342 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [Bull. 196 



biological and cultural origins. To be sure, there is phenotypic evi- 

 dence (light skin and hair color) of European ancestry in certain 

 family lines at Ramah, but the historical circumstances under which 

 the whole Navaho tribe absorbed some European genes are well 

 known (Underbill, 1956, pp. 79-81). Within this century one Span- 

 ish-American and two Anglos indisputably fathered Ramah Navaho 

 children, and there are several other highly probable cases. Yet a 

 blood-group study may indicate "relative freedom from White mix- 

 ture" (Boyd, 1949, p. 572) as compared with other Navaho and 

 American Indian samples. It is likemse true that one may point to 

 several Chiricahua Apache women, one Zuni man, one Laguna man, 

 one Walapai, and one Yaqui man as ancestors of some of the present 

 Ramah Navahos. But the Canyon De Chelly Navaho had many 

 Hopi ancestors, there is much Ute admixture on the northern borders 

 of the Navaho country, and Eastern Navahos are aware of ancestors 

 from Jemez and from Rio Grande Pueblos. Essentially "all" Nav- 

 ahos, if the full facts were known, would be found to have very mixed 

 ancestry. Indeed, for the Ramah Navaho there are presumptive 

 but definite grounds for postulating, more remotely, Mescalero 

 Apache, Ute, and Jemez progenitors (Kluckhohn, 1956 a). 



As for culture, there has certainly been some Zuni influence upon 

 the Ramah band just as there have been Paiute borrowing by the 

 Navajo Mountain group, Hopi influence upon many west-central res- 

 ervation localities, Chiricahua-Mescalero influence upon the Alamo- 

 Puertocito Navaho band, etc. Actually, it is difficult to specify Zuni 

 borrowings at Ramah other than two that are shared by various other 

 Navaho groups influenced by Zuni; the use of outdoor bake ovens and 

 the painted pottery formerly made by Ramah Navaho women 

 (Tschopik, 1941). For specifically Spanish-American effects upon 

 the Ramah Navaho one can do no more than point to some details 

 in the handling of sheep. Except for the few Navahos who follow 

 Mormon religious practices and observe Mormon restrictions upon 

 the use of coffee, liquor, and cigarettes, borrowings from Anglo cul- 

 ture are indistinguishable from those characteristic of other Navaho 

 groups who have had about the same amount of contact. 



Each Navaho local group has some distinctive features as a con- 

 sequence of its geographical position and particular historical experi- 

 ences. So far as the Ramah Navaho are concerned, one should not 

 overlook the consequences of the fact that they were not like captive 

 animals herded onto a reservation. Rather, at least until 1940, they 

 led a normal (if isolated and rural) competitive life. Before 1940 

 Government protection and assistance (economic and otherwise) 

 amounted to very little. 



