MINDELEFF] ACCESSIBILITY OF THE CANYON 85 
south movement at the present day, but less so than the arid valleys 
which border them. Except at one place, and that place is difficult, it 
is almost impossible to cross the mountains with a wheeled vehicle, but 
there are innumerable trails running in all directions, and these trails 
are in constant use by the Navaho, except in the depths of winter. 
The mountain route is preferable, however, to the valley roads, where 
the traveler for several days is without wood, with very little water and 
forage, and his movements are impeded by deep sand. 
To the traveler on foot, or even on horseback, Canyon de Chelly is 
easily accessible from almost any direction. Good trails run northward 
to the San Juan and northeastward over the Tunicha mountains to the 
upper part of that river; Fort Defiance is but half a day’s journey to the 
southeast; Tusayan and Zuni are but three days distant to the trav- 
eler on foot; the Navaho often ride the distance in a day or a day and a 
half. The canyon is accessible to wagons, however, only at its mouth. 
The main canyon, shown on the map (plate XL11) as Canyon de Chelly 
and known to the Navaho as Tsé-gi, is about 20 miles long. It heads 
near Washington pass, within a few miles of the crest of the mountain, 
and extends almost due west to the Chin Lee valley. The country 
‘descends by a regular slope from an altitude of about 7,500 feet at the 
foot of the main crest to about 5,200 feet in the Chin Lee valley, 25 
miles west, and is so much eut up locally by ravines and washes that 
it is impassable to wagons, but it preserves throughout its mesa-like 
character. 
About 3 miles from its mouth De Chelly is joined by another canyon 
almost as long, which, heading also in the Tunicha mountains, comes 
in from the northeast. It is over 15 miles long, and is called on the 
map Canyon del Muerto; the Navaho know it as En-a-tsé-gi. About 13 
miles above the mouth of the main canyon a small branch comes in from 
the southeast. It is about 10 miles long, and has been called Monu- 
ment canyon, on account of the number of upright natural pinnacles 
of rock in it. In addition to those named there are innumerable small 
branches, ranging in size from deep coves to real canyons a mile or two 
long. Outside of De Chelly, and independent of it, there is a little 
eanyon about 4 miles long, called Tse-on-i-tso-si by the Navaho. At 
one point near its head it approaches so near to De Chelly that but a 
few feet of rock separate them. 
On the western side of the mountains there are a number of small 
perennial streams fed by springs on the upper slopes. Several of these 
meet in the upper part of De Chelly, others in Del Muerto, and in the 
upper parts of these canyons there is generally water. But, except at 
the time of the autumn and winter rains and in the spring when the 
mountain snows are melting, the streams are not powerful enough to 
carry the water to the mouth of the canyon. The flow is absorbed by 
the deep sand which forms the stream bed. Ordinarily it is difficult to 
procure enough water to drink less than 8 or 10 miles from the mouth 
