36 A BOOK-LOVER'S HOLIDAYS 



Navajo blankets. Although they practise polyg- 

 amy, and divorce is easy, their women are 

 usually well treated; and we saw evidences of 

 courtesy and consideration not too common even 

 among civilized people. At one halt a woman 

 on a donkey, with a little boy behind her, rode 

 up to the wagon. We gave her and the boy food. 

 Later when a Navajo man came up, she quietly 

 handed him a couple of delicacies. So far there 

 was nothing of note; but the man equally 

 quietly and with a slight smile of evident grati- 

 tude and appreciation stretched out his hand; 

 and for a moment they stood with clasped 

 hands, both pleased, one with the courtesy, and 

 the other with the way the courtesy had been 

 received. Both were tattered beings on don- 

 keys; but it made a pleasant picture. 



These are as a whole good Indians — al- 

 though some are very bad, and should be han- 

 dled rigorously. Most of them work hard, and 

 wring a reluctant hving from the desert; often 

 their houses are miles from water, and they use 

 it sparingly. They live on a reservation in which 

 many acres are necessary to support life; I do 

 not believe that at present they ought to be 

 allotted land in severalty, and their whole res- 

 ervation should be kept for them, if only they 

 can be brought forward fast enough in stock- 



