MINDELEFF] CANYON CHELLY 483 
permanent so long as the conditions sketched above prevail; in other 
words, so long as they depend principally on their sheep. 
Another result of these conditions is that each family lives by itself 
and, as it were, on its own ground. Large communities are impossible, 
and while there are instances where eight or ten families occupy some 
place of exceptionally favorable location, these are rare. In fact to see 
even three or four hogdns together is remarkable. There are perhaps 
more hogdns in Canyon Chelly than in any other one locality, but 
the people who live here are regarded by the other Navaho as poor, 
because they own but few sheep and horses and depend principally on 
horticulture for their subsistence. Incidentally it may be stated that 
horses are well esteemed by the Navaho as an article of food, and that 
the large herds which some of them own are not so wholly useless as 
they appear to the casual traveler. 
Canyon Chelly, which the Navaho call Tségi, contains several small 
streams and numerous patches of arable land on the bottoms. The 
conditions here are exceptionally favorable for horticulture; indeed, 
the numerous remains of cliff dwellings which are found in the canyon 
would show this if other evidence were lacking. It has long been 
famous among the Navaho as the horticultural center of the tribe, and 
for its peach crops, derived from thousands of trees planted in sheltered 
nooks. In the summer scattered members of the various families or 
clans gather there by hundreds from every part of the reservation to 
feast together for a week or two on green corn, melons, and peaches. 
As arule, however, each hogén stands by itself, and it is usually hid- 
den away so effectually that the traveler who is not familiar with the 
customs of the people might journey for days and not see half a dozen 
of them. The spot chosen for a dwelling place is either some shel- 
tered nook in a mesa or a southward slope on the edge of a pinon grove 
near a good fuel supply and not too far from water. A house is very 
seldom built close to a spring—perhaps a survival of the habit which 
prevailed when the people were a hunting tribe and kept away from 
the water holes in order not to disturb the game which frequented 
them. 
So prevalent is this custom of placing the houses in out-of-the-way 
places that the casual traveler receives the impression that the region 
over which he has passed is practically uninhabited. He may, perhaps, 
meet half a dozen Indians in a day, or he may meet none, and at sun- 
set when he camps he will probably hear the bark of a dog in the 
distance, or he may notice on the mountain side a pillar of smoke like 
that arising from his own camp fire. This is all that he will see to 
indicate the existence of other life than his own, yet the tribe numbers 
over 12,000 souls, and it is probable that there was no time during the 
day when there were not several pairs of eyes looking at him, and were 
he to fire his gun the report would probably be heard by several hun- 
dred persons. Probably this custom of half-concealed habitations is a 
