MINDELEFF] THE TCI’NDI HOGAN A87 
tangular in shape, as also are all of those built of stone masonry in the 
valley regions. 
There is a peculiar custom of the Navaho which should be mentioned, 
as it has had an important influence on the house-building practices of 
the tribe, and has done much to prevent the erection of permanent 
abodes. This is the. idea of the tci/ndi hogan. When a person dies 
within a house the rafters are pulled down over the remains and the 
place is usually set on fire. After thatnothing would inducea Navaho to 
touch a piece of the wood or even approach the immediate vicinity of the 
place; even years afterward such places are recognized and avoided. 
The place and all about it are the especial locale of the tci'ndi, the shade 
or “spirit” of the departed. These shades are not necessarily malevo- 
lent, but they are regarded as inclined to resent any intrusion or the 
taking of any liberties with them or their belongings. If one little stick 
of wood from a tei/ndi hogaén is used about a camp fire, as is sometimes 
done by irreverent whites, not an Indian will approach the fire; and 
not even under the greatest necessity would they partake of the food 
prepared by its aid. 
This custom has had much to do with the temporary character of the 
Navaho houses, for men are born to die, and they must die somewhere. 
There are thousands of these te?/ndi hogans scattered over the reserva- 
tion, not always recognizable as such by whites, but the Navaho is 
unerring in identifying them. He was not inclined to build a fine 
house when he might have to abandon it at any time, although in the 
modern houses alluded to above he has overcome this difficulty in a 
very simple and direct way. When a person is about to die in one of 
the stone or log houses referred to he is carried outside and allowed to 
die in the open air. The house is thus preserved. 
LEGENDARY AND ACTUAL WINTER HOGANS 
The Navaho recognize two distinct classes of hogans—the keqat or 
winter place, and the keji/n, or summer place; in other words, winter 
huts and summer shelters. Notwithstanding the primitive appearance 
of the winter huts, resembling mere mounds of earth hollowed out, 
they are warm and comfortable, and, rude as they seem, their construc- 
tion is a matter of rule, almost of ritual, while the dedicatory cere- 
monies which usually precede regular occupancy are elaborate and 
carefully performed. 
Although no attempt at decoration is ever made, either of the inside 
or the outside of the houses, it is not uncommon to hear the term beau- 
tiful applied to them. Strong forked timbers of the proper length and 
bend, thrust together with their ends properly interlocking to form a 
cone-like frame, stout poles leaned against the apex to form the sides, 
the whole well covered with bark and heaped thickly with earth, form- 
ing a roomy warm interior with a level floor—these are sufficient to 
constitute a “ gogdn nijéni,” house beautiful. To the Navaho the house 
