42 



KAVAHO 



[b. a. 



al)i-:ent. The result showed that there 

 were somewhat fewer than 9,000, making 

 due allowance for al)sentees. According 

 to the census of 1890, which was taken on 

 a faulty system, the tribe numbered 

 17,204. ' Tlie census of 1900 places the 

 population at more than 20,000, and in 

 1906 they were roughly estimated by the 

 Indian Office to number 28,500. 



According to the best recorded version 

 of their origin legend, the first or' nuclear 

 clan of the Navaho was created by the 

 gods in Arizona or Utah about 500 years 

 ago. Peoi^le had lived on the earth be- 

 fore this, but most of them had V)een de- 

 stroyed by giants or demons. Wlien the 



NAVAHO (mANUELITo) 



myth says that tlie gods created the first 

 pair of this clan, it is equivalent to saying 

 that they knew not whence they came 

 and had no antecedent tradition of them- 

 selves. It is thus with many other Nav- 

 aho clans. The story gives the impres- 

 sion that these Indians wandered into 

 New Mexico and Arizona in small groups, 

 probably in single families. In the course 

 of time other groups joined them until, in 

 the 17th century, they felt strong enough 

 to go to war. Some of the accessions 

 were evidently of Athapascan origin, as 

 is most of the tribe, but others were de- 

 rived from different stocks, including Ke- 

 resan, Shoshonean, Tanoan, Yuman, and 



Aryan; consequently, the Navaho are a 

 very composite people. A notal^le acces- 

 sion was made to their numbers, proba- 

 bly in the 16th century, when the Thkha- 

 paha-dinnay joined them. These were 

 a people of another linguistic stock — 

 Hodge says "doubtless Tanoan" — for 

 they wrought a change in the Navaho lan- 

 guage. A later very numerous accession 

 of several clans came from the Pacific 



NAVAHO WOMAN (jUANITa) 



(■oast; these were Athapascan. Some of 

 the various clans joinecl tlie Navaho will- 

 ingly, others are the descendants of cap- 

 tives. Hodge has shown that this Nav- 

 aho origin legend, omitting a few obvi- 

 ously mythic elements, can be substan- 

 tiated by recorded history, but he places 

 the beginning at less than 500 years. 



The Navaho are classed as belonging to 

 the widespread Athapascan linguistic 



