ACROSS THE NAVAJO DESERT 37 



raising and agriculture to use it; for with In- 

 dians and white men ahke it is use which should 

 determine occupancy of the soil. The Navajos 

 have made progress of a real type, and stand 

 far above mere savagery; and everything possi- 

 ble should be done to help them help them- 

 selves, to teach them English, and, above all, 

 to teach them how to be better stock-raisers 

 and food-growers — as well as smiths and 

 weavers — in their desert home. The whites 

 have treated these Indians well. They bene- 

 fited by the coming of the Spaniards; they have 

 benefited more by the coming of our own people. 

 For the last quarter of a century the lawdess 

 individuals among them have done much more 

 wrong (including murder) to the whites than has 

 been done to them by lawless whites. The law- 

 less Indians are the worst menace to the others 

 among the Navajos and Utes; and very serious 

 harm has been done by well-meaning Eastern 

 philanthropists who have encouraged and pro- 

 tected these criminals. I have known some 

 startling cases of this kind. 



During the second day of our southward 

 journey the Painted Desert, in gaudy desola- 

 tion, lay far to our right; and we crossed tongues 

 and patches of the queer formation, with its 

 hard, bright colors. Red and purple, green 



