.l' 



THE NAVAJOS IN COXFINEiLEXT. 183 



^''avajos, he assures me that there are at the present time not 

 less than two thousand caiDtivos in the hands of the Mexicans, 

 who profess to hring them up, and to take care of them as 

 memhers of thcii- fiimilies and households. 



As regards the present condition of the Indians on the Bosquo 

 reservation, I cannot do better than give a short quotation 

 from the Ecport of Colonel A. E. Norton (Superintendent of 

 Indian Affairs in Kgw Mexico) for the year 186G :— " At 

 Fort Sumner this tribe has about two thousand five hundred 

 acres of land under cultivation, mostly in Indian corn, with 

 an admirable system of irrigation. The water, however, is 

 very poor in quality, and wood so scarce, that it has to be 

 tauled from twenty-five to thirty miles to the post, while the 

 niezquit root, the only wood used by them for fuel, must soon 

 give out. Add to this that the Comanchcs make constant 



ithin 



r 



and as 



they are very little able to protect themselves, this adds 

 still more to their discontent. Of the state of health and 

 morals of these l^avajos, the hospital reports give a woeful 

 account. The tale is not half told, because they have such 

 an aversion to the hospital that but few of those taken sick 



ever go there, and so they are fast diminishing in 



Will 



mimbcrs ; while the births are many, the deaths are more. 



breast of this brave and light-he; 

 V comes from all as they'think of 



D 



tribe, 



own fiu--off lands, ' Carry me back, carry me back !' " They 

 liave had a severe lesson and a terrible punishment, but when 

 ^ railway traverses the country, they may mth perfect safety 

 ^e allowed to return to their own land, now parched and 

 desolate, but still so yearned for by these unhappy prisoners. 

 ■ Without further investigation I cannot hazard an opinion 

 as to whether the IS'avajos are a branch of the town-builders 



