TH^ SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION. 293 



doors have been closed and fastened, and invocations to the saints 

 offered up for protection. They are even said to have insulted the 

 ji:overnor in his palace, at Santa Fe^ and filled the city with terror. 

 Shepherds have abandoned their fiucks at the appearance of one of 

 these men of the mountains; and children have been, and are yet, 

 frightened into good behavior by tlie mention of their name. But 

 since the occupation of the country by the United States forces, this 

 prestige is fast melting away even with the Mexicans. Their great 

 fame for bravery has arisen not so much from any courageous disposi- 

 tion superior to that of other Indians in the Territory, as from their 

 numbers and from the character of the people with whom they have 

 had to deal. 



Some years since, a small party of Delawares appeared among 

 them to revenge an outrage perpetrated upon one of their numl)er who 

 had wandered west of the Rio (frande, and to this day these ])eople 

 hold a Delaware in the highest respect. Prior to the abolition of 

 Spanish authority upon this continent, the Spaniards spread desolation 

 throughout their entire country and compelled them to beg fervently 

 for peace. But this wholesome state of things changed for the worse 

 when the Spanish rule ceased, and until the authority of the United 

 States was established in the Territory, the Navajoes ran riot, masters 

 wherever they went ; and, from the fact of their having been allowed 

 so to do, they yet hold themselves in high esteem ; but instead of being 

 feared by government troops, the order of things is fast becoming re- 

 versed, as may be perceived from the fact of two companies of United 

 States troops having held in check over two thousand warriors mounted 

 and armed. 



They use the bow and arrow, and spear, and use them well. The 

 bow is about four feet in length, and made of some kind of wood 

 which is said not to grow in the Navajo country, and is covered on the 

 back with a kind of fibrous tissue. The arrow is about two feet long 

 and pointed with iron. The spear is eight or ten feet in length, in- 

 cluding the point, which is about eighteen inches long, and also made 

 of iron. In case of war, they would give no inconsiderable trouble ; 

 not so much from active fightings as from frequenting high and al- 

 most inaccessible cliffs, in which the country abounds, and the many 

 hiding-})laces in the cailons and recesses of the mountains, which, 

 for a time, from their superior knowledge of the country, they would, 

 in a measure, be able to do. It would not be correct, however, to 

 suppose that they would not fight, for so great an idea do they have 

 of their prowess, that they no doubt would trust in their skill and 

 bravery until it was apparent that these would not avail ; but, like 

 all Indians, they would not risk a fight, if it were possible to avoid 

 it_, unless they possessed greatly the advantage in position and num- 

 bers. Some of them have fire-arms in addition to their usual wea- 

 pons. We have seen some excellent looking rifles in the possession 

 of some of them, bearing the name of ''Albright," (of St. Louis, 

 doubtless,) which the owners state were procured in the Territory of 

 Utah. They have not been sufficiently accustomed to the use of these 

 weajpons to use them skilfully, and at present are much more formid- 



