ACROSS THE NAVAJO DESERT 39 



near-by Hopi village — which we visited — be- 

 cause the Hopis wished protection from hostile 

 Indian foes. As usual, the Mormon settlers had 

 planted and cared for many trees — cotton- 

 woods, poplars, almond-trees, and flowering 

 acacias — and the green shade was doubly at- 

 tractive in that sandy desert. We were most 

 hospitably received, especially by the school 

 superintendent, and also by the trader. They 

 showed us every courtesy. Mentioning the 

 abandoned trading-post in the desert to the 

 wife of the trader, she told us that it was there 

 she had gone as a bride. The women who live 

 in the outposts of civilization have brave souls ! 

 We rested the horses for a day, and then 

 started northward, toward the trading-station 

 of John Wetherill, near Navajo Mountain and 

 the Natural Bridge. The first day's travel was 

 through heavy sand and very tiring to the 

 teams. Late in the afternoon we came to an 

 outlying trader's store, on a sandy hillside. In 

 the plain below, where not a blade of grass 

 grew, were two or three permanent pools; and 

 toward these the flocks of the Navajos were 

 hurrying, from every quarter, with their herds- 

 men. The sight was curiously suggestive of 

 the sights I so often saw in Africa, when the 

 Masai and Samburu herdsmen brought their 



