18 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [BuU. 188 



Datil, N. Mex., and his Navaho wife ; a student of anthropology fresh 

 out of college (another one, that is) ; and a very silent bachelor, who 

 has spent most of his adult life running trading posts in every part 

 of the Navaho country, but has never owned one. This last was my im- 

 mediate successor and the individual whose behavior I was able to ob- 

 serve in special detail during November and December of 1955. How- 

 ever, I found the role behavior of all of them to be closely similar in 

 spite of their extremely disparate backgromids, and all of them are 

 a part of the composite which in later pages is designated as "Shonto's 

 trader." ^ 



Other traders in every part of the Navaho country have contributed, 

 for the most part unwittingly, to the study of Shonto. The trader at 

 Inscription House, some 20 miles to the west (by road — see map 3) 

 has been of special value in many ways. He is the father-in-law of 

 my employer at Shonto, and at the time of the study was in partner- 

 ship with him in the Inscription House venture. Thanks to this con- 

 nection, I have had a long association with Inscription House as well 

 as with Shonto, and I have "filled in" as trader there for periods of 

 several days on a few occasions. The Inscription House trader is a 

 native of the Farmington area who has had over 40 years' continuous 

 experience in the Navaho trade — greater than that of any other still- 

 active trader. I have made frequent use of his historical insights and 

 judgments in the pages which follow. 



Other traders whom I have known, both personally and profes- 

 sionally, and who have contributed their part to this study are or were 

 those at Navajo Mountain, Coppermine, Cow Springs, Red Lake, Tuba 

 City, Kayenta, Oljeto, Dennehotso, Chilchinbeto, Mexican Hat, Chinle, 

 Lukachukai, Ganado, Fort Defiance, Gallup, and Carsons. Many of 

 these were my friends and neighbors as well as informants. 



Far and away my most valuable sources of verbal information have 

 been my employer at Shonto and his father-in-law at Inscription 

 House. As with my Navaho acquaintances, they are accustomed to my 

 curiosity on all manner of subjects, which is no doubt appropriate in a 

 "college kid," and freely answered my various questions about stores 

 and store operation. They are largely responsible for the local his- 

 torical data which appear toward the end of "Background" (pp. BO- 

 SS) and especially on pages 149-167), as well as for most of the finan- 

 cial information in "Trading Post Economics." 



I have also had a few White informants who were officially such 

 during my temporary health survey stint. Shonto's owner furnished 

 me with economic and income data from past years, which I lacked. 



" The reader may Infer from these statements that personnel tnrnover at Shonto Trad- 

 ing Post is extremely high. This is a condition which Is invariably encountered among 

 hired traders — i.e., in every trading post which is not actually operated by its owner. 



