44 



KAVAHO 



[b. a. fi. 



clans, 51 clan names having been recorded, 

 but the number of existing clans may be' 

 somewhat more or less. Two of these are 

 said to be extinct, and others nearly so. 

 The clans are grouped in phratries. 

 Some authorities give 8 of these, others 

 11, with 3 independent elans; but the 

 phratry does not seem to l)e a well-defined 

 group among the Navalio. Descent is in 

 the female line; a man belongs to the 

 clan (if his mother, and wlien he marries 

 must take a woman of some other clan. 

 The social position of the women is high 

 and their influence great. They often 

 possess much property in their own right, 

 which marriage does not alienate from 

 them. The clans, so far as known, are as 

 follows: 



Aatsosni, Narrow gorge; Ashihi, Salt; 

 Bithani, Folded arms; Dsihlnaothihlni, 

 Encircled mountain; Dsihlthani, Brow of 

 the mountain; Dsihltlani, Base of the 

 mountain; Kai, ^Vil!ows; Kanani, Living 

 arrows; Khaltso, Yellow bodies; Khash- 

 hlizhni. Mud; Khaskankhatso, Much 

 yucca; Khoghanhlani, INlany huts; Khon- 

 agani, Place of walking; Kinaani, High 

 standing house; Kinhlitshi, Red house 

 (of stone); Klogi, Name of an old pue- 

 blo; Loka, Reeds (phragmites); Mai- 

 theshkizh. Coyote pass.( Jemez); Maitho, 

 Coyote spring; Naai, Monocline; Nakai, 

 White stranger (Mexican); Nakhopani, 

 Brown streak, horizontal on tlie ground; 

 Nanashthezhin, Black liorizontal stripe 

 aliens (Zuiii); Notha, I'te; Pinbitho, Deer 

 spring; Theshtshini, Red streak; Thild- 

 zhehi; Thkhaneza, Among the scattered 

 (hills); Thkhapaha, Among the waters; 

 Thkhatshini, Among the Red (waters or 

 banks); Thobazhnaazh, Two come for 

 water; Thochalsithaya, Water under the 

 sitting frog; Thoditshini, Bitter water; 

 Thokhani, Beside the water; Thodho- 

 kongzhi, Saline wat-r; Thotsoni, Great 

 water; Thovetlini, Junction of the rivers; 

 Tlastshini, 'Red flat; Tlizihlani, jNIany 

 goats; Tsayiskithni, Sagebrush hill; 

 Tsezhinkini, House of the black cliffs; 

 Tsenahapihlni, Overhanging rocks; Tse- 

 theshkizhni. Rocky pass; Tsethkhani, 

 Among the rocks; Tsetlani, Bend in a 

 canyon; Tseyanathoni, Horizontal water 

 mider cliffs; Tseyikehe, Rucks standing 

 near one another; Tsezhinthiai, Trap 

 dyke; Tsinazhini, Black horizontal forest; 

 Tsinsakathni, Lone tree; Yoo, Beads. 



The ordinary Navaho dwelling, or 

 hogav, is a very simple structure, altliough 

 erected Avith much ceremony (see Min- 

 deleff in 17th Rep. B. A. E., 1898). It is 

 usually conical in form, built of sticks set 

 on end, covered with branches, grass, 

 and earth, and often so low that a man 

 of ordinary stature can not stand erect in 

 it. One nuist stoop to enter the doorway, 

 which is usually provided with a short 



passage or stoi-m door. There is no chim- 

 ney; a hole in the apex lets out the 

 smoke. Some hogans are rude polygo- 

 nal structures of logs laid horizontally; 

 others are partl)^ of stone. In summer, 

 "lean-to" sheds and small inclosures of 

 branches are often used for habitations. 

 Sweat houses are small, conical hogans 

 without the hole in the apex, for fires are 

 not lighted in them; tem])erature is in- 

 creased by means of stones heated in fires- 

 outside. Medicine lodges, when built in 

 localities where trees of sufficient size 

 grow, are conical structures like the ordi- 

 nary hogans, but much larger. When 

 buiit in regions of low-sized trees, they 

 have flat roofs. Of late, substantial stone 

 structures with doois, windows, and 

 chinineys are replacing the rude hogans. 

 One reason tliey built such houses was 

 that custom and superstition constrained 

 them to destroy or desert a house in 

 which death had occurred. Such a place 

 was called chnidi-hogan, meaning 'devil- 

 house'. Tiiose who now occupy good 

 stone houses carry out the dying and let 

 them expire outside, thus saving their 

 dwellings, and indeed the same custom is 

 sometimes practised in connection with 

 the hogan. No people have greater dread 

 of ghosts and mortuary remains. 



The most important art of the Navaho 

 is that of weaving. They are especially 

 celel)rated for their blankets, which are 

 in high demand among the white people 

 on account of their beauty and utility; 

 but they also weave belts, garters, and 

 saddle girths — all with rude, simple looms. 

 Their legends declare that in the early 

 days they knew not the art of weaving 

 by means of a loom. The use of the 

 loom was ])ro])ably taught to them by 

 the Puel)lo women who were incorpo- 

 rated into the tri])e. They dressed in 

 skins and rude mats constructed by hand, . 

 of cedar bark and other vegetal fibers. 

 The few basket makers among them 

 are said to be Ute or Paiute girls or their 

 descendants, and these do not do much 

 work. What they make, tliough of ex- 

 cellent quality, is confined almost exclu- 

 sively to two forms recpiired forceremonial 

 purposes. The Navaho make very little 

 pottery, and this of a very ordinary vari- 

 ety, being designed merely for cooking 

 purposes; but formerly they made a fine 

 red ware decorated in black with charac- 

 teristic designs. They grind corn and 

 other grains by hand on the nietate. For 

 ceremonial jiurposes they still bake food in 

 the ground and in other aboriginal ways. 

 For many years they have had among 

 them silversmiths who fabricate hand- 

 some ornaments with very rude aj)pli- 

 ances, and who undoubtedly learned their 

 art from the ^Mexicans, adapting it to their 

 own environment. Of late years many 



