TRIBAL ORGANIZATION.

57. Gentes.—The version of the Origin Legend by Tall Chanter, here given, accounts for only thirty-eight gentes among the Navahoes; but this informant was able to name, in all, forty-three gentes, two of which, he said, were extinct. Lists of the Navaho gentes have been obtained from various sources, and no single authority has been found to give a greater number than this. But no two lists are quite alike; they differ with regard to small or extinct gentes, and one list may supply a name which another has omitted. There would be at least fifty-one gentes extant and extinct in the tribe if each name so far obtained represented a different organization. But we find in the Legend instances of a gens having two names ([pars. 386], [405], [428], [445]).

58. On the other hand, it is possible that none of the lists may be complete. Gentes derived from women of alien races, added to the tribe since it has grown numerous and widely scattered, may exist in one part of the Navaho country unknown to the best informed persons in another part. Extinct gentes may be forgotten by one informant and remembered by another.

59. The following is a list of the forty-three gentes named by Tall Chanter:—

1. Tseʻdzĭnkĭ′ni, House of the Black Cliffs ([pars. 378]–[381]).
2. Tseʻtláni, Bend in a Cañon ([par. 382]).
3. Dsĭ′lnaotĭ′lni, Encircled Mountain ([par. 385]).
4. Haskánhatso (Haskanhatsódĭneʻ), Much Yucca ([par. 386]).
5. Nahopáni, Brown Streak; Horizontal on the Ground ([par. 387]).
6. Tsĭnadzĭ′ni, Black Horizontal Forest ([par. 390]).
7. Thaʻnĕzáʻ (Thaʻnĕzáʻni), Among the Scattered (Hills) ([par. 392]).
8. Dsĭltláʻni, Base of the Mountain ([par. 393]).
9. Tháʻpaha (Tháʻpahadĭneʻ), Among the Waters ([par. 394] et seq.).
10. Tsaʻyĭskĭ′dni, Sage-brush Hill ([par. 399]).
11. Tseʻzĭndiaí, Trap Dyke ([par. 401]).
12. Klógi (Klógidĭneʻ), (Name of an old pueblo) ([par. 403]).
13. Tóʻhani, Beside the Water ([par. 404]).
14. Tháʻtsini, Among the Red (Waters or Banks) ([par. 405]).
15. Kai (Káidĭneʻ), Willows ([par. 405]).
16. Kĭnlĭtsí (Kĭnlĭtsídĭneʻ), Red House (of Stone) ([par. 406]).
17. Dĕstsíni, Red Streak ([par. 408]).
18. Tlastsíni, Red Flat ([par. 408]).
19. Notá (Notádĭneʻ), Ute ([par. 409]).
20. Nakaí (Nakaídĭneʻ), White Stranger (Mexican) ([par. 410]).
21. Toʻyĕtlíni, Junction of the Rivers ([par. 411]).
22. Háltso (Háltsodĭneʻ), Yellow Bodies ([par. 412]).
23. Toʻdĭtsíni, Bitter Water ([par. 427]).
24. Maitóʻ (Maitóʻdĭneʻ), Coyote Spring ([par. 428]).
25. Haslĭ′zni (Haslĭ′zdĭneʻ), Mud ([par. 429]).
26. Toʻdokónzi, Saline Water ([par. 430], [note 171]).
27. Bĭtáʻni, Folded Arms ([par. 431]).
28. Tsĭnsakádni, Lone Tree ([par. 441]).
29. Pinbĭtóʻ (Pinbĭtóʻdĭneʻ), Deer Spring ([par. 442]).
30. Tseʻnahapĭ′lni, Overhanging Rocks ([par. 445]).
31. Honagáʻni, Place of Walking ([pars. 447], [448]).
32. Kinaáʻni, High Standing House ([par. 458]).
33. Toʻbaznaáz (Toʻbaznaázi), Two Come for Water ([par. 449]).
34. Nanastĕ′zin, Black Horizontal Stripe Aliens (Zuñi) ([par. 452]).
35. Dildzéhi, (Not translated) ([par. 453]).
36. Ásihi (Ásihidĭneʻ), Salt ([par. 454]).
37. Maidĕskĭ′z (Maidĕskĭ′zni), Coyote Pass (Jemez) ([par. 455]).
38. Tseʻyanatóʻni (extinct), Horizontal Water under Cliffs ([par. 457]).
39. Tóʻtsoni, Great Water ([par. 459]).
40. Bĭtáni or Dsĭltáni, Brow of Mountain.
41. Tseʻyikéhe (Tseʻyikéhedĭneʻ), Rocks Standing near One Another.
42. Tlĭziláni, Many Goats ([par. 407]).
43. Toʻtsalsitáya (extinct), Water under the Sitting Frog.

60. The following are eight names obtained from other sources, and not mentioned by Tall Chanter:—

44. Aatsósni, Narrow Gorge.
45. Naaʻí (Naaʻídĭneʻ), Monocline.
46. Yóo, Beads.
47. Kaʻnáni, Living Arrows.
48. Tseʻtháni, Among the Rocks.
49. Lóka (Lókadĭneʻ) Reeds (Phragmites).
50. Tseʻdĕskĭ′zni, Rocky Pass.
51. Hoganláni, Many Huts.

61. More than one translation of a gentile name has often been noted; but in the above lists only one translation is given,—that which the author regards with the most favor. Often, too, different narrators account differently for the origin of the gentile names. Some of the translations are very liberal, and others, again, very brief; but in the paragraphs and notes to which the reader is referred he will find fuller explanations. The Navahoes sometimes, but not invariably, add (as shown in the above lists) a suffix (dĭnéʻ, ni, or i), signifying people; but in the above translations, to simplify the study, the word “people” is omitted.

62. There are reasons, which the author has set forth in a previous essay[318] and will not now repeat, for believing that most of the Navaho gentes were originally local exogamous groups, and not true gentes according to Morgan’s definition.[325] There is little doubt that, in the majority of cases if not in all, the names of Navaho gentes, which are not the names of tribes, are simply designations of localities, even where the Legend states to the contrary; as, for instance, when it tells us that certain gentes of the Western immigrants were named from words that women uttered when they first tasted of the magic fountains ([pars. 427], [429], [430]).

63. On the other hand, there are passages in the Legend which indicate that a few of the Navaho gentes were once totemic, although no evidence of clan totems is known to exist among the Navahoes at the present time, and it is not improbable that a few of the gentile names may be of totemic origin, although they are now accounted for in other ways in the Origin Legend. The passage ([par. 419]) which tells us that Estsánatlehi gave certain pets to the wanderers from the West, and that these pets accompanied the people on their journey, refers in all probability to the former use of totemic clan symbols, and possibly to a custom of keeping live totemic animals in captivity,—a custom prevalent among the ancient Mexicans and the modern Pueblos, though not among the modern Navahoes. Other indications of a former totemism may be found in the story of the Deer Spring People ([par. 442], [note 195]; see, also, [note 173]).