MINDELEFF| NAVAHO SOCIAL CUSTOMS 485 
Under the Navaho system descent isin the female line. The chil- 
dren belong to the mother, and likewise practically all property except 
horses and cattle. Sheep and goats belong exclusively to her, and the 
head of the family can not sell a sheep to a passing traveler without 
first obtaining the consent and approval of his wife. Hence in such a 
movement as that sketched above the flocks are looked after by the 
women, while under normal circumstances, when the family has settled 
down and is at home, the care of the flocks devolves almost entirely on 
the little children, so young sometimes that they can just toddle about. 
The waters are usually regarded by the Navaho as the common prop- 
erty of the tribe, but the cultivable lands in the vicinity are held by 
the individuals and families as exclusively their own. Their flocks 
occupy all the surrounding pasture, so that virtually many of the 
springs come to be regarded as the property of the people who plant 
nearest to them. 
In early times, when the organization of the people into clans 
was more clearly defined, a section of territory was parceled out 
and held as a clan ground, and some of the existing clans took their 
names from such localities. Legends are still current among the old 
men of these early days before the introduction of sheep and goats and 
horses by the Spaniards, when the people lived by the chase and on 
wild fruits, grass seeds, and pion nuts, and such supplies as they could 
plunder from their neighbors. Indian corn or maize was apparently 
known from the earliest time, but so long as plunder and the supply of 
game continued sufficient, little effort was made to grow it. Later, 
as the tribe increased and game became scarcer, the cultivation of corn 
increased, but until ten years ago more grain was obtained in trade 
from the Pueblos than was grown in the Navaho country. There are 
now no defined boundaries to the ancient clan lands, but they are still 
recognized in a general way and such a tract is spoken of as “my 
mother’s land.” 
Families cling to certain localities and sections not far apart, and 
when compelled, by reason of failure of springs or too close cropping of 
the grass, to go to other neighborhoods, they do not move to the new 
place as a matter of right, but of courtesy; and the movement is never 
undertaken until satisfactory arrangements have been concluded with 
the families already living there. 
Some of the Pueblo tribes, the Hopi or Moki, for example, have been 
subjected to much the same conditions as the Navaho; but in this 
case similarity of conditions has produced very dissimilar results, that 
is, as regards house structures. The reasons, however, are obvious, 
and lie principally in two distinct causes—antecedent habits and 
personal character. The Navaho are a fine, athletic race of men, living 
a free and independent life. They aie without chiefs, in the ordinary 
meaning of the term, although there are men in the tribe who oceupy 
prominent positions and exercise a kind of scmiauthority—chiets by 
