to make stars, and First Man proceeded to lay out a plan of the heavens, on the ground. He put a little fragment in the north, where he wished to have the star that would never move, and he placed near it seven great pieces, which are the seven stars we behold in the north now. He put a great bright one in the south, another in the east, and a third in the west, and then went on to plan various constellations, when along came Coyote, who, seeing that three pieces were red, exclaimed, ‘These shall be my stars, and I will place them where I think best;’ so he put them in situations corresponding to places that three great red stars now occupy among the celestial lights. Before First Man got through with his work, Coyote became impatient, and, saying, ‘Oh! they will do as they are,’ he hastily gathered the fragments of mica, threw them upwards, and blew a strong breath after them. Instantly they stuck to the sky. Those to which locations had been assigned adhered in their proper places; but the others were scattered at random and in formless clusters over the firmament.” See “A Part of the Navajo’s Mythology,” pp. 7, 8.[306]

71. The following are some of the destroyers who sprang from this blood:—

• Tseʻnagahi, Travelling Stone.
• Tsĭndilhásitso, Great Wood That Bites.
• Bĭtsóziyeadaʻaʻi,
• Sánĭsdzol, Old Age Lying Down.
• Tseʻtlahódĭlyĭl, Black Under Cliffs.
• Tseʻtlahódotlĭ′z, Blue Under Cliffs.
• Tséʻtlahaltsó, Yellow Under Cliffs
• Tséʻtlahalkaí, White Under Cliffs.
• Tseʻtlahóditsos, Sparkling Under Cliffs.
• Tsadidahaltáli, Devouring Antelope.
• Yeitsolapáhi, Brown Yéitso.
• Lokáadikĭsi, Slashing Reeds.

“You see colors under the rocks, at the bottoms of the cliffs, and when you approach them some invisible enemy kills you. These are the same as the Tseʻtlayaltíʻ, or Those Who Talk Under the Cliffs.” Thus said Hatáli Nĕz when questioned.

72. Kĭntyél or Kĭntyê′li.—This name (from kin, a stone or adobe house, a pueblo house, and tyel, broad) means simply Broad Pueblo,—one covering much ground. It is applied to at least two ruined pueblos in the Navaho country. One of these—the Pueblo Grande of the Mexicans, situated “twenty-two or twenty-three miles north of Navaho Springs,” a station on the Atlantic and Pacific Railroad, in Arizona—is well described and depicted by Mr. Victor Mindeleff in his “Study of Pueblo Architecture.”[326] The other—the Kĭntyél to which reference is made in this story—is in the Chaco Canyon, in New Mexico. With its name spelled “Kintail,” and rendered “the Navajo name for ruin,” it is mentioned by Mr. F. T. Bickford,[293] and one of his pictures, probably representing Kĭntyél, is here reproduced ([fig. 36]). In the Journal of American Folk-Lore, April-June, 1889, the author says: “I have reason to believe that this pueblo is identical with that seen and described in 1849 by Lieut. J. H. Simpson, U.S.A., under the name of Pueblo Chettro Kettle.”

73. The name Has-tsé-yal-ti, spelled according to the alphabet of the Bureau of Ethnology “Qastcéyalçi” may be translated Talking God, or Talking Elder of the Gods. Hastséyalti is otherwise called Yébĭtsai, or the Maternal Grandfather of the Gods. He is a chief or leader among several groups of local divinities who are said to dwell at Kĭninaékai, in the Chelly Canyon, at Tsĕ′nitse, Tséʻhíhi, and at various other sacred places. Although called a talking god, the man who personates him in the rites never speaks while in character, but utters a peculiar whoop and makes signs. In the myths, however, the god is represented as speaking, usually after he has whooped and made signs. ([Par. 472].) He is a beneficent character, always ready to help man and rescue him from peril. He is sometimes spoken of and prayed to as if there were but one, but the myths show that the Navahoes believe in many gods of this name, and in some prayers it is distinctly specified which one is meant by naming his home in connection with him. In [plate I.] he is shown, as represented in the dry-paintings, carrying a tobacco bag made of the skin of Abert’s squirrel (Sciurus aberti). In the picture the black tips of toes, nose, and ears, and the reddish (chestnut) spot on the back of the squirrel, are carefully indicated. The dry-painting shows the more important characters of the mask worn by the personator,—the eagle-plumes at the back, the owl-feathers at the base of the plume-ornament, and the peculiar symbols at mouth and eyes,—but it does not show the cornstalk symbol over the nose. [Fig. 27], taken from a photograph, shows the mask trimmed with its collar of fresh spruce boughs, as it appears when used in the dance of naakhaí on the last night of the ceremony of klédzi hatál. The personator of Hastséyalti has his whole person clothed, while the representatives of other gods go nearly naked. The proper covering for his back is a number of finely dressed deerskins, one over another, tied together in front by the skins of the legs; but of late years the masquerader often appears in an ordinary calico shirt. The symbol surrounding each of the holes for the eyes and mouth is this

. It is said to represent the storm cloud hanging above, and the mist rising from below to meet it. Thus cloud and mist often appear in the mountains of the Navaho land during the rainy season, Hastséyalti or the Yébĭtsai is the principal character in the great rite of klédzi hatál, or the night chant. Our people, who often go to witness the public performance of the last night in this rite, call it the Yébĭtsai (Yáybichy) dance. The songs and prayers in which Hastséyalti is mentioned are numerous. For the points in which fig. 2, [plate I.], agree with fig. 1, [plate I.], see note [74].

74. Has-tsé-ho-gan, spelled with alphabet of Bureau of Ethnology, Qastcéqogan, may be freely translated House God. Hastséhogan is one of the leading personages in each of the local groups of the yéi, or divine beings, who dwell in caves and old cliff-dwellings. He is commonly spoken of as if there were but one; but an examination of the myths shows that the Navahoes believe in many of these gods. Those of Tseʻgíhi, Tséʻnihogan, Tséʻnitse, Kininaékai, and the sacred mountains are the ones most commonly worshipped. In most myths he appears as second in authority to Hastséyalti, the Talking God, but occasionally he is represented as equal or even superior to the latter. He is a farm god as well as a house god. To him are attributed the farm-songs sung during the night chant (see [note 322]), and many other songs. He is a beneficent character and a friend to man. There are many songs and prayers in his honor. In the rite of klédzi hatál, or the night chant, he is represented in the dance by a man wearing a collar of spruce, a blue mask decorated with eagle-plumes and moccasins, with shirt and leggings, which should be (but of late years are not always) of buckskin. He is depicted in the dry-paintings thus (see [plate I.], fig. 1): He wears a black shirt ornamented with four star-like ornaments embroidered in porcupine quills, and having a fancy fringe of porcupine quills at the bottom; white buckskin leggings; colored garters; quill-embroidered moccasins, tied on with white strings; long ear-pendants of turquoise and coral; bracelets of the same; an otter-skin (hanging below the right ear), from which depend six buckskin strings with colored porcupine quills wrapped around them; a cap-like (male) mask painted blue, fringed with red hair, and adorned with eagle-plumes and owl-feathers. He carries a staff (gĭs) painted black (with the charcoal of four sacred plants), streaked transversely with white, and adorned with a single cluster of turkey tail-feathers arranged as a whorl, and two eagle plumes, which, like the plumes on the head, are tipped with small, downy eagle-feathers. The yellow stripe at the chin indicates a similar stripe on the mask actually worn, and symbolizes the yellow light of evening (nahotsóí). The neck of this as well as the other divine figures is painted blue, and crossed with four stripes in red. Some say that this indicates the larynx with its cartilaginous rings; others say that it represents the collar of spruce-twigs; others are uncertain of its meaning. If it does not represent the spruce collars, it represents nothing in the costume of the masquerader, which, in other respects, except the quill embroideries, agrees closely with the picture, Hastséyalti is also a dawn god, Hastséhogan a god of evening.

75. In the Navaho tales, men frequently receive friendly warnings or advice from wind gods who whisper into their ears. Some story-tellers—as in the version of the origin myth here given—speak of one wind god only, whom they call simply Nĭ′ltsi (Wind); while others—as in the story of Natĭ′nĕsthani—speak of Nĭ′ltsi-dĭnéʻ (Wind People) and Nĭltsiázi-dĭnéʻ (Little Wind People) as the friendly prompters.

76. The game of nánzoz, as played by the Navahoes, is much the same as the game of chungkee played by the Mandans, described and depicted by Catlin in his “North American Indians,”[296] vol. i., page 132, plate 59. A hoop is rolled along the ground and long poles are thrown after it. The Mandan pole was made of a single piece of wood. The pole of the Navahoes is made of two pieces, usually alder, each a natural fathom long; the pieces overlap and are bound together by a long branching strap of hide called thágibĭke, or turkey-claw.

77. These shells may not be altogether mythical. Possibly they are the same as those described in the story of “The Great Shell of Kĭntyél” given in this book.

78. Vague descriptions only of Bé-ko-tsĭ-di so far have been obtained. He is not represented by any masked characters in the ceremonies, or by any picture in the dry-paintings. No description of his appearance has been recorded, except that he looks like an old man. There is a myth concerning him of which a brief epitome has been recorded. There are four songs of sequence connected with this myth. If a Navaho wants a fine horse, he thinks he may get it by singing the second and third of these songs and praying to Békotsĭdi. In his prayer he specifies the color and appearance of the horse desired. Some say that Békotsĭdi made all the animals whose creation is not otherwise accounted for in the myths. Others say that he and the Sun made the animals together. Others, again, limit his creation work to the larger game animals and the modern domestic animals. In this paragraph ([228]) it is said he is the god who carries the moon, while in [paragraph 199] it is said the moon-bearer is Kléhanoai. Perhaps these are two names for one character. Some say he is the same as the God of the Americans.

79. Bayeta, Spanish for baize. The variety of baize which finds its way into the Navaho country is dyed some shade of crimson, and has a very long nap. It is supposed to be made in England especially for the Spanish-American trade, for each original bale bears a gaudy colored label with an inscription in Spanish. It takes the place in the Southwest of the scarlet strouding which used to form such an important article in the trade of our northern tribes. The bright red figures in the finer Navaho blankets, fifteen years or more ago, were all made of threads of ravelled bayeta.

80. The coyote, or prairie-wolf (Canis latrans), would seem to be regarded by the Navahoes as the type, or standard for comparison, among the wild Canidæ of the Southwest. The coyote is called mai; the great wolf, maítso, which means great coyote; and the kit fox (Vulpes velox) is called maidotlĭ′z, which means blue or gray coyote.

81. Some versions say there were twelve brothers and one sister in this divine family, making thirteen in all. In this version the narrator tells how another brother was created by Estsánatlehi to make up for the loss of Léyaneyani, who left the brotherhood. ([Par. 417].) Although called Dĭnéʻ Nakidáta, or the Twelve People, these brothers are evidently divinities. True, they once died; but they came to life again and are now immortal. They are gifted with superhuman powers.

82. The sweat-house of the Navahoes ([par. 25], [fig. 15]) is usually not more than three feet high. Diaphoresis is produced on the principle of the Turkish (not the Russian) bath. While the Indians of the North pour water on the hot stones and give a steam bath, the Navahoes simply place stones, heated in a fire outside, on the floor of the sweat-house, cover the entrance with blankets, and thus raise a high heat that produces violent perspiration. When the occupant comes out, if the bath is not ceremonial, he rolls himself in the sand, and, when his skin is thus dried, he brushes the sand away. He usually returns then to the sweat-house, and may repeat the operation several times in a single afternoon. If the sweat is ceremonial, the bath of yucca suds usually follows (see note [10]), and the subject is dried with corn meal.

Fig. 38. Natural bridge, near Fort Defiance, Arizona.

83. One version relates that, before they entered the sudatory, Coyote proposed they should produce emesis by tickling their throats,—a common practice among the Navahoes. He placed a large piece of pine bark before each, as a dish, and bade Yélapahi keep his eyes shut till he was told to open them. That day Coyote had fared poorly. He had found nothing to eat but a few bugs and worms, while Yélapahi had dined heartily on fat venison. When the emesis was over, Coyote exchanged the bark dishes and said to Yélapahi: “Open your eyes and see what bad things you have had in your stomach. These are the things that make you sick.” The giant opened his eyes and beheld on the bark a lot of bugs and worms. “It is true, my friend, what you tell me,” he said. “How did I get such vile things into me? No wonder I could not run fast.” Coyote then told the giant to go before him into the sudatory, and when the giant had turned his back the hungry Coyote promptly devoured the contents of the other dish of bark.

84. The word tóhe (Englished thóhay), which may be interpreted stand, stick, or stay, is, in various rites, shouted in an authoritative tone when it is desired that some object shall obey the will of the conjurer. Thus in the dance of the standing arcs, as practised in the rite of the mountain chant, when an arc is placed on the head of a performer, and it is intended that it should stand without apparent means of support, the cry “tóhe” is frequently repeated. (See “The Mountain Chant,”[314] p. 437.)

85. The statement that the hair of the gods, both friendly and alien, is yellow, is made in other tales also. The hair of the ceremonial masks is reddish or yellowish. (See plates IV. and VII.) The hair of the gods is represented by red in the dry-pictures. Dull tints of red are often called yellow by the Navahoes. Various conjectures may be made to account for these facts.

86. The bridge of rainbow, as well as the trail of rainbow, is frequently introduced into Navaho tales. The Navaho land abounds in deep chasms and canyons, and the divine ones, in their wanderings, are said to bridge the canyons by producing rainbows. In the myth of “The Mountain Chant,” p. 399 (note [314]), the god Hastséyalti is represented as making a rainbow bridge for the hero to walk on. The hero steps on the bow, but sinks in it because the bow is soft; then the god blows a breath that hardens the bow, and the man walks on it with ease. A natural bridge near Fort Defiance, Arizona, is thought by the Navahoes to have been originally one of the rainbow bridges of Hastséyalti (See [fig. 38].)

Fig. 39. Yucca baccata.

87. The spiders of Arizona are largely of the classes that live in the ground, including trap-door spiders, tarantulas, etc.

Fig. 40. Drumstick made of Yucca leaves.

88. This legend and nearly all the legends of the Navaho make frequent allusions to yucca. Four kinds are mentioned: 1st, tsási or haskán. Yucca baccata (Torrey); 2d, tsasitsóz, or slender yucca, Yucca glauca (Nuttall), Yucca angustifolia (Pursh); 3d, yĕbĭtsasi, or yucca of the gods, probably Yucca radiosa (Trelease), Yucca elata (Engelmann); 4th, tsasibĭté or horned yucca, which seems to be but a stunted form or dwarf variety of Yucca baccata, never seen in bloom or in fruit by the author. Tsási is used as a generic name. All kinds are employed in the rites, sometimes indifferently; at other times only a certain species may be used. Thus in the sacred game of kĕsĭtsé,[176] the counters are made of the leaves of Y. glauca; in the initiation into the mystery of the Yébĭtsai, the candidate is flogged with the leaf of Y. baccata. [Fig. 26] represents a mask used in the rites of klédzi hatál, which must be made only of the leaves of Y. baccata, culled with many singular observances. All these yuccas have saponine in their roots (which are known as tálawus or foam), and all are used for cleansing purposes. All have, in their leaves, long tough fibres which are utilized for all the purposes to which such fibres may be applied. One species only, Yucca baccata, has an edible fruit. This is called haskán (from hos, thorny, and kan, sweet), a name sometimes applied to the whole plant. The fruit is eaten raw and made into a tough, dense jelly, both by the Navaho and Pueblo Indians. The first and second kinds grow abundantly in the Navaho country; the third and fourth kinds are rarer. [Fig. 40] represents a drumstick used in the rites of klédzi hatál, which must be made only of four leaves of Yucca baccata. The intricate observances connected with the manufacture, use, destruction, and sacrifice of this drumstick have already been described by the author.[321]

89. The cane cactus is Opuntia arborescens (Engelm.).

90. Tsiké Sas Nátlehi means literally Young Woman Who Changes to a Bear, or Maid Who Becomes a Bear. To judge from this tale, it might be thought that there was but one such character in the Navaho mythology and that she had died. But it appears from other legends and from rituals that the Navahoes believe in several such maidens, some of whom exist to this day. The hill of Tsúskai ([note 9]) is said in the myth of dsĭlyĭ′dze hatál to be the home of several of the Tsiké Sas Nátlehi now. It would seem from the songs of dsĭlyĭ′dze hatál that the Maid Who Becomes a Bear of later days is not considered as malevolent as the first of her kind. Her succor is sought by the sick.

91. See [par. 26]. From the language of this story, the conclusion may be drawn that death is not the only thing that renders a house haunted or evil but that, if great misfortune has entered there, it is also to be avoided.

92. This remark must refer only to the particular group whose story is traced. According to the legend, other bands of Dĭnéʻ who had escaped the fury of the alien gods, existed at this time, and when they afterwards joined the Navahoes they were known as dĭnéʻ dĭgíni (holy or mystic people). (See [pars. 385] and [387].)

93. The gods, and such men as they favor, are represented in the tales as making rapid and easy journeys on rainbows, sunbeams, and streaks of lightning. Such miraculous paths are called etĭ′n dĭgíni, or holy trails. They are also represented as using sunbeams like rafts to float through the air.

94. Compare this account with the creation of First Man and First Woman. ([Pars. 162]–[164].)

95. Es-tsá-na-tle-hi ([par. 72]) is never represented in the rites by a masquerader, and never depicted in the sand-paintings, as far as the author has been able to learn. Other versions of the legend account for her creation in other ways. Version A.—First Man and First Woman stayed at Dsĭlnáotĭl and camped in various places around the mountain. One day a black cloud descended on the mountain of Tsolíhi, and remained there four days. First Man said: “Surely something has happened from this; let some one go over there and see.” First Woman went. She approached the mountain from the east, and wound four times around it in ascending it. On the top she found a female infant, who was the daughter of the Earth Mother (Naestsán, the Woman Horizontal) and the Sky Father (Yádĭlyĭl, the Upper Darkness). She picked up the child, who till that moment had been silent; but as soon as she was lifted she began to cry, and never ceased crying until she got home to Dsĭlnáotĭl. Salt Woman said she wanted the child. It is thought the sun fed the infant on pollen, for there was no one to nurse it. In twelve days she grew to be a big girl, and in eighteen days she became a woman, and they held the nubile ceremony over her. Twelve songs belong to this ceremony. Version B only says that First Woman found the infant lying on the ground and took it home to rear it. (See “Some Deities and Demons of the Navajos,”[313] pp. 844, 846.)

96. Yol-kaí Es-tsán signifies White Shell Woman. Yolkaí is derived by syncope from yo (a bead, or the shell from which a bead is made) and lakaí (white). Estsán means woman. As far as known, she is not represented by a character in any of the ceremonies, and not depicted in the dry-paintings.

97. Note omitted.

98. Tóʻ-ne-nĭ-li or Tó-ne-nĭ-li, Water Sprinkler, is an important character in Navaho mythology. He is a rain-god. In the dry-paintings of the Navaho rites he is shown as wearing a blue mask bordered with red, and trimmed on top with life-feathers. Sometimes he is represented carrying a water-pot. In the rite of klédzi hatál, during the public dance of the last night, he is represented by a masked man who enacts the part of a clown. While other masked men are dancing, this clown performs various antics according to his caprice. He walks along the line of dancers, gets in their way, dances out of order and out of time, peers foolishly at different persons, or sits on the ground, his hands clasped across his knees, his body rocking to and fro. At times he joins regularly in the dance; toward the close of a figure, and when the others have retired, pretending he is unaware of their departure, he remains, going through his steps. Then, feigning to suddenly discover the absence of the dancers, he follows them on a full run. Sometimes he carries a fox-skin, drops it on the ground, walks away as if unconscious of his loss; then, pretending to become aware of his loss, he turns around and acts as if searching anxiously for the skin, which lies plainly in sight. He screens his eyes with his hand and crouches low to look. Then, pretending to find the skin, he jumps on it and beats it as if it were a live animal that he seeks to kill. Next he shoulders and carries it as if it were a heavy burden. With such antics the personator of Tóʻnenĭli assists in varying the monotony of the long night’s performance. Though shown as a fool in the rites, he is not so shown in the myths.

99. They manipulated the abdominal parietes, in the belief that by so doing they would insure a favorable presentation. This is the custom among the Navahoes to-day.

100. Among the Navahoes, medicine-men act as accoucheurs.

101. Other versions make Estsánatlehi the mother of both War Gods, and give a less imaginative account of their conception. Version A.—The maiden Estsánatlehi went out to get wood. She collected a bundle, tied it with a rope, and when she knelt down to lift it she felt a foot pressed upon her back; she looked up and saw no one. Three times more kneeling, she felt the pressure of the foot. When she looked up for the fourth time, she saw a man. “Where do you live?” he asked. “Near by,” she replied, pointing to her home. “On yonder mountain,” he said, “you will find four yuccas, each of a different kind, cut on the north side to mark them. Dig the roots of these yuccas and make yourself a bath. Get meal of tohonotĭ′ni corn (note [28]), yellow from your mother, white from your father (note [27]). Then build yourself a brush shelter away from your hut and sleep there four nights.” She went home and told all this to her foster parents. They followed all the directions of the mysterious visitor, for they knew he was the Sun. During three nights nothing happened in the brush shelter that she knew of. On the morning after the fourth night she was awakened from her sleep by the sound of departing footsteps, and, looking in the direction that she heard them, she saw the sun rising. Four days after this (or twelve days, as some say) Nayénĕzgạni was born. Four days later she went to cleanse herself at a spring, and there she conceived of the water, and in four days more Toʻbadzĭstsíni, the second War God, was born to her. Version B.—The Sun (or bearer of the sun) met her in the woods and designated a trysting place. Here First Man built a corral of branches. Sun visited her, in the form of an ordinary man, in the corral, four nights in succession. Four days after the last visit she gave birth to twins, who were Nayénĕzgạni and Toʻbadzĭstsíni. (See “A Part of the Navajos’ Mythology,”[306] pp. 9, 10.)

102. Version A thus describes the baby basket of the elder brother: The child was wrapped in black cloud. A rainbow was used for the hood of the basket and studded with stars. The back of the frame was a parhelion, with the bright spot at its bottom shining at the lowest point. Zigzag lightning was laid on each side and straight lightning down the middle in front. Nĭltsátlol (sunbeams shining on a distant rainstorm) formed the fringe in front where Indians now put strips of buckskin. The carrying-straps were sunbeams.

103. The mountain mahogany of New Mexico and Arizona is the Cercocarpus parvifolius, Nutt. It is called by the Navahoes Tséʻestagi, which means hard as stone.

104. Round cactus, one or more species of Mammilaria. Sitting cactus, Cereus phœniceus, and perhaps other species of Cereus.

105. Yé-i-tso (from yéi, a god or genius, and tso, great) was the greatest and fiercest of the anáye, or alien gods. ([Par. 80], [note 7].) All descriptions of him are substantially the same. (See [pars. 323], [325], [326].) According to the accounts of Hatáli Nĕz and Torlino, his father was a stone; yet in [par. 320] and in Version B the sun is represented as saying that Yéitso is his child. Perhaps they mean he is the child of the sun in a metaphysical sense.

106. This part of the myth alludes to the trap-door spiders, or tarantulæ of the Southwest, that dwell in carefully prepared nests in the ground.

107. By life-feather or breath-feather (hyĭná bĭltsós) is meant a feather taken from a live bird, especially one taken from a live eagle. Such feathers are supposed to preserve life and possess other magic powers. They are used in all the rites. In order to secure a supply of these feathers, the Pueblo Indians catch eaglets and rear them in captivity (see [pars. 560] et seq.); but the Navahoes, like the wild tribes of the north, catch full-grown eagles in traps, and pluck them while alive. This method of catching eagles has been described by the author in his “Ethnography and Philology of the Hidatsa Indians.”[305]

108. Pollen being an emblem of peace, this is equivalent to saying, “Put your feet down in peace,” etc.

109. Version A in describing the adventure with Spider Woman adds: There were only four rungs to the ladder. She had many seats in her house. The elder brother sat on a seat of obsidian; the younger, on a seat of turquoise. She offered them food of four kinds to eat; they only accepted one kind. When they had eaten, a small image of obsidian came out from an apartment in the east and stood on a serrated platform, or platform of serrate knives. The elder brother stood on the platform beside the image. Spider Woman blew a strong breath four times on the image in the direction of the youth, and the latter became thus endowed with the hard nature of the obsidian, which was to further preserve him in his future trials. From the south room came a turquoise image, and stood on a serrated platform. The younger brother stood beside this. Spider Woman blew on the turquoise image toward him, and he thus acquired the hard nature of the blue stone. To-day in the rites of hozóni hatál they have a prayer concerning these incidents beginning, “Now I stand on pésdolgas.” (See note [264].)

110. In describing the journey of the War Gods to the house of the Sun, version A adds something. At Tóʻsato or Hot Spring (Ojo Gallina, near San Rafael), the brothers have an adventure with Tiéholtsodi, the water monster, who threatens them and is appeased with prayer. They encounter Old Age People, who treat them kindly, but bid them not follow the trail that leads to the house of Old Age. They come to Hayolkál, Daylight, which rises like a great range of mountains in front of them. (Songs.) They fear they will have to cross this, but Daylight rises from the ground and lets them pass under.… They come to Tsalyél, Darkness. Wind whispers into their ears what songs to sing. They sing these songs and Tsalyél rises and lets them pass under. They come to water, which they walk over. On the other side they meet their sister, the daughter of the Sun, who dwells in the house of the Sun. She speaks not, but turns silently around, and they follow her to the house.

111. According to version A, there were four sentinels of each kind, and they lay in the passageway or entrance to the house. A curtain hung in front of each group of four. In each group the first sentinel was black, the second blue, the third yellow, the fourth white. The brothers sang songs to the guardians and sprinkled pollen on them.

112. Version A gives the names of these two young men as Black Thunder and Blue Thunder.

113. The teller of the version has omitted to mention that the brothers, when they entered the house, declared that they came to seek their father, but other story-tellers do not fail to tell this.

114. Four articles of armor were given to each, and six different kinds of weapons were given to them. The articles of armor were: peské (knife moccasins), pesĭstlê′ (knife leggings), pesê′ (knife shirt), and pestsá (knife hat). The word “pes” in the above names for armor, is here translated knife. The term was originally applied to flint knives, and to the flakes from which flint knives were made. After the introduction of European tools, the meaning was extended to include iron knives, and now it is applied to any object of iron, and, with qualifying suffixes, to all kinds of metal. Thus copper is peslĭtsí, or red metal, and silver, peslakaí, or white metal. Many of the Navahoes now think that the mythic armor of their gods was of iron. Such the author believed it to be in the earlier years of his investigation among the Navahoes, and he was inclined to believe that they borrowed the idea of armored heroes from the Spanish invaders of the sixteenth century. Later studies have led him to conclude that the conception of armored heroes was not borrowed from the whites, and that the armor was supposed to be made of stone flakes such as were employed in making knives in the prehistoric days. The Mokis believe that their gods and heroes wore armor of flint.

115. The weapons were these:—

• atsĭniklĭ′ska (chain-lightning arrows)
• hatsĭlkĭ′ska or hadĭlkĭ′ska (sheet-lightning arrows)
• saʻbitlólka (sunbeam arrows)
• natsilĭ′tka (rainbow arrows)
• peshál (stone knife-club)
• hatsoilhál, which some say was a thunderbolt, and others say was a great stone knife, with a blade as broad as the hand. Some say that only one stone knife was given, which was for Nayénĕzgạni, and that only two thunderbolts were given, both of which were for Toʻbadzĭstsíni. The man who now personates Nayénĕzgạni in the rites carries a stone knife of unusual size ([plate IV.]); and he who personates Toʻbadzĭstsíni carries in each hand a wooden cylinder (one black and one red) to represent a thunderbolt. ([Plate VII.])

116. Version A adds that when they were thus equipped they were dressed exactly like their brothers Black Thunder and Blue Thunder, who dwelt in the house of the Sun.

117. The man who told this tale explained that there were sixteen poles in the east and sixteen in the west to join earth and sky. Others say there were thirty-two poles on each side. The Navahoes explain the annual progress of the sun by saying that at the winter solstice he climbs on the pole farthest south in rising; that as the season advances he climbs on poles farther and farther north, until at the summer solstice he climbs the pole farthest north; that then he retraces his way, climbing different poles until he reaches the south again. He is supposed to spend about an equal number of days at each pole.

118. Many versions relate that the bearer of the sun rode a horse, or other pet animal. The Navaho word here employed is lin, which means any domesticated or pet animal, but now, especially, a horse. Version A says the animal he rode was made of turquoise and larger than a horse. Such versions have great difficulty in getting the horse up to the sky. Version A makes the sky dip down and touch the earth to let the horse ascend. Of course the horse is a modern addition to the tale. They never saw horses until the sixteenth century, and previous to that time it is not known that any animal was ridden on the western continent. Version B merely says that the Sun “put on his robe of cloud, and, taking one of his sons under each arm, he rose into the heavens.”

119. Version B says they all ate a meal on their journey to the sky-hole. Version A says that they ate for food, at the sky-hole, before the brothers descended, a mixture of five kinds of pollen, viz.: pollen of white corn, pollen of yellow corn, pollen of dawn, pollen of evening twilight, and pollen of the sun.[11] These were mixed with tóʻlanastsi, all kinds of water.[67]

120. Tóʻ-sa-to or Warm Spring is at the village of San Rafael, Valencia County, New Mexico. It is about three miles in a southerly direction from Grant’s, on the Atlantic and Pacific Railroad, five miles from the base and eighteen miles from the summit of Mount Taylor, in a southwesterly direction from the latter. The lake referred to in the myth lies about two miles southeast of the spring.

121. According to Version A, the monsters or anáye were all conceived in the fifth world and born of one woman (a granddaughter of First Woman), who travelled much and rarely stayed at home. According to Version B, the monsters were sent by First Woman, who became offended with man.

122. Version A gives, in addition to Tsótsĭl, the names of the other three hills over which Yéitso appeared. These were: in the east, Saʻakéaʻ; in the south, Dsĭlsitsí (Red Mountain); in the west, Tseʻlpaináli (Brown Rock Hanging Down).

123. Version A.—“Hragh!” said he, with a sigh of satisfaction (pantomimically expressed), “I have finished that.”

124. Yiniketóko! No etymology has been discovered for this expression. It is believed to be the equivalent of the “Fee Fa Fum!” of the giants in our nursery tales.

125. Version B.—This bolt rent his armor.

126. It is common in this and all other versions to show that evil turns to good (see [pars. 338], [345], [349], et al.) and that the demons dead become useful to man in other forms. How the armor of Yéitso became useful to man, the narrator here forgot to state; but it may be conjectured that he should have said that it furnished flint flakes for knives and arrow-heads.

127. Other versions state, more particularly, that, in accordance with the Indian custom, these names were given when the brothers returned to their home, and the ceremony of rejoicing (the “scalp-dance”) was held for their first victory. Nayénĕzgạni is derived from na, or aná (alien or enemy: see note [7]); yéi, ye or ge (a genius or god; hence anáye, an alien god or giant: see [par. 80]); nĕzgáʻ (to kill with a blow or blows, as in killing with a club); and the suffix ni (person). The name means, therefore, Slayer of the Alien Gods, or Slayer of Giants. As the sounds of g and y before e are interchangeable in the Navaho language, the name is heard pronounced both Nayénĕzgạni and Nagénĕzgạni,—about as often one way as the other. In previous essays the author has spelled it in the latter way; but in this work he gives preference to the former, since it is more in harmony with his spelling of other names containing the word “ye” or “yéi.” (See [par. 78].) Toʻ-ba-dzĭs-tsí-ni is derived from toʻ (water), ba (for him), dzĭstsín (born), and the suffix ni. The name therefore means, literally, Born for the Water; but the expression badzĭstsín (born for him) denotes the relation of father and child,—not of a mother and child,—so that a free translation of the name is Child of the Water. The second name of this god, Naídikĭsi, is rarely used.

128. About 40 miles to the northeast of the top of Mt. San Mateo there is a dark, high volcanic hill called by the Mexicans El Cabezon, or The Great Head. This is the object which, according to the Navaho story-tellers, was the head of Yéitso. Around the base of San Mateo, chiefly toward the east and north, there are several more high volcanic peaks, of less prominence than El Cabezon, which are said to have been the heads of other giants who were slain in a great storm raised by the War Gods. (See [pars. 358], [359].) [Plate V.] shows six of these volcanic hills. The high truncated cone in the distance (17 miles from the point of view) is El Cabezon. Captain Clarence E. Dutton, U.S.A., treats of the geologic character of these cones in his work on Mount Taylor.[299] [Plate V.] is taken from the same photograph as his plate XXI. In Lieut. Simpson’s report,[328] p. 73, this hill is described under the name Cerro de la Cabeza, and a picture of it is given in plate 17 of said report. It is called “Cabezon Pk.” on the accompanying map.

129. To the south and west of the San Mateo Mountains there is a great plain of lava rock of geologically recent origin, which fills the valley and presents plainly the appearance of having once been flowing. The rock is dark and has much resemblance to coagulated blood. This is the material which, the Navahoes think, was once the blood of Yéitso. In some places it looks as if the blood were suddenly arrested, forming high cliffs; here the war god is supposed to have stopped the flow with his knife. [Plate VI.] shows this lava in the valley of the Rio San José, from a photograph supplied by the United States Geological Survey.

130. Version A adds some particulars to the account of the return of the brothers to their home, after their encounter with Yéitso. They first went to Azíhi, the place at which they descended when they came from the sky, and then to Kainipéhi. On their way home they sang twenty songs—the Nidotátsogisĭn—which are sung to-day in the rites of hozóni hatál. Near Dsĭlnáotĭl, just at daybreak, they met Hastséyalti and Hastséhogan, who embraced them, addressed them as grandchildren, sang two songs, now belonging to the rites, and conducted the young heroes to their home.

131. Té-el-gĕt, Tê-el-gĕ′-ti and Dĕl-gét are various pronunciations of the name of this monster. In the songs he is sometimes called Bĭ-té-ĕl-gĕ-ti, which is merely prefixing the personal pronoun “his” to the name. The exact etymology has not been determined. The name has some reference to his horns; tê, or te, meaning horns, and bité, his horns, in Navaho. All descriptions of this anáye are much alike. His father, it is said, was an antelope horn.

132. Arabis holböllii (Hornemann), a-ze-la-dĭl-té-he, “scattered” or “lone medicine.” The plants grow single and at a distance from one another, not in beds or clusters. (See “Navajo Names for Plants,”[312] p. 770.)

133. Version A relates that they sang, while at work on these kethawns, six songs, which, under the name of Atsós Bigĭ′n, or Feather Songs, are sung now in the rite of hozóni hatál.

134. Version A says that the horns of Téelgĕt were like those of an antelope, and that Nayénĕzgạni cut off the short branch of one as an additional trophy.

135. Tseʻnă′-ha-le. These mythic creatures, which in a previous paper, “A Part of the Navajos’ Mythology,”[306] the author calls harpies, from their analogy to the harpies of Greek mythology, are believed in by many tribes of the Southwest. According to Hatáli Nĕz they were the offspring of a bunch of eagle plumes.

136. Tséʻ-bĭ-ta-i, or Winged Rock, is a high, sharp pinnacle of dark volcanic rock, rising from a wide plain in the northwestern part of New Mexico, about 12 miles from the western boundary of the Territory, and about 20 miles from the northern boundary. The Navahoes liken it to a bird, and hence the name of Winged Rock, or more literally Rock, Its Wings. The whites think it resembles a ship with sails set, and call it Ship Rock. Its bird-like appearance has probably suggested to the Navahoes the idea of making it the mythic home of the bird-like Tseʻnă′hale.

137. There are many instances in Navaho language and legend where, when two things somewhat resemble each other, but one is the coarser, the stronger, or the more violent, it is spoken of as male, or associated with the male; while the finer, weaker, or more gentle is spoken of as female, or associated with the female. Thus the turbulent San Juan River is called, by the Navaho, Toʻbaká, or Male Water; while the placid Rio Grande is known as Toʻbaád, or Female Water. A shower accompanied by thunder and lightning is called nĭltsabaká, or male rain; a shower without electrical display is called nĭltsabaád, or female rain. In the myth of Natĭ′nĕsthani the mountain mahogany is said to be used for the male sacrificial cigarette, and the cliff rose for the female. These two shrubs are much alike, particularly when in fruit and decked with long plumose styles, but the former (the “male”) is the larger and coarser shrub. In the myth of Dsĭlyiʻ Neyáni another instance may be found where mountain mahogany is associated with the male, and the cliff rose with the female. Again, in the myth of Natĭ′nĕsthani a male cigarette is described as made of the coarse sunflower, while its associated female is said to be made of the allied but more slender Verbesina. Instances of this character might be multiplied indefinitely. On this principle the north is associated with the male, and the south with the female, for two reasons: 1st, cold, violent winds blow from the north, while gentle, warm breezes blow from the south; 2d, the land north of the Navaho country is more rough and mountainous than the land in the south. In the former rise the great peaks of Colorado, while in the latter the hills are not steep and none rise to the limit of eternal snow. A symbolism probably antecedent to this has assigned black as the color of the north and blue as the color of the south; so, in turn, black symbolizes the male and blue the female among the Navaho. (From “A Vigil of the Gods.”)[328]

138. Version A.—The young birds were the color of a blue heron, but had bills like eagles. Their eyes were as big as a circle made by the thumbs and middle fingers of both hands. Nayénĕzgạni threw the birds first to the bottom of the cliff and there metamorphosed them.

139. The etymology of the word Tsĕ′-dă-ni (Englished, chedany) has not been determined. It is an expression denoting impatience and contempt.

140. On being asked for the cause of this sound, the narrator gave an explanation which indicated that the “Hottentot apron” exists among American Indians. The author has had previous evidence corroborative of this.

141. Version B here adds: “Giving up her feathers for lost, she turned her attention to giving names to the different kinds of birds as they flew out,—names which they bear to this day among the Navajos,—until her basket was empty.”

142. Tseʻ-ta-ho-tsĭl-táʻ-li is said to mean He (Who) Kicks (People) Down the Cliff. Some pronounce the name Tseʻ-ta-yĭ-tsil-táʻ-li.

143. In versions A and B, the hero simply cuts the hair of the monster and allows the latter to fall down the cliff.

144. Na-tsĭs-a-án is the Navaho Mountain, an elevation 10,416 feet high, ten miles south of the junction of the Colorado and San Juan rivers, in the State of Utah.

145. Thus does the Navaho story-teller weakly endeavor to score a point against his hereditary enemy, the Pah Ute. But it is poor revenge, for the Pah Ute is said to have usually proved more than a match for the Navaho in battle. In Version A, the young are transformed into Rocky Mountain sheep; in Version B, they are changed into birds of prey.

146. This is the place at which the Bĭnáye Aháni were born, as told in [par. 203]. The other monsters mentioned in Part II. were not found by Nayénĕzgạni at the places where they were said to be born.

147. Other versions make mention, in different places, of a Salt Woman, or goddess of salt, Ásihi Estsán; but the version of Hatáli Nĕz does not allude to her. Version A states that she supplied the bag of salt which Nayénĕzgạni carried on his expedition.

148. Tsĭ-dĭl-tó-i means shooting or exploding bird. The name comes, perhaps, from some peculiarity of this bird, which gives warning of the approach of an enemy.

149. Hos-tó-di is probably an onomatopoetic name for a bird. It is said to be sleepy in the daytime and to come out at night.

150. Version B says that scalps were the trophies.

151. In all versions of this legend, but two hero gods or war gods are prominently mentioned, viz., Nayénĕzgạni and Toʻbadzĭstsíni; but in these songs four names are given. This is to satisfy the Indian reverence for the number four, and the dependent poetic requirement which often constrains the Navaho poet to put four stanzas in a song. Léyaneyani, or Reared Beneath the Earth ([par. 286]), is an obscure hero whose only deed of valor, according to this version of the legend, was the killing of his witch sister ([par. 281]). The deeds of Tsówenatlehi, or the Changing Grandchild, are not known to the writer. Some say that Léyaneyani and Tsówenatlehi are only other names for Nayénĕzgạni and Toʻbadzĭstsíni; but the best authorities in the tribe think otherwise. One version of this legend says that Estsánatlehi hid her children under the ground when Yéitso came seeking to devour them. This may have given rise to the idea that one of these children was called, also, Reared Beneath the Earth.

152. The following are the names of places where pieces were knocked off the stone:—

• Bĭsdá, Edge of Bank.
• Toʻkohokádi, Ground Level with Water. (Here Nayénĕzgạni chased the stone four times in a circle; the chips he knocked off are there yet.)
• Daatsĭ′ndaheol, Floating Corn-cob.
• Nitatĭ′s, Cottonwood below Ground.
• Sasdĕstsáʻ, Gaping Bear.
• Béikĭthatyêl, Broad Lake.
• Nánzozilin, Make Nánzoz Sticks.
• Akĭ′ddahalkaí, Something White on Top (of something else).
• Anádsĭl, Enemy Mountain.
• Sásbĭtoʻ, Bear Spring (Fort Wingate).
• Tseʻtyêlĭskĭ′d, Broad Rock Hill.
• Tsadihábĭtĭn, Antelope Trail Ascending.
• Kĭnhitsói, Much Sumac.
• Tsúskai (Chusca Knoll).
• Lestsídelkai, Streaks of White Ashes.
• Dsĭlnáodsĭl, Mountain Surrounded by Mountains (Carrizo Mountains.).
• Tisnáspas, Circle of Cottonwood.

The above, it is said, are all places where constant springs of water (rare in the Navaho land) are to be found. Some are known to be such. This gives rise to the idea expressed in note [8]. There is little doubt that the Navahoes believe in many of the Tiéholtsodi. Probably every constant spring or watercourse has its water god.

153. Version A adds an account of a wicked woman who dwelt at Kĭ′ndotlĭz and slew her suitors. Nayénĕzgạni kills her. It also adds an account of vicious swallows who cut people with their wings. Version B omits the encounter with Sasnalkáhi and Tséʻnagahi.

154. Possibly this refers to Pueblo legends.

155. Version B, which gives only a very meagre account of this destructive storm, mentions only one talisman, but says that songs were sung and dances performed over this.

156. Such pillars as the myth refers to are common all over the Navaho land.

157. Version A makes Nayénĕzgạni say here: “I have been to niʻĭndahazlágo (the end of the earth); toʻĭndahazlágo (the end of the waters); to yaĭndahazlágo (the end of the sky); and to dsĭlĭndahazlágo (the end of the mountains), and I have found none that were not my friends.”

158. Pás-zĭn-i is the name given by the Navahoes to the hard mineral substance which they use to make black beads, and other sacrifices to the gods of the north. Specimens of this substance have been examined by Prof. F. W. Clark of the United States Geological Survey, who pronounces it to be a fine bituminous coal of about the quality of cannel coal; so it is, for convenience, called cannel coal in this work. It is scarce in the Navaho land and is valued by the Indians.

159. This refers to large fossil bones found in many parts of Arizona and New Mexico.

160. Ha-dá-ho-ni-ge-dĭ-neʻ (Mirage People), Ha-dá-ho-nes-tid-dĭ-neʻ (Ground-heat People). Hadáhonestid is translated ground-heat, for want of a more convenient term. It refers to the waving appearance given to objects in hot weather, observed so frequently in the arid region, and due to varying refraction near the surface of the ground.

161. The ceremony at Tsĭnlí (Chinlee Valley) was to celebrate the nubility of Estsánatlehi. Although already a mother, she was such miraculously, and not until this time did she show signs of nubility. Such a ceremony is performed for every Navaho maiden now. The ceremony at San Francisco Mountain occurred four days after that at Tsĭnlí. It is now the custom among the Navahoes to hold a second ceremony over a maiden four days after the first. On the second ceremony with Estsánatlehi they laid her on top of the mountain with her head to the west, because she was to go to the west to dwell there. They manipulated her body and stretched out her limbs. Thus she bade the people do, in future, to all Navaho maidens, and thus the Navahoes do now, in the ceremony of the fourth day, when they try to mould the body of the maiden to look like the perfect form of Estsánatlehi. Version A makes the nubile ceremony occur before the child was born.

162. Dsĭl-lĭ-zĭ′n, or Dsĭllĭzĭ′ni (Black Mountain), is an extensive mesa in Apache County, Arizona. The pass to which the myth refers is believed to be that named, by the United States Geological Survey, Marsh Pass, which is about 60 miles north of the Moki villages. The name of the mesa is spelled “Zilh-le-jĭni” on the accompanying map.

163. Toʻ-yĕ′t-li (Meeting Waters) is the junction of two important rivers somewhere in the valley of the San Juan River, in Colorado or Utah. The precise location has not been determined. It is a locality often mentioned in the Navaho myths. (See [par. 477].)

164. The following appeared in the “American Naturalist” for February, 1887:—

“In the interesting account entitled ‘Some Deities and Demons of the Navajos,’ by Dr. W. Matthews, in the October issue of the “Naturalist” ([note 306]), he mentions the fact that the warriors offered their sacrifices at the sacred shrine of Thoyetli, in the San Juan Valley. He says that the Navajos have a tradition that the gods of war, or sacred brothers, still dwell at Thoyetli, and their reflection is sometimes seen on the San Juan River. Dr. Matthews is certain the last part is due to some natural phenomenon. The following account seems to furnish a complete explanation of this part of the myth. Several years ago a clergyman, while travelling in the San Juan Valley, noticed a curious phenomenon while gazing down upon the San Juan River as it flowed through a deep canyon. Mists began to arise, and soon he saw the shadows of himself and companions reflected near the surface of the river, and surrounded by a circular rainbow, the ‘Circle of Ulloa.’ They jumped, moved away, and performed a number of exercises, to be certain that the figures were their reflections, and the figures responded. There was but slight color in the rainbow. Similar reflections have no doubt caused the superstitious Indians to consider these reflections as those of their deities.”—G. A. Brennan, Roseland, Cook County, Illinois, January 12, 1887.

165. Tseʻ-gí-hi is the name of some canyon, abounding in cliff-dwellings, north of the San Juan River, in Colorado or Utah. The author knows of it only from description. It is probably the McElmo or the Mancos Canyon. It is supposed by the Navahoes to have been a favorite home of the yéi or gods, and the ruined cliff-houses are supposed to have been inhabited by the divine ones. The cliff ruins in the Chelly Canyon, Arizona, are also supposed to have been homes of the gods; in fact, the gods are still thought to dwell there unseen. Chelly is but a Spanish orthography of the Navaho name Tséʻgi, Tséyi or Tséyi. When a Navaho would say “in the Chelly Canyon,” he says Tséyigi. The resemblance of this expression to Tseʻgíhi (g and y being interchangeable) led the author at first to confound the two places. Careful inquiry showed that different localities were meant. Both names have much the same meaning (Among the Cliffs, or Among the Rocks).

166. The expression used by the story-teller was, “seven times old age has killed.” This would be freely translated by most Navaho-speaking whites as “seven ages of old men.” The length of the age of an old man as a period of time is variously estimated by the Navahoes. Some say it is a definite cycle of 102 years,—the same number as the counters used in the game of kesitsé ([note 176]); others say it is “threescore years and ten;” while others, again, declare it to be an indefinite period marked by the death of some very old man in the tribe. This Indian estimate would give, for the existence of the nuclear gens of the Navaho nation, a period of from five hundred to seven hundred years. In his excellent paper on the “Early Navajo and Apache,”[301] Mr. F. W. Hodge arrives at a much later date for the creation or first mention of the Tseʻdzĭnkĭ′ni by computing the dates given in this legend, and collating the same with the known dates of Spanish-American history. He shows that many of the dates given in this story are approximately correct. While the Tseʻdzĭnkĭ′ni is, legendarily, the nuclear gens of the Navahoes, it does not follow, even from the legend, that it is the oldest gens; for the dĭnéʻ dĭgíni, or holy people (see note [92]), are supposed to have existed before it was created.

167. Tseʻ-dzĭn-kĭ′n-i is derived from tseʻ (rock), dzĭn (black, dark), and kin (a straight-walled house, a stone or adobe house, not a Navaho hut or hogán). Tseʻ is here rendered “cliffs,” because the house or houses in question are described as situated in dark cliffs. Like nearly all other Navaho gentile names, it seems to be of local origin.

168. The rock formations of Arizona and New Mexico are often so fantastic that such a condition as that here described might easily occur.

169. The author has expressed the opinion elsewhere[318] that we need not suppose from this passage that the story-teller wishes to commiserate the Tseʻtláni on the inferiority of their diet; he may merely intend to show that his gens had not the same taboo as the elder gentes. The modern Navahoes do not eat ducks or snakes. Taboo is perhaps again alluded to in [par. 394], where it is said that the Tháʻpaha ate ducks and fish. The Navahoes do not eat fish, and fear fish in many ways. A white woman, for mischief, emptied over a young Navaho man a pan of water in which fish had been soaked. He changed all his clothes and purified himself by bathing. Navahoes have been known to refuse candies that were shaped like fish.

170. A common method of killing deer and antelope in the old days was this: They were driven on to some high, steep-sided, jutting mesa, whose connection with the neighboring plateau was narrow and easily guarded. Here their retreat was cut off, and they were chased until constrained to jump over the precipice.

171. The name Toʻ-do-kón-zi is derived from two words,—toʻ (water) and dokónz (here translated saline). The latter word is used to denote a distinct but not an unpleasant taste. It has synonyms in other Indian languages, but not in English. It is known only from explanation that the water in question had a pleasant saline taste.

172. The arrow-case of those days is a matter of tradition only. The Indians say it looked something like a modern shawl-strap.

173. In the name of this gens we have possibly another evidence of a former existence of totemism among some of the Navaho gentes. Haskánhatso may mean that many people of the Yucca gens lived in the land, and not that many yuccas grew there.

174. From the description given of this tree, which, the Indians say, still stands, it seems to be a big birch-tree.

175. Tsĭn-a-dzĭ′-ni is derived by double syncopation from tsĭn (wood), na (horizontal), dzĭn (dark or black), and the suffix ni. The word for black, dzĭn, in compounds is often pronounced zĭn. There is a place called Tsĭ′nadzĭn somewhere in Arizona, but the author has not located it.

176. Kĕ-sĭ-tsé, or kesitsé, from ke (moccasins), and sitsé (side by side, in a row), is a game played only during the winter months, at night and inside of a lodge. A multitude of songs, and a myth of a contest between animals who hunt by day and those who hunt by night, pertain to the game. Eight moccasins are buried in the ground (except about an inch of their tops), and they are filled with earth or sand. They are placed side by side, a few inches apart, in two rows,—one row on each side of the fire. A chip, marked black on one side (to represent night), is tossed up to see which side should begin first. The people of the lucky side hold up a screen to conceal their operations, and hide a small stone in the sand in one of the moccasins. When the screen is lowered, one of the opponents strikes the moccasins with a stick, and guesses which one contains the stone. If he guesses correctly, his side takes the stone to hide and the losers give him some counters. If he does not guess correctly, the first players retain the stone and receive a certain number of counters. (See note [88].) A better account of this game, with an epitome of the myth and several of the songs, has already been published.[316]

177. There are many allusions in the Navaho tales to the clothing of this people before the introduction of sheep (which came through the Spanish invaders), and before they cultivated the art of weaving, which they probably learned from the Pueblo tribes, although they are now better weavers than the Pueblos. The Navahoes represent themselves as miserably clad in the old days ([par. 466]), and they tell that many of their arts were learned from other tribes. ([Par. 393].)

178. Allusion is here made to the material used by Indians on the backs of bows, for bow-strings, as sewing-thread, and for many other purposes, which is erroneously called “sinew” by ethnographers and travellers. It is not sinew in the anatomical or histological sense of the word. It is yellow fibrous tissue taken from the dorsal region, probably the aponeurosis of the trapezius.

179. The Navaho country abounds in small caves and rock-shelters, some of which have been walled up by these Indians and used as store-houses (but not as dwellings, for reasons elsewhere given, [par. 26]). Such store-houses are in use at this day.

180. The legends represent the Navahoes not only as poorly clad and poorly fed in the old days, but as possessing few arts. Here and elsewhere in the legends it is stated that various useful arts became known to the tribe through members of other tribes adopted by the Navahoes.

181. Another version states that when the Western immigrants were travelling along the western base of the Lukachokai Mountains, some wanted to ascend the Tseʻĭnlín valley; but one woman said, “No; let us keep along the base of the mountain.” From this they named her Base of Mountain, and her descendants bear that name now. This explanation is less likely than that in [par. 393].

182. This statement should be accepted only with some allowance for the fact that it was made by one who was of the gens of Tháʻpaha.

183. Punishments for adultery were various and severe among many Indian tribes in former days. Early travellers mention amputation of the nose and other mutilations, and it appears that capital punishment for this crime was not uncommon. If there is any punishment for adultery among the Navahoes to-day, more severe than a light whipping, which is rarely given, the author has never heard of it. The position of the Navaho woman is such that grievous punishments would not be tolerated. In the days of Góntso even, it would seem they were scarcely less protected than now, for then the husband, although a potent chief, did not dare to punish his wives—so the legend intimates—until he had received the consent of their relatives.

184. For the performance of these nine-days’ ceremonies the Navahoes now build temporary medicine-lodges, which they use, as a rule, for one occasion only. Rarely is a ceremony performed twice in the same place, and there is no set day, as indicated by any phase of any particular lunation, for the beginning of any great ceremony. Many ceremonies may be performed only during the cold months, but otherwise the time for performance is not defined. There is a tradition that their customs were different when they lived in a compact settlement on the banks of the San Juan River (before they became shepherds and scattered over the land); that they then had permanent medicine-lodges, and exact dates for the performance of some ceremonies. In [paragraph 411] we hear of a ceremony which lasted all winter.

185. For a description of this ceremony see “The Mountain Chant: a Navaho Ceremony,”[314] by the author. It is an important healing ceremony of nine days’ duration. The rites, until the last night, are held in the medicine-lodge and are secret. Just after sunset on the last day, a great round corral, or circle of evergreen branches, is constructed, called ilnásdzĭn, or the dark circle of branches. This is about forty paces in diameter, about eight feet high, with an opening in the east about ten feet wide. From about eight P.M. on the last night of the ceremony until dawn next morning, a number of dances, dramatic shows, medicine rites, and tricks of legerdemain are performed in this corral, in the presence of a large group of spectators,—several hundred men, women, and children. No one is refused admittance. [Fig. 37] shows the dark circle of branches as it appears at sunrise when the rites are over, and, in addition to the original opening in the east, three other openings have been made in the circle. [Fig. 30] shows the alíl (rite, show, or ceremony) of nahikáï, which takes place on this occasion, and it is designed largely for the entertainment and mystification of the spectators. The performers march around (and very close to) the great central fire, which emits an intense heat. Their skin would probably be scorched if it were not heavily daubed with white earth. Each actor carries a short wand, at the tip of which is a ball of eagle-down. This ball he must burn off in the fire, and then, by a simple sleight-of-hand trick, seem to restore the ball again to the end of his wand. When this is accomplished, he rushes out of the corral, trumpeting like a sand-hill crane. In “The Mountain Chant” this is called a dance, but the movements of the actors are not in time to music. Nahikáï signifies “it becomes white again,” and refers to the reappearance of the eagle-down. The show is very picturesque, and must be mystifying to simple minds.

186. Tseʻ-zĭn-di-aí signifies Black Rock Standing (like a wall). It might mean an artificial wall of black rock; but as the result of careful inquiry it has been learned that the name refers to a locality where exists the formation known to geologists as trap-dyke. It cannot be averred that it is applied to all trap-dyke.

187. Slaves were numerous among the Navahoes, and slavery was openly recognized by them until 1883, when the just and energetic agent, Mr. D. M. Riordan, did much to abolish it. Yet as late as 1893, when the writer was last in the Navaho country, he found evidence that the institution still existed, though very occultly, and to a more limited extent than formerly.

188. Some translate Háltso as Yellow Valley, and give a different myth to account for the name. As most Navaho gentile names are undoubtedly of local origin, there may be a tendency to make all gentile names accord with the general rule.

189. The word here translated pet (lin) means also a domestic animal and a personal fetish. (See [par. 63].)

190. Although this name, Bĭ-táʻ-ni, seems so much like that of Bĭtáni that one might think they were but variants of the same word, they are undoubtedly distinct names and must not be confounded.

191. This is believed to be the notable landmark called by the whites Sunset Peak, which is about ten miles east of San Francisco Peak, in Yavapai County, Arizona. Sunset Peak is covered with dark forests nearly to its summit. The top is of brilliant red rock capped by a paler stratum, and it has the appearance, at all hours of the day, of being lighted by the setting sun.

192. This locality is in Apache County, Arizona, about sixty miles from the eastern boundary and twelve miles from the northern boundary of the Territory. A sharp volcanic peak, 6,825 feet high above sea-level, which marks the place from afar, is called “Agathla Needle” on the maps of the United States Geological Survey, and on the accompanying map, which was compiled from the government maps by Mr. Frank Tweedy of the Geological Survey.

193. The Navahoes are aware that in lands far to the north there are kindred tribes which speak languages much like their own. They have traditions that long ago some of their number travelled in search of these tribes and found them. These distant kinsmen are called by the Navaho Dĭnéʻ Nahotlóni, or Navahoes in Another Place.

194. A version has been recorded which says that, on the march, one woman loitered behind at Deer Spring for a while, as if loath to leave; that for this reason they called her Deer Spring, and that her descendants became the gens of that name. The same version accounts in a similar manner for the names given at the magic fountains. The women did not call out the names of the springs, but they loitered at them.

195. The story of the Deer Spring People affords, perhaps, the best evidence in favor of the former existence of totemism to be found in the legend. Assuming that the immigrants from the west had once totemic names, we may explain this story by saying that it was people of the Deer gens who stayed behind and gave their name to the spring where they remained; that in the course of time they became known as People of the Deer Spring; and that, as they still retain their old name in a changed form, the story-teller is constrained to say that the fate of the deer is not known. Perhaps the name of the Maitóʻdĭneʻ ([par. 428]) may be explained in somewhat the same way. (See “The Gentile System of the Navajo Indians,” p. 107.[318])

196. The more proper interpretation of Ho-na-gáʻ-ni seems to be People of the Walking Place, from ho (locative), nága (to walk), and ni (people). It is not unreasonable to suppose that, like nearly all other Navaho gentile names, this name has a local meaning, and that the story here told to account for its origin is altogether mythical.

197. This episode indicates that kindness and pity are sentiments not unknown to the Navahoes, and that (though there are many thieves) there are honest men and women among them.

198. Na-nas-tĕ′-zin, the Navaho name for the Zuñi Indians, is said to be derived from aná (an alien or an enemy), naste (a horizontal stripe), and zĭn (black). Some say it refers to the way the Zuñians cut their hair,—“bang” it,—straight across the forehead; others say it is the name of a locality.

199. Kin-a-áʻ-ni, or Kin-ya-áʻ-ni, means People of the High Pueblo House,—the high wall of stone or adobe. The name kinaáʻ might with propriety be applied to any one of hundreds of ruins in the Navaho country, but the only one to which the name is known to be given is a massive ruin six or seven stories high in Bernalillo County, New Mexico, about seventeen miles in a northerly direction from Chaves Station, on the Atlantic and Pacific Railroad. This ruin consists of unusually large fragments of stone, and looks more like a ruined European castle than other old Indian dwellings. It seems too far east and south, and too far away from the settlements on the San Juan, where the western immigrants finished their journey, to be the place, as some say it is, from which the gens of Kinaáʻni derived its name. The high stone wall which the immigrants passed en route, mentioned in [par. 435] in connection with the gens of Kinaáʻni, may be the place to which the legend originally ascribed the origin of the name. There are many pueblo remains around San Francisco Mountain. The name is written “Kin-ya-a-ni” on the accompanying map.

200. [Plate I.], fig. 1, shows a yébaad, or female yéi or goddess, as she is usually represented in the dry-paintings. The following objects are here indicated: (1) A square mask or domino, which covers the face only (see [fig. 28]), is painted blue, margined below with yellow (to represent the yellow evening light), and elsewhere with lines of red and black (for hair above, for ears at the sides), and has downy eagle-feathers on top, tied on with white strings; (2) a robe of white, extending from the armpits to near the knees, adorned with red and blue to represent sunbeams, and fringed beautifully at the bottom; (3) white leggings secured with colored garters (such as Indians weave); (4) embroidered moccasins; (5) an ornamental sash; (6) a wand of spruce-twigs in each hand (sometimes she is shown with spruce in one hand and a seed-basket in the other); (7) jewels—ear-pendants, bracelets, and necklaces—of turquoise and coral; (8) long strips of fox-skin ornamented at the ends, which hang from wrists and elbows. (For explanation of blue neck, see note [74].) In the dance of the nahikáï, there are properly six yébaad in masquerade; but sometimes they have to get along with a less number, owing to the difficulty in finding suitable persons enough to fill the part. The actors are usually low-sized men and boys, who must contrast in appearance with those who enact the part of males. Each yébaad actor wears no clothing except moccasins and a skirt, which is held on with a silver-studded belt; his body and limbs are painted white; his hair is unbound and hangs over his shoulders; he wears the square female mask and he carries in each hand a bundle of spruce twigs, which is so secured, by means of strings, that he cannot carelessly let it fall. Occasionally females are found to dance in this character: these have their bodies fully clothed in ordinary woman’s attire; but they wear the masks and carry the wands just as the young men do. While the male gods, in [plate I.], except Dsahadoldzá, are represented with white arms, the female is depicted with yellow arms. This symbolism is explained in note [27].

201. The exact etymology of the word Na-tĭ′n-ĕs-tha-ni has not been determined. The idea it conveys is: He who teaches himself, he who discovers for himself, or he who thinks out a problem for himself. We find the verb in the expression nasĭnítin, which means, “Teach me how to do it.” Here the second and third syllables are pronouns. Although the hero has his name changed after a while, the story-teller usually continues to call him Natĭ′nĕsthani to the end of the story. Often he speaks of him as the man or the Navaho.

202. The eighteen articles here referred to are as follows: 1, white shell; 2, turquoise; 3, haliotis shell; 4, pászĭni or cannel coal; 5, red stone; 6, feathers of the yellow warbler; 7, feathers of the bluebird; 8, feathers of the eagle; 9, feathers of the turkey; 10, beard of the turkey; 11, cotton string; 12, iʻyidĕzná;[11] 13, white shell basket; 14, turquoise basket; 15, haliotis basket; 16, pászĭni basket; 17, rock crystal basket; 18, sacred buckskin. (See [note 13].) These were the sacred articles which the gods were said to require in the myths of klédzi hatál and atsósidze hatál. In the myths of the former rite they are mentioned over and over again, to the weariness of the hearer. They are all used to-day in the rites mentioned, except the five baskets. Now ordinary sacred baskets (note [5], [par. 28]) are used; the jeweled baskets are legendary only.

203. The knowledge of domestic or pet turkeys is not new to the Navahoes. The Pueblo Indians of the Southwest have kept them for centuries. The Navahoes declare that in former years they kept pet turkeys themselves; but this seems doubtful, considering their mode of life. A conservative Navaho will not now eat turkey flesh, although he will not hesitate to shoot a wild turkey to sell it to a white man.

204. In the Navaho dry-paintings the rainbow is usually depicted with a head at one end and legs and feet at the other. The head is represented with a square mask to show that it is a goddess. It is apotheosized. (See [fig. 29].) In one of the dry-paintings of the mountain chant the rainbow is depicted without limbs or head, but terminating at one end with five eagle-plumes, at the other end with five magpie-plumes, and decorated near its middle with plumes of the bluebird and the red-shafted woodpecker. (See “The Mountain Chant,” p. 450.[314])

205. This magic cup figures in many other Navaho myths. (See [paragraph 572].)

206. Has-tsé-ol-to-i means the Shooting Hastsé ([par. 78]), or Shooting Deity. As the personator of this character always wears a female mask ([fig. 28]), it would seem that this divinity of the chase, like the Roman Diana, is a goddess. The personator (a man) carries a quiver of puma skin, a bow, and two arrows. The latter are made of reed, are headless, and are feathered with the tail and wing feathers of the red-tailed buzzard (Buteo borealis), tied on with fibrous tissue. The tips of the arrows are covered with moistened white earth and moistened pollen. Each arrow is at least two spans and a hand’s-breadth long; but it must be cut off three finger-widths beyond a node, and to accomplish this it may be made a little longer than the above dimensions. There are very particular rules about applying the feathers. The man who personates Hastséoltoi, in a rite of succor in the ceremony of the night chant, follows the personators of the War Gods. While the patient stands on a buffalo robe in front of the medicine-lodge, the actor waves with the right hand one arrow at him, giving a peculiar call; then, changing the arrows from one hand to another, he waves the other arrow at the patient. This is done east, south, west, and north. The actor repeats these motions around the lodge; all then enter the lodge; there the patient says a prayer, and, with many formalities, presents a cigarette to the personator (after he has prayed and sacrificed to the War Gods). The three masqueraders then go to the west of the lodge to deposit their sacrifices (that of Hastséoltoi is put under a weed,—Gutierrezia euthamiæ, if possible). When this is done, they take off their masks, don ordinary blankets,—brought out by an accomplice,—hide the masks under their blankets, and return to the lodge in the guise of ordinary Indians. Some speak as if there were but one Hastséoltoi, and say she is the wife of Nayénĕzgạni. Others speak as if there were one at every place where the yéi have homes.

207. The Gán-as-kĭ-di are a numerous race of divinities. Their chief home is at a place called Depéhahatil (Tries to Shoot Sheep), near Tseʻgíhi, north of the San Juan; but they may appear anywhere, and, according to the myths, are often found in company with the yéi and other gods. They belong to the Mountain Sheep People, and often appear to man in the form of Rocky Mountain sheep. In the myths of the night chant it is said that they captured the prophet of the rites, took him to their home, and taught him many of the mysteries of the night chant. In the treatment accompanying these, the tendo-achillis of a mountain sheep is applied to an aching limb to relieve pain; the horn is pressed to an aching head to relieve headache; and water from the sheep’s eye is used for sore eyes. The Gánaskĭdi are gods of plenty and harvest gods. A masquerader, representing one of these, sometimes appears in an act of succor about sundown on the last day of the night chant, following representatives of Hastséyalti and Dsahadoldzá. He wears the ordinary blue mask of a yébaka with the fringe of hair removed. He carries a crown or headdress made of a basket from which the bottom has been cut, so that it may fit on the head. The basket crown is adorned with artificial horns; it is painted on the lower surface black, with a zigzag streak to represent lightning playing on the face of a black cloud; it is painted red on the upper surface (not shown in picture), to indicate the sunlight on the other side of the cloud; and it is decorated with radiating feathers, from the tail of the red-shafted woodpecker (Colaptes mexicanus), to represent the rays of the sun streaming out at the edge of the cloud. The god is crowned with the storm-cloud. The horns on the crown are made of the skin of the Rocky Mountain sheep (sewed with yucca fibre); they are stuffed with hair of the same, or with black wool; they are painted part black and part blue, with white markings; and they are tipped with eagle-feathers tied on with white string. On his back the actor carries a long bag of buckskin, which is empty, but is kept distended by means of a light frame made of the twigs of aromatic sumac, so as to appear full; it is decorated at the back with eagle-plumes, and sometimes also with the plumes of the red-shafted woodpecker; it is painted on the sides with short parallel white lines (12 or 16), and at the back with long lines of four colors. This bag represents a bag of black cloud, filled with produce of the fields, which the god is said to carry. The cloudy bag is so heavy, they say, that the god is obliged to lean on a staff, bend his back, and walk as one bearing a burden; so the personator does the same. The staff, or gĭs, which the latter carries, is made of cherry (new for each occasion); it is as long as from the middle of the left breast to the tip of the outstretched right hand; it is painted black with the charcoal of four sacred plants; it bears a zigzag stripe in white to represent lightning, and it is trimmed with many turkey-feathers in two whorls, and one eagle-feather. These properties and adornments are conventionally represented in the dry-paintings. (See [plate I.], fig. 5.) The red powder thinly sprinkled over the eagle-plumes at the back represents pollen. The cloud bag is tied on the god, says the myth, with rainbows. The yellow horizontal line at the chin in the picture represents a yellow line on the mask which symbolizes the evening twilight. The actor wears a collar of fox-skin (indicated by mark under right ear) and ordinary clothing. The elaborate ceremony of succor will not be described here. Gánaskĭdi means Humpback. The name is sometimes given Nánaskĭdi.

208. The only Kĭ′ndolĭz, or Kĭ′ndotlĭz (Blue House), the writer knows of is a ruined pueblo of that name in the Chaco Canyon; but this can hardly be the Blue House referred to in the myth. There is probably another ruin of this name on the banks of the San Juan.

209. The Dsahadoldzá, or Fringe-mouths, are a class of divine beings of whom little information has been gained. They are represented in the rite of klédzi hatál by sand-paintings, and by masqueraders decked and masked as shown in the pictures. There are two kinds,—Fringe-mouths of the land and Fringe-mouths of the water ([plate I.], fig. 3), or Thastlátsi Dsahadoldzá; the latter are the class referred to in this story. The zigzag lines on their bodies shown in the pictures represent the crooked lightning, which they used as ropes to lift the log. On the mask (shown in the dry-painting) the mouth is surrounded by white radiating lines; hence the name Fringe-mouths. The actor who represents the Fringe-mouths of the land has one half of his body and one half of his mask painted black, the other half red. He who represents the Fringe-mouths of the water has his body painted half blue and half yellow, as shown in [plate I.], fig. 3. Both wear a similar mask and a similar crown or headdress. The crown consists of a basket from which the bottom has been cut, so that it may fit on the head; the lower surface is painted black, to represent a dark cloud, and is streaked with white to represent lightning; the upper surface (not shown in the painting) is colored red, to represent the sunlight of the back of the cloud; and feathers of the red-shafted woodpecker are attached to the edge, to represent sunbeams. So far, this crown is like that worn by Gánaskĭdi (note [207]). Ascending from the basket crown is a tripod of twigs of aromatic sumac, painted white; between the limbs of the tripod finely combed red wool is laid, and a downy eagle-feather tips each stick. The actor carries in his left hand a bow adorned with three eagle-plumes and two tufts of turkey feathers, and in his right hand a white gourd rattle, sometimes decorated with two whorls of feathers. His torso, arms, and legs are naked, but painted. He wears a shirt around his loins, and rich necklaces and ear pendants. All these things are plainly indicated in the dry-paintings. The fox-skin collar which he wears is vaguely shown by an appendage at the right ear. The angles of the white lightning on the chest and limbs of the actor are not as numerous as in the paintings.

210. Tielín are ferocious pets that belong to Tiéholtsodi, the water monster, and guard the door of his dwelling. They are said to have blue horns.

211. Na-tsi-lĭ′t a-kó-di (short rainbow), the fragmentary or incomplete rainbow.

212. Has-tsé-zĭn-i signifies Black Hastsé, or Black God. There are several of them (dwelling at Tseníʻhodĭlyĭl, near Tseʻgíhi), but the description will be given in the singular. He is a reserved, exclusive individual. The yéi at other places do not visit him whenever they wish. He owns all fire; he was the first who made fire, and he is the inventor of the fire-drill. It is only on rare occasions that he is represented by a masquerader at a ceremony. When it is arranged to give a night chant without the public dance of the last night (and this seldom occurs), Black God appears in a scene of succor[206] on the evening of the ninth day in company with three other gods,—Nayénĕzgạni, Toʻbadzĭstsíni, and Hastséoltoi. It is said that the personator is dressed in black clothes; wears a black mask, with white marks and red hair on it, and a collar of fox-skin; and that he carries a fire-drill and a bundle of cedar-bark. The author has never seen Hastsézĭni represented either in a dry-painting or in masquerade, and he has therefore never witnessed the scene or ceremony of succor referred to. This ceremony, which is very elaborate, has been described to the author by the medicine-men. The actor has to be well paid for his tedious services, which occupy the whole day from sunrise to sunset, though the act of succor lasts but a few minutes.

213. The fire-drill is very little used by the Navahoes at the present time,—matches and flint-and-steel having taken its place; but it is frequently mentioned in the myths and is employed in the ceremonies. Of the many aboriginal fire-drills, described and depicted by Dr. Walter Hough in his excellent paper on “Fire-making Apparatus,”[302] that of the Navahoes is the rudest. It looks like a thing that had been made to order.

214. Tsĭn-tlĭ′-zi signifies hard, brittle wood.

215. It is probable that the various peculiar acts described in this paragraph have reference to agricultural rites still practised, or recently practised, by the Navahoes, but the writer has never witnessed such rites.

216. The Navahoes now universally smoke cigarettes, but they say that in ancient days they smoked pipes made of terra-cotta. Fragments of such pipes are often picked up in New Mexico and Arizona. The cliff-dwellers also had pipes, and these articles are still ceremonially used by the Mokis. The Navahoes now invariably, in ceremonies, sacrifice tobacco in the form of cigarettes. But cigarettes are not new to the Southwest: they are found in ancient caves and other long-neglected places in New Mexico and Arizona.

217. Ni-no-ká-dĭ-neʻ (People up on the Earth) may mean people living up on the mountains, in contradistinction to those dwelling in canyons and valleys; but other tribes use a term of similar meaning to distinguish the whole Indian race from the whites or other races, and it is probable that it is used in this sense here and in other Navaho myths. The people whom Natĭ′nĕsthani now meets are probably supposed to be supernatural, and not Indians.

218. The plants mixed with the tobacco were these: tsohodzĭlaíʻ, silátso (my thumb), a poisonous weed, azébiniʻ, and azétloi. It has not been determined what plants these are; but the Navaho names are placed on record as possibly assisting in future identification.

219. In the Navaho ceremonies, when sacred cigarettes are finished, and before they are deposited as offerings to the gods, they are symbolically lighted with sunbeams. (See [par. 94].) The statement made here, that the hero lighted his pipe with the sun, refers probably to this symbolic lighting.

220. Kĕ′tlo is a name given to any medicine used externally, i.e., rubbed on the body. Atsósi kĕ′tlo means the liniment or wash of the atsósi hatál, or feather ceremony. It is also called atsósi azé (feather medicine), and atsósi tsíl (feather herbs).

221. Yá-di-dĭ-nil, the incense of the Navaho priests, is a very composite substance. In certain parts of the healing ceremonies it is scattered on hot coals, which are placed before the patient, and the latter inhales actively the dense white fumes that arise. These fumes, which fill with their odor the whole medicine-lodge, are pungent, aromatic, and rather agreeable, although the mixture is said to contain feathers. The author has obtained a formula for yádidĭnil, but has not identified the plants that chiefly compose it.

222. These are the animals he raises and controls, as told in [par. 527].

223. The Navahoes say they are acquainted with four kinds of wild tobacco, and use them in their rites. Of these the author has seen and identified but two. These are Nicotiana attenuata which is the dsĭ′lnạto, or mountain tobacco; and Nicotiana palmeri, which is the depénạto, or sheep tobacco. N. attenuata grows widely but not abundantly in the mountains of New Mexico and Arizona. N. palmeri is rare; the writer has seen it growing only in one spot in the Chelly Canyon. It has not been learned what species are called weasel tobacco and cloud tobacco; but one or more of the three species, N. rustica, N. quadrivalvis, and N. trigonophylla, are probably known to the Navahoes.

224. The description of these diseases given by the narrator of this tale is as follows: “Patients having these diseases are weak, stagger, and lose appetite; then they go to a sweat-house and take an emetic. If they have lĭ′tso, or the yellow disease, they vomit something yellow (bile ?). If they have tĭl-litá, or cooked blood disease, they vomit something like cooked blood. Those having the yellows have often yellow eyes and yellow skin. Thatlĭ′t, or slime disease, comes from drinking foul water full of green slime or little fish (tadpoles ?). Tsoxs, worms, usually come from eating worms, which you sometimes do without knowing it; but tsĭ′lgo, tapeworm, comes from eating parched corn.” Probably the last notion arises from the slight resemblance of the joints of Tænia solium to grains of corn. This little chapter in pathology from Hatáli Natlói is hardly in accordance with the prevalent theory that savages regard all disease as of demoniac origin.

225. The adjective yazóni, or yasóni, here used, which is translated “beautiful,” means more than this: it means both good (or useful) and beautiful. It contains elements of the words yatíʻ, good, and of ĭnzóni, nĭzóni, and hozóni, which signify beautiful.

226. According to the Navaho myths and songs, the corn and other products in the gardens of the yéi or divine ones grow and mature in a very short time. The rapid growth of the crops in Natĭ′nĕsthani’s farm is supposed to result from the divine origin of the seed.

227. The order in which Natĭ′nĕsthani lays down the ears of corn is the order in which sacrificial cigarettes, kethawns, and other sacred objects, when colored, are laid down in a straight row. The white, being the color of the east, has precedence of all and is laid down first. The blue, the color of the south, comes next, for when we move sunwise (the sacred ceremonial circuit of the Navahoes) south follows immediately after east. Yellow, the color of the west, on the same principle, comes third; and black (in this case mixed) comes fourth. Mixed is properly the coloring of the upper region, and usually follows after black; but it sometimes takes the place of black. These apparently superfluous particulars of laying down the corn have a ceremonial or religious significance. In placing sacred objects ceremonially in a straight row, the operator proceeds southward from his starting-point, for this approximates the sunwise circuit, and he makes the tip ends point east.

228. Pín-i-az bĭ-tsó (fawn-his-cheese), or fawn-cheese, is a substance found in the abdomen of the fawn. A similar substance is found in other young mammals. They say it looks like curds, or cottage cheese, and that it is pleasant to the taste. They eat it raw. The author has not determined by observation what this substance is. Dr. C. Hart Merriam, of the Department of Agriculture, suggests that it is the partly digested milk in the stomach of the fawn, and this is probably the case.

229. The dish offered to Natĭ′nĕsthani is called by the Navahoes atsón, which is here translated “pemmican.” It consists of dried vension pounded on a stone and fried in grease.

230. To make dĭ-tló-gi kle-sán, cut the grain off the ear, grind it to a pulp on a metate, spread out the embers, lay a number of green corn leaves on them, place the pulp on the leaves, put other leaves on top of the pulp, rake hot embers over all, and leave it to bake.

231. Dĭ-tló-gĭn tsĭ-dĭ-kó-i is made of a pulp of green corn ground on a metate, like dĭtlógi klesán. The pulp is encased in husks, which are folded at the ends, and is then placed between leaves and hot coals to bake.

232. Thá-bĭ-tsa (three-ears) is made also of pulp of green corn. This is placed in folded cones made of husks; three cones being made of one complete husk, whose leaves are not removed from their stem. It looks like three ears fastened together, whence the name. It is boiled in water.

233. The story-teller said: “about as far as from here to Jake’s house,”—a distance which the writer estimated at 300 yards.

234. Over the east door, one cigarette, that for the male, was made of mountain mahogany (tséʻestagi, Cercocarpus parvifolius), perforated, painted blue, and marked with four symbols of deer-tracks in yellow; the other cigarette, that for the female, was made of cliff rose (awétsal, Cowania mexicana), painted yellow and marked with four symbols of deer-tracks in blue. Over the south door the cigarette for the male was made of sunflower (ĭndĭgíli), painted yellow and dotted with four symbols of antelope-tracks in blue; the cigarette for the female was made of “strong-smelling sunflower” (ĭndĭgíli nĭltsóni, Verbesina enceloides), painted white and dotted with four symbols of antelope-tracks in black. Over the west door, the cigarettes were of the same material as those in the east; but one was painted black with symbols of deer-tracks in blue, and the other was painted blue with symbols of deer-tracks in black. At the bottom of the steps, one of the cigarettes was painted black and dotted with four symbols of fawn-tracks in yellow; the other was painted yellow and dotted with four symbols of fawn-tracks in black. The above was written from the description of the narrator. The writer has never seen such cigarettes; but they are said to be employed in some Navaho ceremonies at the present time. In this series of cigarettes the colors are not in the usual order,[18] but there may be a special symbolism for these animals, or the variation may arise because they are the cigarettes of a wizard and therefore unholy.

235. When driving game to a party in ambush, the Navahoes often imitate the cry of the wolf. In this myth the old man is supposed to give the cry, not to drive the bears, but to make Natĭ′nĕsthani believe that deer are being driven.

236. The name Tsa-na-naí is derived from tsan, which means dung. Tsĕ′-sko-di means Spread-foot. The narrator said the other bears had names, but he could not remember them.

237. “He did not even thank his son-in-law” is an instance of sarcasm.

238. The bear is a sacred animal with the Navahoes; for this reason the hero did not skin the bears or eat their flesh. The old man, being a wizard, might do both.

239. Há-la-dzĭ-ni? means “What are you doing?” but it is a jocose expression, used only among intimate relations, or relations by marriage. In employing this interrogatory the Navaho gave the old man to understand that he was recognized.

240. This episode of the twelve bears is the weakest and least artistic in the tale. Moreover, it details a fifth device on the part of Deer Raiser to kill his son-in-law. Under ordinary circumstances we should expect but four devices. It seems an interpolation, by some story-teller less ingenious than he who composed the rest of the tale, introduced to get the men out together once more, so that, on their way home, the incident of the burnt moccasins might occur. The latter incident has been previously recorded by the writer in another connection. (See [note 242].)

241. Among the Navahoes, when a person dies, the suffix ni, or ini, is added to his (or her) name, and thus he is mentioned ever afterwards.

242. Before the story of Natĭ′nĕsthani was obtained, the writer had already recorded this tale of the burnt moccasins in a version of the Origin Legend. In the latter connection it is introduced as one of the Coyote tales. The mischievous Coyote is made to try this trick on his father-in-law; but the latter, warned by the Wind, foils the Coyote.

243. The ridge which he crosses in the east and also those which he crosses later in the south, west, and north are colored according to the regular order of Navaho symbolism.

244. The narrator described the bird called tsĭ-das-tó-i thus: When a man passes by where this bird is sitting, the latter does not fly off, but sits and looks at the man, moving its head in every direction. It is about the size of a screech-owl.

245. It must not be supposed that in this and the following paragraph, when pale-faced people are mentioned, any allusion is made to Caucasians. The reference is merely symbolic. White is the color of the east in Navaho symbolism: hence these people in the east are represented as having pale faces. For similar reasons the man in the south ([par. 551]) is said to have a blue face, the man in the west ([par. 552]) a yellow face, and the man in the north ([par. 553]) a dark face. (See [note 18].)

246. Bĭ-za (his treasure), something he specially values; hence his charm, his amulet, his personal fetish, his magic weapon, something that one carries to mysteriously protect himself. Even the divinities are thought to possess such charms. The songs often mention some property of a god which they say is “Bĭ′za-yedĭgĭ′ngo” (The treasure which makes him holy or sacred). (See [par. 367] and note [280].)

247. These medicines are still in use among the Navahoes. The medicine made of gall consists mostly of gall of eagles. If a witch has scattered evil medicine on you, use this. If there are certain kinds of food that disagree with you, and you still wish to eat them, use the vomit medicine. Hunters obtain the materials when they go out hunting. All the totemic animals named (puma, blue fox, yellow fox, wolf, and lynx, see [par. 548]) vomit when they eat too much. So said the narrator.

248. Buteo borealis. The tail is described as red (“bright chestnut red,” Coues) by our ornithologists; but the Navahoes consider it yellow, and call the bird atsé-lĭtsói, or yellow-tail.

249. A-tsó-si-dze ha-tál, or a-tsó-si ha-tál means feather chant or feather ceremony. The following particulars concerning the ceremony were given by the narrator of the story. Dry-paintings are made on the floor of the medicine-lodge much like those of the klédzi hatál, and others are made representing different animals. It is still occasionally celebrated, but not often, and there are only four priests of the rite living. It lasts nine days, and it has more stories, songs, and acts than any other Navaho ceremony. A deer dance was part of the rite in the old days, but it is not practised now. The rite is good for many things, but especially for deer disease. If you sleep on a dry, undressed deer-skin or foul one, or if a deer sneezes at you or makes any other marked demonstration at you, you are in danger of getting the deer disease.

250. Yó-i ha-tál, or yói-dze ha-tál (bead chant), is a nine days’ ceremony, which is becoming obsolete. The author has been informed that there is only one priest of the rite remaining; that he learned it from his father, but that he does not know as much about it as his father did.

251. The device of setting up forked sticks to assist in locating fires seen by night and in remembering the position of distant objects is often mentioned in the Navaho tales. (See [pars. 382] and [497].)

252. Equisetum hiemale, and perhaps other species of Equisetum, or horse-tail.

253. [“Klĭs-ka′, the arrow-snake, is a long slender snake that moves with great velocity,—so great that, coming to the edge of a cliff when racing, he flies for some distance through the air before reaching the ground again. The Navahoes believe he could soar if he wanted to. He is red and blue on the belly, striped on the back, six feet long or longer. Sometimes moves like a measuring-worm.”] From the above description Dr. H. C. Yarrow, formerly curator of reptiles in the Smithsonian Institution, is of the opinion that the arrow-snake is Bascanium flagelliforme.

254. Accipiter cooperii, called gíni by the Navahoes.

255. Compare with description of Spider Woman and her home in [paragraph 306]. It would seem that the Navahoes believe in more than one Spider Woman. (May be they believe in one for each world.) In [paragraph 581] we have an instance of black being assigned to the east and white to the north. (See note [18].)

256. There are several plants in New Mexico and Arizona which become tumble-weeds in the autumn, but the particular weed referred to here is the Amarantus albus. It is called tlotáhi nagĭ′si, or rolling tlotáhi, by the Navahoes. Tlotáhi is a name applied in common to several species of the Amarantaceæ and allied Chenopodiacæ. (See “Navaho Names for Plants.”[312]) The seeds of plants of these families formerly constituted an important part of the diet of the Navahoes, and they still eat them to some extent.

257. Tsĭl-dĭl-gĭ′-si is said to mean frightened-weed, scare-weed, or hiding-weed, and to be so named because snakes, lizards, and other animals hide in its dense foliage when frightened. It is a yellow-flowered composite, Gutierrezia euthamiæ (T. and G.), which grows in great abundance in Arizona and New Mexico. It is used extensively in the Navaho ceremonies in preparing and depositing sacrifices, etc.

258. Whirlwinds of no great violence are exceedingly common throughout the arid region. One seldom looks at an extensive landscape without seeing one or more columns of whirling dust arising.

259. In the full myth of yói hatál, as told by a priest of the rite, a complete account of the ceremonies, songs, and sacrifices taught to the Navaho would here be given; but in this account, told by an outsider, the ritual portion is omitted.

260. In the myth of the “Mountain Chant,”[314] p. 410, it is stated, as in this tale, that the wanderer returning to his old home finds the odors of the place intolerable to him. Such incidents occur in other Navaho myths.

261. In the rite of the klédzi hatál, or the night chant, the first four masked characters, who come out to dance in the public performance of the last night, are called atsáʻlei. From this story it would seem that a similar character or characters belong to the yói hatál.

262. These great shells are perhaps not altogether mythical. Similar shells are mentioned in the Origin Legend ([pars. 211], [213], [226]), in connection with the same pueblos. Shells of such size, conveyed from the coast to the Chaco Canyon, a distance of 300 miles or more, before the introduction of the horse, would have been of inestimable value among the Indians.

263. In the myth recorded in “The Mountain Chant: a Navaho Ceremony,”[314] p. 413, there is an account of a journey given by a courier who went to summon some distant bands to join in a ceremony. From this account the following passage is taken: “I … went to the north. On my way I met another messenger, who was travelling from a distant camp to this one to call you all to a dance in a circle of branches of a different kind from ours. When he learned my errand he tried to prevail on me to return hither and put off our dance until another day, so that we might attend their ceremony, and that they might in turn attend ours; but I refused, saying our people were in haste to complete their dance. Then we exchanged bows and quivers, as a sign to our people that we had met, and that what we would tell on our return was the truth. You observe the bow and quiver I have now are not those with which I left this morning. We parted, and I kept on my way toward the north.” In [par. 597] of “The Great Shell of Kĭntyél” reference is made to the same identical meeting of couriers. It is interesting to observe how one legend is made to corroborate the other,—each belonging to a different rite.

264. Pésdolgas is here translated serrate knife. A saw is called benitsíhi, but in describing it the adjective dolgás is used for serrate. The pésdolgas is mentioned often in song and story. It is said to be no longer in use. Descriptions indicate that it was somewhat like the many-bladed obsidian weapon of the ancient Mexicans.

265. The cliff-ruin known as the White House, in the Chelly Canyon, Arizona, has been often pictured and described. It is called by the Navahoes Kin-i-na-é-kai, which signifies Stone House of the White Horizontal Streak (the upper story is painted white). The name White House is a free translation of this. The Navaho legends abound in references to it, and represent it as once inhabited by divinities. (See [par. 78] and [fig. 22].)

266. Hát-das-tsĭ-si is a divinity who is not depicted in the dry-paintings, and whose representative the author has not seen. He appears rarely in the ceremonies and is thus described: The actor wears an ordinary Navaho costume, and an ordinary yébaka mask adorned with owl-feathers, but not with eagle-plumes. He carries on his back an entire yucca plant with the leaves hanging down, and a large ring, two spans in diameter, made of yucca leaves (to show that he is a great gambler at nánzoz). He carries a whip of yucca leaves, and goes around among the assembled crowd to treat the ailing. If a man has lumbago he bends over before the actor and presents his back to be flagellated; if he has headache he presents his head. When the actor has whipped the ailing one, he turns away from him and utters a low sound (like the lowing of a cow). When he can find no more people to whip, he returns to the medicine-lodge and takes off his mask. The cigarette (which the author has in his possession) appropriate to this god is painted black, and bears rude figures of the yucca ring and the yucca plant. It is buried east of the lodge beside a growing yucca. Ten songs are sung when the cigarette is being made, and a prayer is repeated when the work is done. The yucca which the actor carries must have a large part of its root-stock over ground. It is kicked out of the ground,—neither pulled nor cut. The principal home of the divinity is at Tsasitsozsakád (Yucca Glauca, Standing), near the Chelly Canyon.

267. The following is a list of the twenty-one divinities represented by masks in the ceremony of the klédzi hatál:—

MALE.

• 1. Hastséyalti.
• 2. Gánaskĭdi.
• 3. Tóʻnenĭli.
• 4. Nayénĕzgạni.
• 5. Toʻbadzĭstsíni.
• 6. Dsahadoldzá.
• 7. Hastsézĭni.
• 8. Hastséhogan.
• 9. Hátdastsĭsi.[266]
• 10. Hastséltsi.[271]
• 11. Tsóhanoai.
• 12. Kléhanoai, or Tléhanoai.
• 13. Hastsébaka.

Each, for the first seven, wears a different mask. The last six wear masks of one pattern, that of yébaka. (See [plate I.], fig. 1.)

FEMALE.

• 14. Hastséoltoi.
• 15 to 21. Hastsébaad, or goddesses.

All the female characters wear masks of one kind. (See [fig. 28] and [plate I.], fig. 3.)

268. The language of the Eleventh Census is quoted here, although it differs slightly from the official report of the count of 1869, made by the acting agent, Capt. Frank T. Bennett, U.S.A. Captain Bennett says the count was made on two separate days, October 2d and 18th, and gives the number of Indians actually counted at 8,181. (Report of Commission of Indian Affairs for 1869, p. 237.[298])

269. [Plate IV.] represents a man dressed to personate Nayénĕzgạni, or Slayer of the Alien Gods, as he appears in an act of succor in the ceremony of the night chant, on the afternoon of the ninth day, in company with two other masqueraders (Toʻbadzĭstsíni[270] and Hastséoltoi[206]). The personator has his body painted black with charcoal of four sacred plants, and his hands painted white. He wears a black mask which has a fringe of yellow or reddish hair across the crown and an ornament of turkey’s and eagle’s feathers on top. Five parallel lines with five angles in each, to represent lightning, are painted on one cheek of the mask (sometimes the right, sometimes the left). Small, diamond-shaped holes are cut in the mask for eyes and mouth, and to the edge of each hole a small white shell is attached. On his body there are drawn in white clay the figures of eight bows; six are drawn as shown in the picture and two more are drawn over the shoulder-blades. All these bows are shown as complete (or strung) except those on the left leg and left side of the back, which are represented open or unstrung, as shown in the plate and [fig. 41]. The symbol at the left leg is made first, that on the left shoulder last of all. All the component lines of the symbol are drawn from above downward; [fig. 41] shows the order in which they must be drawn. The symbols must all turn in one direction. The personator wears a collar of fox-skin, a number of rich necklaces of shell, turquoise and coral, a fine skirt or sash around his loins (usually scarlet baize, bayeta, but velvet or any rich material will do), a belt decorated with silver, and ordinary moccasins. He carries in his right hand a great stone knife, with which, in the scene of succor, he makes motions at the patient and at the medicine-lodge to draw out the disease. The patient prays to him, and gives him a cigarette painted black and decorated with the bow-symbols in white. This cigarette is preferably deposited under a piñon-tree. A dry-painting of this god has never been seen by the author, and he has been told that none is ever made.

Fig. 41. Diagram of the bow-symbol on the left leg of the personator of Nayénĕzgạni.

Fig. 42. Diagram of queue-symbol on the left leg of the personator of Toʻbadzĭstsíni.

270. [Plate VII.] represents the personator of the War God, Toʻbadzĭstsíni, or Child of the Water, as he appears in the act of succor described in notes 206 and 269. His body and limbs are painted with a native red ochre; his hands are smeared with white earth; and eight symbols are drawn in his body in white,—two on the chest, two on the arms, two on the legs, and two on the back, partly over the shoulder-blades. As with the bow-symbols of Nayénĕzgạni (note [269]), two of the symbols are left open or unfinished,—that on the left leg (painted first) and that over the left shoulder-blade (painted last), to indicate (some say) that the labors of the god are not yet done. [Fig. 42] shows the order and direction in which each component line of the symbol must be drawn. The symbols represent a queue, such as the Navahoes now wear ([fig. 31]). Some say these figures represent the queue of the god’s mother, others say they represent the scalps of conquered enemies; the latter is a more probable explanation. The personator wears a mask painted also with red ochre (all except a small triangular space over the face, which is colored black and bordered with white); and it is decorated both in front and behind with a number of queue-symbols (the number is never the same in two masks, but is always a multiple of four). The mask has a fringe of red or yellow hair, and a cockade of turkey-tail and a downy eagle-feather. The holes for the eyes and mouth are diamond-shaped, and have white shells attached to them. The actor carries in his left hand a small round cylinder of cedar-wood painted red, and in his right a cylinder of piñon painted black. With these, in the scene of succor, he makes motions at the patient and at the lodge. Like his companion, the personator of Nayénĕzgạni, he wears a collar of fox-skin (Vulpes velox); rich necklaces of shell, turquoise, and coral; a skirt or sash of bayeta, or some other rich material; a belt adorned with plaques of silver; and ordinary moccasins. The sacrificial cigarette which he receives is painted red, marked with the queue-symbols, and deposited under a cedar-tree. No dry-painting of Toʻbadzĭstsíni has been seen by the author, and he has been assured that none is made.

271. The name Has-tsél-tsi (Red God) is derived from Hastsé (God, see [par. 78]) and lĭtsí (red). The Red God, it is said, is never depicted in dry-paintings. The author has never seen the character in masquerade; it seldom appears,—only on the rare occasions when there is no dance of the naakhaí on the last night of the night chant. He seems to be a god of racing. The following account of him is from verbal description: Red God is one of the yéi, and dwells wherever other yéi dwell (hence there are many). His representative never appears in an act of succor and never helps the patient. A fast runner is chosen to play the part. He goes round among the assembled Indians and challenges men, by signs and inarticulate cries, to race with him. If he wins, he whips the loser with two wands of yucca leaves (culled with special observances) which he carries. If he loses, the winner must not whip him. If the loser begs him to whip softly he whips hard, and vice versa. His body is painted red and has queue-symbols drawn on it, like those of Toʻbadzĭstsíni ([plate VII.]). His mask, which is a domino and not a cap, is painted red and marked with circles and curves in white. His cigarette is prepared on the fourth day, but it is not given to him to sacrifice; it is placed by other hands. Song and prayer accompany the preparation and sacrifice of the cigarette. The latter is painted red, and decorated in white with queue-symbols, either two or four; if four, two are closed or complete, and two open or incomplete. (Note [270].)