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.