32 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [Bull. 197 



amounts to no more than 220,000 acres, of which about 45,000 acres 

 are actually under cultivation at present. Thus, of the 15 million 

 acres of reservation land, only about 1.5 percent is suitable for agri- 

 culture while about 0.3 percent is actually cultivated (Young, 1955, 

 pp. 99-102) . 



The resultant emphasis by the Navaho upon livestock has had an 

 important impact upon their social organization. In his article on 

 Navaho political organization, Willard W. Hill (1940 b, p. 23) has 

 stressed the importance of the grazing community as a unit both for 

 economic and social functions among the Navaho. Other students of 

 Navaho social organization have recognized the land-use community 

 as the only major indigenous social institution which extends beyond 

 the boundaries of the Navaho family and clan. These land-use com- 

 munities are composed of a group of families who have developed 

 a stable pattern of cooperative land use whereby their flocks and herds 

 can share specified grazing lands in common (Thompson, 1951, pp. 

 35f.;cf.Provinse,1940). 



In their traditional organization, the Navaho appear to have evolved 

 a dual political system. Major economic activities centered around 

 the land-use community and were supervised by the most experienced 

 herdsmen in the group. Raids, on the other hand, were instigated by 

 individuals whose qualifications consisted mainly in ritualistic skill. 

 As a result, the economic welfare of the group could be sustained 

 independently of its raiding activities.^'' This dual organization ap- 

 pears to have given the Navaho an unusual degree of flexibility and 

 enabled them to enjoy a relatively high level of general prosperity 

 despite the harsluiess of their natural environment. 



Although the herding activities of the Navaho force them to move 

 periodically to higher or lower levels of pasturage in the spring and 

 autumn, respectively, the extent of their "nomadism" should not be 

 exaggerated. This seasonal movement, known as "transhumance," 

 should not be confused with true nomadic wandering. Actually, the 

 Navaho practiced considerable agriculture prior to the Fort Sumner 

 period (Phelps-Stokes, 1939, p. 7). Furthermore, the movement of 

 the flocks to new pastures is neither a random wandering nor a true 

 migration, but rather a scheduled movement to a specific locality, 

 sanctioned by established patterns of land use for the given grazing 

 community. As Hill (1938, pp. 33 f.) points out, the only Navaho 

 population shifts which ignored the prescribed patterns of land use 

 were the occasional movements in search of pmon nuts and other 

 fruits, and the frequent journeys to engage in social gatherings. Thus, 



M Hill, 1940 b. For a more detailed analysis of Navaho political organization see 

 Hill, 1938, and Boyce, 1939. An account of Navaho raiding and fighting techniques 

 is given in Hill, 1936, 



