1888.J PROCEEDINGS OF UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM. 131 



THE NAVAJO SHOEMAKER. 



BY ALEXANDER M. STEPHEN. 



The Navajo art of shoemaking is a very simple one, and is practically 

 confined to the men. 



An awl and a knife are the only tools vised. These they very usually 

 combine in a two-bladed pocket-knife, the smaller blade being rubbed 

 down to form the awl. Still the bone awl is very common; those made 

 from the leg bone of the deer being preferred. 



The stone knife, for practical purposes, is entirely unknown. It is 

 now only used in religious ceremonies and for surgery. In cases where 

 they deem the use of the lance necessary, under no condition will they 

 use one of metal. It must always be of obsidian, although I have 

 known them to use a fragment of dark colored glass bottle. 



They use three materials to make a shoe — buckskin for the uppers, 

 raw hide (preferably that of the ox) for the sole, and the loin sinews of 

 the sheep, goat, or deer for sewing. The thick neck skin of deer aud 

 badger are occasionally used for soles. 



A piece of raw-hide of suitable size for the soles having been pro- 

 cured, it is first pounded with a lump of stone on a rock until it be. 

 comes somewhat flexible. The hair is scraped off, but not very close, 

 and it is then buried in moist earth for three or four days to render it 

 soft and pliable. It is then taken out, and the Navajo sets his foot 

 upon it on the ground and cats out the sole about half an inch or so 

 larger than the size of the foot all around, aud at the toe, at least an 

 inch longer. 



The soles are then held before the fire and thoroughly rubbed with 

 fat on the hair side. He then fits the shoe sole to the exact size of the 

 sole of his foot by turning up the edges all around close to the sides of the 

 foot, the point being brought well up over the great toe. He next fits a 

 piece of buckskin to form the front upper, inclosing the foot snugly but 

 without compression. Tearing a few fibers of sinew and wetting them 

 with his lips he rolls them on his knee to a stout thread, making two of 

 these and tying them together. He now bores a hole through the sole 

 at the toe and draws both these threads through it from the outside 

 the knot preventing them from passing entirely through. 



With one of these threads he first sews down the left side (of course 

 he always begins with the left shoe), aud with the other he sews the 

 right side. These seams extend just the length of the front upper. 

 The back upper is then fitted so as to wrap around the ankle and well 

 down on the left or outside of the foot, where it is secured with two sil- 

 ver buttons. 



