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.