348 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [Bull. 196 



to land; eight families use 160 acres or less, while four families have 

 rights to 10-30 sections. 



Total income from animals in 1951 — sales of wool, lambs, hides, 

 and products consumed at home — may be estimated at about $70,000. 

 The comparable 1943 estimate was $40,000. The value of cultivated 

 plants (corn,^^ cereals, squash, melon, beans) eaten was probably 

 in the neighborhood of $5,000. Cash income from wagework in 

 postwar years has averaged at least half as much as livestock income. 

 Each year Ramah Navahos have worked as railroad section hands; 

 as pickers of beets, carrots, and cotton; as farm and ranch hands, 

 herders, loggers, etc. In 1951, 23 men earned a total of $12,000 on 

 the railroad, and they and others gained $24,000 from other work, 

 locally and away from Ramah. Handicrafts (rugs, silver, beadwork) 

 brought in about $1,500. Welfare and other Government benefits 

 brought some $23,000 into the community. Other miscellaneous 

 income (trade, gathering, sale of timber, fees of ceremonialists and 

 herbalists, etc.) might have accounted for as much as $3,000. A very 

 rough estimate of per capita real income would be $230. 



There is a per person indebtedness of approximately $100. This is 

 owed primarily to the trading stores, advanced against wool and 

 lamb crops or secured by the pawning of jewelry, saddles, guns, 

 and other articles of value. The stores charge 10 percent on overdue 

 accounts. Probably less than 12 percent of Navaho buying in the 

 Ramah area is by cash. 



For 1941, Landgraf (1954) characterizes Navaho purchases as 

 consisting largely of food and clothing but with relatively sizable 

 investments in machinery, automobiles, and tools from time to 

 time. The bulk of the food purchases were flour, fruit, sugar, coffee, 

 and cooking fat. The greatest changes in consumption patterns 

 that took place between 1941 and 1951 were increased gasoline 

 sales, more money spent in car repairs (perhaps $5,000 in 1951), 

 more purchase of medicines, and closer approximation of Anglo- 

 American buying of food and clothing. In 1951, Ramah Navahos 

 bought almost everything that Ramah Whites bought at the trading 

 stores except canning equipment, cooking spices, and electric light 

 bulbs. The Navaho purchased little feed for livestock, although a few 

 owners bought bales of alfalfa, cotton cake, and grain. Expenditures 

 for wine, liquor, and beer are not inconsiderable, but I would not 

 venture even an estimated total annual figure. 



Hobson (1954) sums up Navaho economic values as follows: 



. . . wealth accumulation is a primary preoccupation. A high valuation is 

 placed upon the possession of land, livestock, houses, clothes, and jewelry. The 



" Navaho com yields average 600 pounds to the acre, beans 400. 



