Adams] SHONTO I ROLE OF NAVAHO TRADER 23 



modern traders have shown themselves personally indifferent and con- 

 temptuous toward native Navaho beliefs and practices, although ac- 

 cepting them as appropriate for ISTavahos (cf . pp. 267-297) . This posi- 

 tion has perhaps been taken deliberately, as a means of emphasizing the 

 separate and superior status of the trader (see "Trader Behavior," pp. 

 210-212) . At any rate, I found that as a trader I could not inquire too 

 openly and persistently into native culture patterns without being 

 suspected of ulterior purposes. Beyond a certain point, my inquiries 

 were likely to meet with a suspicious "What do you want to know 

 for?" which is the common experience of traders and Government 

 officials as distinguished from at least the more adept anthropologists. 



Finally, there is no occasion upon which a trader may legitimately 

 employ an interpreter. On the one hand, the area of Navaho culture 

 in which he is specifically interested (i.e., economics) is entirely 

 amenable to discussion in the Trader Navaho jargon, which has been 

 developed for that precise purpose (see "Communication," pp. 212- 

 214) . On the other hand, his interest in other areas of Navaho life is 

 not supposed to carry to tlie point of spending his own good money for 

 an interpreter through whom he can inquire into them. In consequence 

 none of the information contained in the present study was obtained 

 through an interpreter. 



In sum, the trading post offers the worst possible base of opera- 

 tions for ethnographic research. In addition to trained anthropolo- 

 gists, both Government officials (e.g., Keagan, 1934) and missionaries 

 (e.g., Haile, 1935, 1938 a, b, etc.) have contributed to some extent to 

 the literature on Navaho culture, while traders have contributed virtu- 

 ally nothing. These limitations will be apparent throughout the pres- 

 ent work, which, so far as I know, contributes nothing new to the 

 study of native lore and customs. Religion in particular will be 

 found to have received perhaps less attention here than in any other 

 study of the Navaho of comparable length. 



Insofar as I had any individual role apart from that of trader, I 

 am unable to evaluate it. To the best of my knowledge and belief, my 

 age, appearance, dress, and speech, no less than my behavior, were 

 well within the conventional limits for traders. My physical appear- 

 ance is in some respects similar to that of Shonto's owner, particularly 

 in the dimension of circumference, and this circumstance caused us 

 to be frequently associated in Navaho speech. He was habitually des- 

 ignated as nimazi (the spherical one) and I as nimazi yazM or nimazi 

 hikHs (the little spherical one or the spherical one's kinsman). 

 Whether or not this latter implication was ever taken seriously, I do 

 not know. 



