266 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [BnU. 188 



like. In actual practice few families could survive without a consid- 

 erable amount of such supplementation, whereas many if not most 

 could now survive without native resources of any kind. The overall 

 pattern of adjustment is termed "essential (i.e., necessary) supple- 

 mentation" (see "Summary," pp. 93-94) . 



GOVERNMENT 



Lines of traditional social authority remain strong. There has 

 been no acceptance of formal government in replacement of these, 

 although there is unwilling submission to the authority of govern- 

 ment, both tribal and Federal, in certain areas. The tribal council- 

 man is accepted as its local representative and is listened to but never 

 consulted. 



LAW 



The operation of tribal (i.e., White-modeled) law is not automatic, 

 but must be invoked at the initiative of persons within the commimity, 

 by swearing out a complaint and calling out the police from Tuba 

 City. Tribal law therefore serves to provide an injured party with 

 additional retributive sanctions in case he is unable to secure satisfac- 

 tion through native channels. Any person may elect either to try for 

 redress through the Navaho system or through the courts. The two 

 systems are essentially alternatives. 



EDUCATION 



School education is recognized as necessary for success in contacts 

 with the Wliite man's world, but does not replace native education for 

 life in the Navaho world, which survives both in the preschool years 

 and during summer visits of schoolchildren to their homes. 



MEDICINE 



There is widespread acceptance of the efficiency of both White and 

 Navaho medicine, and little sense of conflict between them. Each 

 has its specific virtues. Wliite medicine has gone farthest toward 

 replacing the native practice where the latter was always and admit- 

 tedly weakest: in treating painful and infectious conditions. There 

 are strong indications that Navaho singers are glad to be relieved of 

 these inevitably dubious cases. On the other hand there is some overt 

 recognition of the psycliiatric value of Navaho medicine, so that the 

 two practices are to a considerable extent complementary. 



There are only two professing Christians at Shonto. Acceptance of 

 Christianity is confined to a few vague beliefs and no practices. The 



