ACROSS THE NAVAJO DESERT 45 



they seemed vermilion and umber; or in the white 

 glare they were white and yellow and light red. 



Our routine was that usual when travelling 

 with a pack-train. By earliest dawn the men 

 whose duties were to wrangle the horses and 

 cook had scrambled out of their bedding; and 

 the others soon followed suit. There is always 

 much work with a pack-outfit, and there are 

 almost always some animals which cause trouble 

 when being packed. The sun was well up be- 

 fore we started; then we travelled until sunset, 

 taking out a couple of hours to let the hobbled 

 horses and mules rest and feed at noon. 



On the second day out we camped not far 

 from the foot of Navajo Mountain. We came 

 across several Indians, both Navajos and Utes, 

 guarding their flocks and herds; and we passed 

 by several of their flimsy branch-built summer 

 houses, and their mud, stone, and log winter 

 houses; and by their roughly fenced fields of 

 corn and melons watered by irrigation ditches. 

 Wetherill hired two Indians, a Ute and a Nav- 

 ajo, to go with us, chiefly to relieve us of the 

 labor of looking after our horses at night. They 

 were pleasant-faced, silent men. They wore 

 broad hats, shirts and waistcoats, trousers, and 

 red handkerchiefs loosely knotted round their 

 necks; except for their moccasins, a feather in 



