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BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY 



[BuU. 188 



Table 35. 



-Frequency of Trading Post visits iy Shonto households, April 1956 

 (maximum possible 23) 



Total number households 100 



Total number of visits to Trading Post * 674 



Mean number of visits 6. 74 



Median number of visits 5. 92 



1 Trading post employee. 



2 Total number of visits registered by households. 822 visits by adult individuals were involved, as shown 

 in table 36. 



Table 35 clearly reveals the wide variation in shopping frequency 

 among Shonto households. Sixty-nine percent of families, however, 

 made between two and nine visits to the store during the month of 

 April 1956. Nine percent came in less frequently or not at all, while 

 22 percent came in more frequently. Insofar as any single modal 

 frequency is indicated, it results from the fact that railroad benefit 

 claimants are required to report to the trading post once a week to 

 sign claim affidavits regardless of how far away they live. The most 

 common number of visits during the 4-week period of April 1956, 

 was thus four (cf. table 36) . 



The information contained in tables 35 and 36 was recorded in an 

 "average" month — busier than midwinter and midsummer, but con- 

 siderably quieter than later spring and fall. Average number of 

 visits to the store would accordingly show considerably lower or 

 higher, as the case may be, during these other seasons (see "The 

 Economic Cycle," pp. 141-145) . The modal frequency of one visit per 

 week is sustained only during the railroad "benefit year" (see "Rail- 

 road Work," pp. 129-133) , which begins in November or December and 

 ends in April or May. 



Table 36, based on the same records as tables 29 and 35, shows the 

 volume of Shonto's clientele by days during April 1956, together with 

 a record of significant events within and aromid the commmiity 

 during the same period. This table reveals some additional distinctive 

 features of the Navaho trade which result largely from the cultural 

 character of the clientele. The volume of trade, although fairly con- 

 stant from week to week, varies enormously from day to day within 

 the week.^^ In April of 1956 the number of daily customers fluctuated 



18 The same condition shows up in the records of cash volume made In 1954 and set 

 forth In table 31. 



