243 
THH INFLUENZA AND THE NAVAJO. 
BY 
ALBERT B. REAGAN. 
The Walketon (Ind.) Independent and The Indian School Journal both 
report: “Dispatches from Phoenix, Arizona, state that two thousand 
Navajos, residing on that part of the reservation in Apache County, under 
the jurisdiction of Fort Defiance (representing about one-fifth of the Navajo 
country) have died of influenza. The chief clerk of the Navajo agency 
made the report.” 
It is the writer’s belief that the above statement is a gross exaggeration ; 
yet the death-rate was appalling. Probably no other people in the United 
States suffered from the ravages of this plague at all comparable with them. 
The Navajos belong to the Athapascan stock of Indians and are full 
cousins of the Apache. In the 17th century, they appropriated the farm 
lands of the Tewa Indians of New Mexico, called Navahu, and engaged in 
farming. To distinguish them from the other and more roving Apaches, 
they were called Apaches de Navajo or “great seed sowings” by the Span- 
iards. In time, the first part of the name was dropped, leaving the name 
“Navajo” as the tribal signification, though at the present time it is a mis- 
nomer as they are now a pastoral people. This name is not used by the 
Navajos except when they try to speak English. In fact, many of the tribe 
do not know it and only the educated part of the tribe can pronounce the 
word correctly, as “vy” is a sound unknown in their language. They call 
themselves “Dine” (the people), which, in its variable forms, is the gen- 
eral tribal name of the whole Athapascan family. 
They believe that they were created by the gods of Arizona and Utah 
about 500 years ago, though they believe that the earth was previously 
peopled with human beings most of whom were destroyed by demon giants. 
They probably wandered into Arizona and New Mexico in small bands from 
the north. A joining of these groups enabled them to make a successful 
war on their neighbors. By this means and by adoption of the captured 
women into the tribe, they soon became a powerful people. Besides the 
addition of several Athapascan bands that joined them of their own free 
will, their stock is now made up of descendants of captured Pueblos, Sho- 
shoneans, Yumans, and Aryans. Their language is a modified Dine dialect 
of copious vocabulary and intricate grammatical construction, exhibiting 
many words, phrases and constructions from outside sources. Also in ap- 
pearance, the Nayajos have no prevailing type which gives further evidence 
of their composite origin. The population of the tribe is estimated to be in 
the neighborhood of 35,000. 
They have several kinds of houses. among which are the hogan (dwell- 
ing), the medicine lodge, and sweat-house. They are all cone-shaped, 
built of upright poles or logs placed horizontally in polygonal, worm-fence 
shape over which branches, grass, and earth are placed. A smoke-hole at 
the apex serves as a chimney for each kind except the sweat-house which 
