The chief taboo of the Navaho is the fish. Under no circumstances will a Navaho eat fish. He believes that upon the death of a very evil person, the spirit enters the body of a fish, hence his utter horror and hatred of the finny tribe. An Indian student entered Phillips Academy, Andover, some years ago. He was employed in the dining hall and thus earned his tuition. He informed me that his most disagreeable duty, and that which he loathed, was the preparation of fish for the weekly Friday dinner.
When we were in camp at Chaco canon in 1897, the Navaho came to us in large numbers at meal time. Our larder rapidly diminished. Something must be done. The cook found that one of the packing boxes had a large blue codfish stamped on the side. He placed this box out in plain view and the Indians who had assembled to eat supper with us withdrew to their own camps.
The Navaho had carried on raids against the Mexicans and the frontier of Texas for many years. In 1863 a party of men led by the famous scout, Kit Karson, invaded their territory and killed a large number of Indians. All of the Navaho that could be captured were taken East to the Rio Pecos. Here they were kept until 1867 under military guard, when they were restored to their country and given a large flock of sheep. In 1869 the Government assembled all these Indians and having difficulty to enumerate them because of their nomadic habits, resorted to a novel stratagem. The people were crowded in an enormous corral, and counted as they entered. The Handbook of American Indians states that there were some fewer than 9,000. I cannot believe that this estimate was accurate, for it would be impossible for troops to round up all the Navaho. Doubtless, many fled north of the San Juan, or west to the Colorado, on the appearance of the troops.
They are very highly religious people and possess thousands of significant songs and prayers. The Handbook states that some of the ceremonies continue for nine nights, and that it is necessary for the shamans to spend years of study in order to become perfectly familiar with the complicated ritual.
The Indians were much crowded before permitted to settle upon public lands. To meet this need, Commissioner Leupp in 1908 extended the reservation. Father Weber covers all the details in his excellent pamphlet. The white cattlemen and their friends set up a great uproar, indignation meetings were held, and Congress was importuned to prevent the Indians from living on the public domain. In fact, all sorts of pressure was brought to bear to reduce the size of the reservation—although it was manifestly too small. None of the Mexicans and Americans, for whom the business men and politicians of the southwest were so concerned, were living on the tracts they sought to control. On the contrary they lived in towns or settlements removed from the Indian country, and simply ranged their sheep and cattle over these tracts in charge of herders and cowboys. The Indians, the Navaho, against whom this hue and cry was raised, actually had their homes upon the tracts, and were dependent upon them for their living. Many of them lived in the same place for two or three generations. During all the disputes, no one was shot, and no violence occurred. Yet all that was possible was done to mislead Congress, as the following speech attests.
RED GOAT AND HIS MOTHER, NAVAHO, 1902
Photograph by E. R. Forrest.
“I want to say to the Senator (Bristow) that possibly he does not understand the conditions as they exist in our country. Possibly he is not aware of the fact that every year, two or three times a year, these Indians are allowed to go from their immensely rich reserves to interfere with white men, American citizens, on the public domain, causing the killing of anywhere from one to a dozen people. This is an unfortunate condition of affairs. I can say to the Senator that we people down in our section of the country can deal with these conditions if we are compelled to; but this sometimes becomes a question of all a man has—of his property rights, of protection to his family and his children. Any white man, any American citizen, will then use such force as is necessary in protecting his family. All that we seek to do is to restrict the further location of these Indians upon the public domain until Congress can act again. The committee is being appointed, and I presume this matter will be investigated. It has been investigated before, and reports made, and no action taken. But this must cease; it must stop; and I tell the Senator from Kansas that it will stop.”—(Congressional Record, June 17, 1913, page 2320).
Father Weber’s comment on it is very apropos:—
“I regret that a Senator made this statement. I have been among the Navaho for sixteen years, and I know of not one single instance where a white man was killed on account of Navahos leaving the reservation, or on account of any grazing or land disputes. If every year the killing of from one to a dozen is occasioned by Navaho leaving their reserve, how is it that no one knows anything about it?”[[48]]