186 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [BuU. 188 



latter figure measures the trader's success in luring livestock trade 

 away from his competitors in recent years (see "Sales Promotion," 

 pp. 180-182) . 



Shonto community is thus the basic market on which Shonto Trad- 

 ing Post depends for its livelihood, augmented where possible by 

 "quality trade" from other Navaho areas. In spite of the growing 

 competition from town merchants the store still expects to receive 

 annually at least 90 percent of the trade of the local Navahos — all 

 of it that does not go to Flagstaff. 



Less than 1 percent of Shonto's retail gross actually results from 

 White trade. The rather high percentage of White clientele recorded 

 in table 29, and fairly typical of spring and summer months, results 

 largely from noncommercial interests. Local Wliite residents (see 

 "Wliite Society at Shonto," pp. 165-167) visit the store two or three 

 times a week to deliver or receive mail, while tourists come in pri- 

 marily to see what the inside of a trading post looks like. 



TYPES OF TRADE 



The Navaho trade at Shonto and most other trading posts falls 

 into four distinct categories: cash sales, "book" (unsecured) credit, 

 pawn (secured credit), and direct commodity exchange (see Sanders 

 et al., 1953, p. 233). Each is governed by its own set of special trad- 

 ing procedures, many of which are peculiar to the Navaho trade. 

 Approximate distribution of Shonto's total gross volume in terms of 

 these categories is shown in table 30. (For accurate percentage fig- 

 ures for one month see table 31.) 



Table 31 presents a detailed record of total trade volume throughout 

 the month of March 1954, broken down according to the same cate- 

 gories listed in table 30. It is notable here that the relative percent- 

 ages of trade in the different categories hold fairly constant from 

 week to week despite a considerable fluctuation in the total volume 

 of trade. The slightly high percentage of "book" credit transactions 

 shown in table 31 is normal for winter months, when cash income is 

 at a minimum (see "The Economic Cycle," pp. 141-145) . 



