122 BUREAU OF AJVIERICAN ETHNOLOGY [Bull. 188 



In 1965 Shonto Trading Post bought 632 lambs from 55 households 

 in 34 residence groups.® Total earning from lamb sales was $6,280, or 

 about equal to that from wool sales. Distribution of lamb income 

 among households and residence groups is shown in table 18 ; average 

 earnings per participating unit are indicated in table 22. In terms 

 of animals, the average lamb sale was 18.6 head per residence group 

 and 11.5 head per household; the total number sold constituted just 

 under 30 percent of the community's total holdmgs in lambs. 



Lamb sales, unlike wool sales, are considerably affected by market 

 fluctuation, since range capacities are not enforced, and in any case 

 the community has ample capacity for home consumption. In recent 

 years they have varied from an estimated 25 percent to an estimated 

 50 percent of the total drop, as the market price has fluctuated from 

 a high of 30 cents a pound m 1951 to a low of lli/^ cents in 1953. The 

 1955 price was 15 cents per pound. Since the average weight was 67 

 pounds at the time of sale, lambs were worth an average of exactly $10 

 apiece. 



Because of fluctuating sales, credit against lambs is somewhat more 

 restricted than wool credit. Accounts receivable usually claim about 

 half the income from lamb sales, the remainder being distributed in 

 the same "50-50" form as is surplus wool income. 



Hides are always sold for cash at the trading post. By tradition 

 the liide always goes to the owner of the slaughtered animal, who is 

 entitled to dispose of it as he sees fit, and without any obligation to 

 others. In practice, hide money, which seldom comes to more than a 

 dollar at a time, is commonly treated as a sort of windfall and spent 

 entirely on minor luxuries such as candy and soda pop. Amiual 

 volume of sale by Shonto families is about 1,000 hides, worth a little 

 over $750 altogether. Hide income has not been figured separately in 

 tables 18, 21, and 22, but is applied instead as a correcting factor in 

 computing home consumption of livestock products (see below). 



Home consumption of livestock products, chiefly meat, in 1955 is cal- 

 culated at $14,639, or slightly over half the total of Shonto's live- 

 stock income for the year. The figure is an arbitrary one, computed 

 by allowing 1955 market value at average weight for all lambs not 

 sold, on the assumption that holdings in breeding stock will not be in- 

 creased significantly. Dead losses are assumed to be compensated by 

 consumption of goats, which have no market value, and by sale of 

 liides (see above). Since home consumption is normally a collective 

 matter, average income can be computed for residence groups only 

 (table 22). 



« The lone wool-producing residence group -which did not also sell lambs was that of 

 Shonto's tribal councilman. The latter, having numerous other sources of cash Income, 

 prefers by his own admission to enlarge his holdings, already well in excess of his per- 

 mitted capacity, and to eat plenty of mutton during the winter. 



