634 ANNUAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 1920. 



of yucca leaf. This is a modern representation of an ancient industry 

 quite widespread in the southwestern United States, and the pro- 

 cesses employed at present are identical with those of ancient times. 

 (See pi. 39.) 



DWELLING GROUP OF THE NAVAHO INDIANS. 

 NEW MEXICO AND ARIZONA. 



The Navaho live in the dry uplands of western New Mexico and 

 northeastern Arizona, subsisting principally on their flocks of sheep, 

 from the wool of which their well-known blankets are made. They 

 are not village dwellers, and rarely more than a few houses are seen 

 together. The framework of the house consists of three timbers 

 lopped off to form forks at the top. These timbers are inclined and 

 the forks interlocked and against them are laid other lesser timbers, 

 branches, brush, etc., and covered with earth. The entrance is 

 through a rude covered way or vestibule. The smoke hole is in the 

 apex of the house. The group shows two winter hogans or houses, a 

 summer hut, a sweat house, and a dance house. (See pi. 40.) 



NAVAHO INDIAN BLANKET WEAVERS. 



The Navaho women weave excellent blankets, rugs, and belts on 

 hand looms, using wool derived from their numerous flocks of sheep. 

 The Navaho blanket has become well known on account of the 

 striking native designs in color with which it is decorated as well as 

 its durability in service. Their sale brings to the tribe thousands of 

 dollars yearly. The yarn is spun on a simple spindle, is dyed with 

 vegetable substances or with dyes purchased from traders, and is 

 woven on rude looms provided with heddles for separating the warp. 

 The weft is wound on a stick and thrust through the shed and pounded 

 down with a wooden sword or batten. The patterns, which are 

 alike on both sides of the fabric, are produced by laying in a 

 colored weft yarn between a counted number of warp threads, 

 leaving it out, adding another color similarly, and so on across 

 the weaving line. The warps are then crossed and the process 

 continued. The weaving, being of short weft yarns, can not be dupli- 

 cated on power looms, though imitations of the patterns and fabrics 

 alleged to be Navaho work have been offered for sale. The woman 

 spinning and the woman working at the loom wear dresses of their 

 own weaving. The Navaho learned the art of weaving from the 

 Pueblo Indians. (See pi. 41.) 



NAVAHO INDIANS MAKING SILVER ORNAMENTS. 



The Navaho Indians of Arizona and New Mexico were taught a 

 rude sort of metal working by the Spanish conquerors, and they have 

 become very adept in the use of their primitive tools and apparatus. 



