80 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [Bull. 197 



period is over four times higher than tliat implied in the vital rates 

 reported for the last year of the period in question. 



It should be noted that although the area encompassed by the reser- 

 vation was increased by about 150 percent during the years between 

 1877 and 1884, the population figures quoted above purported to refer 

 to the entire Navaho population in each case, so that the reported 

 increase in numbers cannot be attributed to the inclusion of greater 

 numbers of formerly off-reservation Navahos (see map 3, p. 24). 



It must be concluded that during the period just reviewed, the 

 methods of enumeration-by-assembly that had been developed at Fort 

 Sunmer and continued at Fort Defiance became increasingly inade- 

 quate as the Navaho gradually spread out into their former lands. 

 As a result, the reported totals for this period reflect little more than 

 the personal opinion of the reporting agents. 



PERIOD 4. 1886-1909 



The fourth period in the development of the population records 

 of the Navaho Indians is marked by the development of the first 

 Navajo Tribal Roll in 1885, followed by the completion of the first 

 special census conducted by the Bureau of the Census in 1890. The 

 period closes with the inauguration of a more detailed system of 

 population records when the Navajo Reservation was subdivided into 

 several agencies in 1910. 



Wlien one considers the nature of the facilities available at the time, 

 the preparation of the first tribal roll in 1885 must be regarded as a 

 remarkable achievement. (Ay cock, MS.) Equally remarkable, how- 

 ever, are the serious defects apparent in the data as recorded. In 

 the first place, the coverage of the 1885 roll was limited to the 

 Navahos residing within the confines of the reservation. In his re- 

 capitulation of the totals, the recording clerk reported a total of 

 13,003 Navahos on the roll, but added an estimate of 8,000 Navahos 

 residing off the reservation, for an estimated grand total of 21,003. 

 Thus the 1885 roll included only 62 percent of the estimated total 

 Navaho population at this time. 



Secondly, examination of the roll itself reveals a number of curious 

 omissions and arbitrary classifications. Children under 6 years 

 of age were not listed separately, and no married couples under the 

 age of 26 appear on the roll. As a result, the median age of the 

 enrolled population comes to 21.1 years, which is several years older 

 than tlie median ages for Navaho population groups at all later 

 periods.^^ 



3'' The above fijrnres, and those mentioned later in conneclion with the 1885 roll, are 

 derived from a 5-percent sample of the roll in the National Archives as recorded by 

 me. Both the figures quoted and the conclusions reached are supported by a cursory 

 examination of the entire roll. The deficiencies that were revealed in this preliminary 

 examination Indicated that the drawing of a larger sample would not be warranted. 



