200 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [BuU. 188 



Lambs and wool between them accomit for the bulk of Shonto's 

 annual commodity barter. Nevertheless, direct exchange of both 

 these items is strictly secondary to advance credit transactions (see 

 table 16, p. 109) which annually involve at least 50 percent of all lambs 

 and 67 percent of all wool bought. When these commodities are 

 brought to the trading post the proceeds of sale are first and foremost 

 applied on account. Only the "surplus" or unencumbered income 

 from the sale is involved in on-the-post exchange. According to com- 

 mon trading post policy, up to 50 percent of such "surplus" com- 

 modity income is receivable in cash on demand, while the remainder 

 must be taken out in trade (contrast Luomala, 1938, p. 5). Lambs 

 and wool are thus actually involved in three types of transaction: 

 credit sales, direct barter, and cash purchase by the trading post. 



Cattle, when there was a market for them, were always involved 

 in straight barter. No advance credit was allowed against them, and 

 they were paid for strictly with merchandise. Shonto Trading Post 

 has not bought cattle since 1952. 



Shonto and most other trading posts pay straight cash for hides 

 as a goodwill gesture (see "Commodity Exchange," pp. 172-175), 

 since the value of such trade is trivial. Technically, therefore, hides 

 are not bartered, although in practice 90 percent of the money paid 

 for them comes back immediately for small purchases. 



Bugs are the most important commodity involved exclusively in 

 barter transactions. Trading posts in the northwestern Navaho coun- 

 try never allow credit against rug production (contrast Kluckhohn 

 and Leighton, 1946, p. 23), and, moreover, pay for them entirely in 

 merchandise. Traders justify this policy with the assertion that 

 there is no profit in rugs themselves (see "Commodity Exchange," 

 pp. 172-175), so that they are worth handling only insofar as they are 

 a means of additional retail profit. In the case of very large rugs of 

 superior quality a fraction of the total price may be paid in cash as 

 a special inducement to make more of the same. 



Shonto Trading Post has recently paid set prices of $4.00 and $8.00 

 for the majority of single and double saddle blankets, respectively. 

 There are no very rigid criteria for pricing larger rugs, where quality 

 is of far more importance than size. Buying rugs is said by some 

 traders to be an art ; by others to be a matter of pure intuition. The 

 latter quality has been possessed in varying degrees by traders at 

 Shonto in the past, and rug prices have fluctuated widely and often 

 irrationally as a result. Correct procedure in buying a rug, as prac- 

 ticed by Shonto's owner, is to look it over in silence for a minute or 

 more, without touching it and especially without measuring it. The 

 trader can then come out in a firm voice with the first figure that 

 enters his head, and stick resolutely to it. The trader who examines 

 a proffered rug closely weakens the authority of his judgment, since 



