116 SADDLE AND CAMP 



living, and failing to accept at heart the new, 

 they would unfailingly fall into degeneracy, 

 for it is an axiom that when any people is 

 robbed of a religion that guides and holds to 

 upright living, that people falls into moral de- 

 generacy, and it may be said of our Indians 

 that when their faith is once shaken in the re- 

 ligion of their ancestors, it is the end of their 

 faith in any religion. Outwardly they may ac- 

 cept Christianity, but in their hearts they do 

 not. This is the basis of the decadence of the 

 North American Indian as a man, of his loss of 

 self-respect and his degeneracy. It is deplor- 

 able but it is true. 



The Hopi is a monogamist and rarely does 

 one remain unmarried. Husband and wife are 

 true and devoted to one another and to their 

 children. I was unable upon diligent inquiry 

 to learn of any instance where husband and 

 wife had separated for any cause. Might it 

 not be well for Christians to take instruction 

 from Hopi Indians in moral conduct and the 

 matrimonial relationship? Their moral living, 

 pagans as they are, is certainly preferable to 

 the Sodom and Gomorrha condition of too 

 many of our Christian civilized communities. 



Some Hopi and Navajo Indians are annually 

 sent away by the government to Eastern schools 



