482 NAVAHO HOUSES [ETH. ANN. 17 
highly deve.oped than his honesty. The condition of the tribe, as a 
whole, is not only far removed from hardship, but may even be said to 
be one of comparative affluence. 
Owing to the scarcity of grass over most of the country, and the 
difficulty of procuring a sufficient supply of water, the flocks must be’ 
moved from place to place at quite frequent intervals. This condition 
more than any other has worked against the erection of permanent 
houses. Yet the Navaho are by no means nomads, and the region 
within which a given family moves back and forth is extremely circum- 
scribed. 
In a general way the movements of a family are regulated by the 
condition of the grass and the supply of water. Ina dry season many of 
the small springs cease to flow at an early date in the summer. More- 
over, if a flock is kept too long in one locality, the grass is almost 
destroyed by close cropping, forcing the abandonment of that particu- 
lar place for two or three years. When this occurs, the place will 
recover and the grass become good again if left entirely undisturbed 
for several years. 
The usual practice is to take the flocks up into the mountains or on 
the high plateaus during the summer, quartering them near some 
spring or small stream, and when the snow comes they are moved 
down to the lower foothills or out into the valleys. In the winter both 
shepherds and sheep depend on the snow for their water supply, and 
by this means an immense tract of country, which otherwise would be 
a perfect waste, is utilized. As the snow disappears from the valleys 
the flocks are gradually driven back again into the mountains. 
The heavy fall of snow in the mountains and its slow melti g in 
spring makes that region far more fertile and grassy than the valleys, 
and were it possible to remain there throughout the year doubtless 
many families would do so. As it is, however, the feed is covered too 
deeply for the sheep to reach it, and during several months heavy 
snowdrifts make communication very difficult and at times impossible. 
In a few favored localities—usually small, well-sheltered valleys here 
and there in the mountains—some families may remain throughout the 
winter, but as a rule, at the first approach of the cold season and 
before the first snow flies there is a general exodus to the low-lying 
valleys and the low mesa regions, and the mountains are practically 
abandoned for a time. 
During the rainy season pools and little lakes of water are formed 
all over the flat country, lasting sometimes several weeks. Advantage 
is taken of the opportunity thus afforded and the flocks are driven out 
on the plains and grazed in the vicinity of the water so long as the 
supply holds out, but as this is seldom prolonged more than a few 
weeks it is not surprising that the house erected by the head of the 
family should be of a very temporary nature. In fact the most finished 
house structures of these people must be temporary rather than 
