If, however, a shaman makes himself unpopular, or fails to cure in several successive cases, or earns the enmity of a treacherous shaman foe, he is liable to be accused of witchcraft, and if a sufficient number of the people can be made to believe the charge he is speedily done away with. One of the shamans made famous by Dr. Matthews was recently killed on account of his harsh and tyrannical manner. He was accused of witchcraft and shot. Hence it will be seen that the Navaho is not yet perfect—any more than his white brother. No, indeed!
There are other points in which he is similar to his brother of the white skin. Some years ago I journeyed in a wagon with an old Arizona pioneer, Franklin French, from Winslow, on the line of the Santa Fé, through the Hopi country, the Mormon town of Tuba City, past the Navaho settlements of Willow Springs, Echo Reef, etc., to Lee's Ferry of the Colorado River.
Beyond Willow Springs we camped one night, and I went to a Navaho hogan to purchase corn and vegetables for ourselves, and feed for the horses. Everything was six prices too high, but the Navahoes knew I was in need of their articles and raised the prices accordingly. It is not only the white man that understands the principle of "cornering the market." We compromised, however, and, after a hearty supper and a chat around the camp-fire, I rolled myself up in my blankets ready to sleep until called for breakfast in the morning.
But what a babel of confusing and distressing sounds it was that awakened me! Surely we must be beset by a band of marauding Navahoes, bent on murdering us! No; it was only a wordy fight between my driver and three Navaho women, who had come to demand compensation for depredations committed in their corn-field by our horses. Hobbled, and turned loose, they had discovered somehow, during the night, that on Echo Reef were corn and other good fodder to be had in the place of the scant feed offered below; so, following their noses, they had wandered into corn-fields and melon-patches to their own delectation, but the manifest injury of the crops. What was to be done about it? French was advising that the Navahoes imitate the example of the Hopis and cut off a portion of the ear of each offending animal, but the women angrily laughed him to scorn and vociferously demanded cinquo pesos for the damage. These were not forthcoming, but I urged the squaws on, telling them to insist that the hoary-headed old miser pay them their just demands, and informing them, in purest English, of the opinions French had expressed regarding them, as a people, the night before. The aborigines didn't quite know what to make out of my fluent verbosity, and French at last impatiently turned to me and told me there'd be a "pretty general monkey and parrot time started here pretty quick, if I didn't let up, and that'll be follered by a pretty tall foot-race between us two, in which you'll be 'way off in the lead." So we compromised with our dusky visitors by inviting them to eat up the remnants of our breakfast, and then carry away a little coffee and sugar. The only thing I am now afraid of is that, at the next visit I make them, they will privately and stealthily, under the cover of night, lead our steeds into the forbidden fields, and encourage them in their thefts, in order that they may enjoy another "compromise."
Primitive peoples at an early date felt the desire for personal adornment. With the Navaho this found expression in painting the body with various colored ochres or clays, in fashioning garments out of the skins of animals, in wearing head-dresses and other fantastic ornaments made from feathers, and in necklaces, bracelets, anklets, and wristlets made of small flint arrowpoints, or of the dried seeds of juniper, pinion, and other plants, or of bones. Later they secured beads of shell, turquoise, and coral by barter.
But nearly all this primitive decoration received a rude shock of displacement when the Mexican colonist came upon the scene, with his iron, copper, and silver adornments glittering in the sunlight. From coveting, the Navaho took to possessing by fair means or foul. He would barter his skins or other native possessions for the precious metals, using brass and copper for the making of ornaments, and iron for tipping his arrows. Silver, however, has never lost its charm for him. The Mexican vaquero, trapped out in the glittering metal, has ever been his ideal of personal adornment, and he retains it to this day. Silver is the only coin they care to accept, though the better educated now know the superior value of gold.
There are some clever, skilful silversmiths among them—peshlikais, as they call themselves. In crucibles of their own manufacture they melt the precious metal, using a crude and primitive blast furnace, with charcoal as fuel, and the molten silver is then poured into moulds which they have shaped out of sandstone or other rock. They understand the art of uniting two pieces of metal together, for many of their ornaments are hollow and globular, originally made in two parts and then joined. Scarcely a man or woman of any standing in the tribe does not possess a home-manufactured necklace of silver beads or articles of some design,—a finger ring or two, one or more bracelets, and sometimes a pair of ear pendants. Above all they covet the belt with large silver disks. Each of these disks is made of two or more silver dollars, melted and run into a flat mould. This thick sheet is then hammered out to the required size and shape, which is either oval or circular, and chased with small tools. The border is generally filleted and the edges scalloped. When finished each disk has a value of twice its original cost in coin silver. Sometimes a belt will contain eight or nine disks and a buckle, which cannot be bought for less than thirty-six to forty dollars. This, too, is actual cost price. If the Navaho doesn't care to part with it, an extra five or ten dollars, or even more, is required to induce him to let it go.
In addition to these objects of personal adornment, many of the more wealthy have silver bridles. The bridle itself is made of leather or woven horsehair, and then the silver strips and bars, artistically chased and decorated, are placed and fastened on the headstall. Silver buttons of pretty and tasty design are commonly used on gaiters and moccasins. These are made from beaten coins, twenty-five and fifty-cent pieces, and the obverse side is often found in its original state as stamped in the United States or Mexican mint.
The bracelets are of various designs, sometimes simple round circlets; other times the silver is triangular, but the most common shape is a flat band, on the outer side of which chasings and gravings are made. These bracelets are made so that they can be slipped sideways over the wrist. These and all the other articles mentioned are worn equally by women and men.
The finger rings are often adorned with a rude setting of turquoise or garnet. The former is found in various parts of New Mexico, and on their reservation they dig garnets, spinel rubies, jacinths, peridots, opals, smoky topaz, and crystal spar in large quantities. From the Petrified Forest they obtain jasper, carnelian, chalcedony, agate, and amethyst. All these objects are rudely polished and shaped, and used on rings, ear pendants, or necklaces.