Navaho Houses, Part 2 | Page 2

notice, for without some knowledge of the conditions
under which a people live it is difficult, if not impossible, to obtain an
adequate conception of their art products.

The winter hogáns are the real homes of the people, but as the form and
construction of these are dictated by certain rules and a long line of
precedents, supported by a conservatism which is characteristic of
savage life, the summer shelters, which are largely exempt from such
rules, are of considerable interest. Moreover, the effects of modern
conditions and the breaking down of the old ideas should have some
place in a discussion of this kind, if only for the hint afforded as to the
future of the tribe.
The elaborate ceremonies of dedication which in the old days always
followed the construction of a house, and are still practiced, exhibit
almost a new phase of Indian culture. The essentially religious
character of the Indian mind, and his desire to secure for himself and
for his family those benefits which he believes will follow from the
establishment of a perfect understanding with his deities--in other
words, from the rendering of proper homage to benignant deities and
the propitiation of the maleficent ones--are exhibited in these
ceremonies. The sketch of them which is here given, the songs which
form a part of the ceremony, and the native explanations of some of the
features will, it is believed, assist to a better understanding of Indian
character.
Finally, the rather full nomenclature of parts and elements of the house
which forms the last section of this memoir will probably be of service
to those who find in language hints and suggestions, or perhaps direct
evidence, of the various steps taken by a people in the course of their
development. As the writer is not competent to discuss the data from
that point of view, it is presented here in this form for the benefit of
those who are. Some suggestions of the derivation of various terms are
given, but only as suggestions.
Much of the material which is comprised in this report was collected by
the late A. M. Stephen, who lived for many years among the Navaho.
His high standing and universal popularity among these Indians gave
him opportunities for the collection of data of this kind which have
seldom been afforded to others. Some of the notes and sketches of Mr
Victor Mindeleff, whose studies of Pueblo architecture are well known,

have been utilized in this report. The author is indebted to Dr
Washington Matthews, the well-known authority on the Navaho
Indians, for revising the spelling of native terms occurring throughout
the text.
In the present paper two spellings of the Navaho word for hut are used.
The proper form is qo[.g]án, but in and around the Navaho country it
has become an adopted English word under the corrupt form hogán.
Thus nearly all the whites in that region pronounce and spell it, and
many of the Indians, to be easily understood by whites, are
pronouncing it lately in the corrupted form. Therefore, wherever the
term is employed as an adopted English word, the form hogán is given,
but where it is used as part of a Navaho phrase or compound word the
strictly correct form qo[.g]án is preserved.
An inverted comma (') following a vowel shows that the vowel is
aspirated.
An inverted comma following l shows that the l' is aspirated in a
peculiar manner--more with the side than with the tip of the tongue.
[ng] represents the nasalized form of n.
[.g] represents the Arabic ghain.
In other respects the alphabet of the Bureau is followed.
DESCRIPTION OF THE COUNTRY
The Navaho reservation comprises an extensive area in the extreme
northeastern part of Arizona and the northwestern corner of New
Mexico (plate LXXXII). The total area is over 11,000 square miles, of
which about 650 square miles are in New Mexico; but it would be
difficult to find a region of equal size and with an equal population
where so large a proportion of the land is so nearly worthless. This
condition has had an important effect on the people and their arts, and
especially on their houses.

The region may be roughly characterized as a vast sandy plain, arid in
the extreme; or rather as two such plains, separated by a chain of
mountains running northwest and southeast. In the southern part of the
reservation this mountain range is known as the Choiskai mountains,
and here the top is flat and mesa-like in character, dotted with little
lakes and covered with giant pines, which in the summer give it a
park-like aspect. The general elevation of this plateau is a little less
than 9,000 feet above the sea and about 3,000 feet above the valleys or
plains east and west of