124 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [Bull. 188 



Agricultural income is confined to home consumption of 

 the products raised. Since nearly every residence group has its own 

 farm, there is little opportunity for the sale of produce within the 

 community. Shonto's total 1955 agricultural income is estimated at 

 $2,120, on the basis of a $20 per acre yield (see Young, 1955, p. 121). 

 (Farm income is included with livestock income under the heading 

 "Home Consumption" in table 18). In monetary terms agriculture 

 contributed only 1.3 percent of Shonto's total income in 1955. 



HUNTING 



Excess numbers of livestock have long since crowded most of the 

 aboriginal game from Shonto's ranges, and with it the traditional 

 and ritual hunting practices which were once important to Navahos 

 (see Hill, 1938, pp. 96-176). Hunting today is largely a matter of 

 shooting predatory coyotes, and its only real economic contribution 

 is an occasional rabbit or prairie dog for the family pot. In many 

 instances it is simply a sport, as among Anglo-Americans (cf. Kluck- 

 hohn and Leighton, 1946, p. 31 ; Landgraf , 1954, p. 57) . The .22 rifle, 

 present in nearly all households, is the sole hunting weapon. Organ- 

 ized hunting activity among large groups does not take place, and no 

 household today depends on the products of the chase for any part 

 of its subsistence. Coyotes and bobcats were hunted to some extent 

 for their skins prior to World War II, but in post-war years the 

 market for them has disappeared. 



CRATTS 



Weaving and the other craft activities of Shonto's women have, 

 like agriculture, much greater psychological than economic value. 

 Weaving, especially, is part of the traditional complex of daily activi- 

 ties, involving prestige value which alone is apparently sufficient to 

 insure its continuation (see Keichard, 1936) . As mentioned previously 

 ("Arts and Crafts," pp. 82-84) , weaving, basketry, and pottery manu- 

 facture are primarily avocational activities for Shonto women, and 

 their purely economic function is secondary. Amsden (1934, p. 236) 

 once calculated that the weaver's actual monetary return for her ef- 

 forts came to about 5 cents an hour. (The single rug upon which this 

 calculation was based was valued at $12.00. At modern Shonto prices 

 the same rug would bring only $8.00, reducing the weaver's return to 

 less than 4 cents an hour.) 



Weaving is carried on at all times of the year, but is heaviest dur- 

 ing mid-summer, when there are few conflicting livestock and farm- 

 ing interests. Since nearly all Navaho looms are outdoors, weaving 

 activity tends to be at least partly a function of warm weather and 

 long daylight hours. Ninety percent of Shonto woven products are 

 single (30 X 30 inch) and double (30 X 60 inch) saddle blankets of 



