MINDELEFF] GENESIS. OF THE NAVAHO 489 
imparted to each group of mankind an appropriate architecture—to 
the tribes of the plains, skin lodges; to the Pueblos, stone houses; 
and to the Navaho, huts of wood and earth and summer shelters. 
Curiously enough, nowhere in Navaho tradition is any mention or sug- 
gestion made of the use by them of skin lodges. 
In building the Navaho hogan Qastcéyal¢i was assisted by Qastcéqo- 
gan, the God of Sunset, the complementary nature god of the north and 
west, who is not so uniformly benignant as the former. In the cere- 
monies which follow the erection of a hogan today the structure is 
dedicated to both these deities, but the door is invariably placed to face 
the east, that the house may be directly open to the influences of the 
more kindly disposed Qastcéyalci. 
When a movement of a family has been completed, the first care 
of the qasgiy, or head of the family, is to build a dwelling, for which 
he selects a suitable site and enlists the aid of his neighbors and 
friends. He must be 
careful to select a place 
well removed from hills 
of red ants, as, aside 
from the perpetual dis- 
comfort consequent on 
too close a proximity, 
it is told that in the 
underworld these pests 
troubled First-man 
and the other gods, who 
then dwelt together, 
and caused them to 
disperse. 
A suitable site havy- 
ing been found, search 
is made for trees fit 
to make the five principal timbers which constitute the qogdn tsd¢i, 
or house frame. There is no standard of length, as there is no standard 
of size for the completed dwelling, but commonly pinou trees 8 to 10 
inches in diameter and 10 to 12 feet long are selected. Three of the 
five timbers must terminate in spreading forks, as shown in figure 230, 
but this is not necessary for the other two, which are intended for the 
doorway and are selected for their straightness. 
When suitable trees have been found, and sometimes they are a 
considerable distance from the site selected, they are cut down and 
trimmed, stripped of bark, and roughly dressed. They are then ear- 
ried or dragged to the site of the hogan and there laid on the ground 
with their forked ends together somewhat in the form of a T, extreme 
care being taken to have the butt of one log point to the south, one 
to the west, and one to the north. The two straight timbers are then 
Fic, 230—The three main timbers of a hogan 
