346 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [Bull. 196 



harmony of related parts which is the Navaho view of the universe, 

 and with which people must make harmonious connections for an 

 abundant life. (Vestal, 1952.) 



By far the greatest number of plants are used as medicines, either 

 in association with ceremonials or as home remedies during parturition 

 and nursing and for stomach ache, tooth ache, constipation, and sores. 

 Only one narcotic {Datura meteloides) is known, and this is used only 

 as a last resort to control excessive pain and only by those who possess 

 ritual qualifications. Some plants are used for good luck in gambling 

 or trading. Bows, arrows, dyes, ceremonial equipment, baskets, 

 and household articles are made of plant materials. Wood is impor- 

 tant, of course, for fuel and for constructing dwellings. Uncultivated 

 food plants are of minor but varying (between families) importance 

 in the total economy, with the exception of the pifion nut which is 

 frequently a major source of income. Tubers, seeds, fruits, and 

 bulbs are eaten. Yucca is used both for food and to provide a 

 shampoo. Gums and resins are used as chewing gum. The principal 

 cultivated crops are maize, beans, squash, melons, and potatoes. A 

 few families raise small acreages of oats, wheat, alfalfa, and garden 

 vegetables. In 1941, the Ramah Navaho cultivated 158 pieces of 

 land (ranging in size from less than an acre up to 100 acres) amounting 

 to approximately 3,000 acres. Maniiring and other "modern" 

 farming methods were hardly followed at all, though two large fields 

 were tractor plowed in the 1950 period. Yields are poor owing to 

 farming practices, inferior seed, and uncertain weather. (Vestal, 1952.) 



In absolute terms the contribution of wildlife to the diet of the 

 Ramah Navaho was, as of 1950, trivial. To the poorer families, 

 however, rabbits, porcupines, other small animals, and an occasional 

 deer* sometimes made the difference between nourishment and hunger. 

 The abundant birds are almost never eaten. Various animal pests 

 plague the cultivated fields, and coyotes are a danger to sheep, 

 especially in winter. Actually, as O'DonneU (MS., 1950) has shown at 

 length, the greatest significance of animal Ufe in recent times has not 

 been economic but ritual. Many mammals, reptiles, and birds are 

 not only tabooed as food but also pose all sorts of supernatural dangers 

 and are constantly described as sources of illness. 



In 1950, the Ramah Navaho controlled 153,600 acres of land.^ 

 The amount used for dry farming is said to have dropped to 1,085 

 acres ;*° 1,640 acres were malapais or other land utterly barren and 



' Thirty, for instance, were killed in the fall and winter of 1941-42. 



' The 1945 figure (Bureau of Land Management statistics) was 143,313 acres of which Navaho allotments 

 comprised 43,331, Navaho homesteads 1,600, with the remainder leased from the Federal and State govern- 

 ments, the Santa Fe Railroad, the Pueblo of Picuris (52,169 acres), and White ovmers. 



'» This figure is from Indian Service Extension reports, 1951. It Is almost certainly too low, but field 

 observations Indicate a substantial drop ftom 1941. 



