THE SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION. 291 



fond of bread and sugar, and seem to have a natural taste for all kinds 

 of liquors. They never kill bears or rattlesnakes unless attacked, 

 some superstition being connected with these animals. 



The chief occupation of these people consists in rearing sheep and 

 horses. The number of sheep has been very variously estimated, by 

 those who have been much among them, the highest estimate being 

 two hundred thousand, and this number is probably as near the 

 truth as can be obtained. The wool is coarsa and is never shorn. 

 The sheep are in all respects similar to those raised by the Mexicans, 

 occasionally one being seen having four horns. The males are per- 

 mitted to run with the herds at all seasons, and the young, conse- 

 quently, are born in the winter as well as in the spring and autumn, 

 and many die. For this reason, their flocks do not increase with the 

 rapidity generally believed by those not much acquainted with these 

 people. It is a great mistake to suppose there is anything peculiar 

 about Navajo sheep, for such is not the case. Goats are also reared, 

 and are allowed to run with the sheep. The mutton is excellent in 

 the autumn, when the sheep have had the benefit of the summer's 

 grazing, but we think not at all superior to that obtained in the east- 

 ern and mountainous portions of the United States. 



The spinning and weaving is done by the women, and by hand. 

 The thread is made entirely by hand, and is coarse and uneven. 

 The blanket is woven by a tedious and rude process, after the man- 

 ner of the Pueblo indians, and is very coarse, thick, and heavy, with 

 little nap, and cannot bear comparison with an American blanket for 

 warmth and comfort. Many of them are woven so closely as to hold 

 water ; but this is of little advantage, for when worn during a rain 

 they become saturated with water, and are then uncomfortably heavy. 

 The colors are red, blue, black, and yellow ; black and red being the 

 most common. The red strands are obtained by unravelling red 

 cloth, black by using the wool of black sheep, blue by dissolving 

 indigo in fermented urine, and yellow is said to be by coloring with 

 a particular flower. The colors are woven in bands and diamonds. 

 We have never observed blankets with figures of a complicated pattern. 

 Occasiona.lly a blanket is seen which is quite handsome, and costs at 

 the same time the extravagant price of forty or fifty dollars ; these, 

 however, are very scarce, and are generally made for a special pur- 

 pose. The Indians prefer an American blanket, as it is lighter and 

 much warmer. The article manufactured by them is superior, because 

 of its thickness, to that made in the United States, for placing between 

 the bed and the ground when bivouacing, and this is the only use it 

 can be put to in which its superiority is shown. The manner of weaving 

 is peculiar, and is, no doubt, original with these people and the neigh- 

 boring tribes ; and, taken in connexion with the fact of some dilapi- 

 dated buildings (not of Spanish structure) being found in different 

 portions of the country, it has suggested the idea that they may once 

 have been what are usually called "Pueblo Indians." 



They possess from fifty thousand to sixty thousand horses, which 

 are doubtless descended from those brought to this continent by the 

 Spaniards. In rearing them attention is only given to the character 

 of the sire ; none being paid to that of the dam, as they suppose the 



