Navaho Houses, Part 2 | Page 6

tribe, as a
whole, is not only far removed from hardship, but may even be said to
be one of comparative affluence.
Owing to the scarcity of grass over most of the country, and the
difficulty of procuring a sufficient supply of water, the flocks must be
moved from place to place at quite frequent intervals. This condition
more than any other has worked against the erection of permanent
houses. Yet the Navaho are by no means nomads, and the region within
which a given family moves back and forth is extremely circumscribed.
In a general way the movements of a family are regulated by the
condition of the grass and the supply of water. In a dry season many of
the small springs cease to flow at an early date in the summer.
Moreover, if a flock is kept too long in one locality, the grass is almost
destroyed by close cropping, forcing the abandonment of that particular
place for two or three years. When this occurs, the place will recover
and the grass become good again if left entirely undisturbed for several
years.
The usual practice is to take the flocks up into the mountains or on the
high plateaus during the summer, quartering them near some spring or
small stream, and when the snow comes they are moved down to the
lower foothills or out into the valleys. In the winter both shepherds and
sheep depend on the snow for their water supply, and by this means an
immense tract of country, which otherwise would be a perfect waste, is

utilized. As the snow disappears from the valleys the flocks are
gradually driven back again into the mountains.
The heavy fall of snow in the mountains and its slow melting in spring
makes that region far more fertile and grassy than the valleys, and were
it possible to remain there throughout the year doubtless many families
would do so. As it is, however, the feed is covered too deeply for the
sheep to reach it, and during several months heavy snowdrifts make
communication very difficult and at times impossible. In a few favored
localities--usually small, well-sheltered valleys here and there in the
mountains--some families may remain throughout the winter, but as a
rule, at the first approach of the cold season and before the first snow
flies there is a general exodus to the low-lying valleys and the low
mesa regions, and the mountains are practically abandoned for a time.
During the rainy season pools and little lakes of water are formed all
over the flat country, lasting sometimes several weeks. Advantage is
taken of the opportunity thus afforded and the flocks are driven out on
the plains and grazed in the vicinity of the water so long as the supply
holds out, but as this is seldom prolonged more than a few weeks it is
not surprising that the house erected by the head of the family should
be of a very temporary nature. In fact the most finished house structures
of these people must be temporary rather than permanent so long as the
conditions sketched above prevail; in other words, so long as they
depend principally on their sheep.
Another result of these conditions is that each family lives by itself and,
as it were, on its own ground. Large communities are impossible, and
while there are instances where eight or ten families occupy some place
of exceptionally favorable location, these are rare. In fact to see even
three or four hogáns together is remarkable. There are perhaps more
hogáns in Canyon Chelly than in any other one locality, but the people
who live here are regarded by the other Navaho as poor, because they
own but few sheep and horses and depend principally on horticulture
for their subsistence. Incidentally it may be stated that horses are well
esteemed by the Navaho as an article of food, and that the large herds
which some of them own are not so wholly useless as they appear to

the casual traveler.
Canyon Chelly, which the Navaho call Tségi, contains several small
streams and numerous patches of arable land on the bottoms. The
conditions here are exceptionally favorable for horticulture; indeed, the
numerous remains of cliff dwellings which are found in the canyon
would show this if other evidence were lacking. It has long been
famous among the Navaho as the horticultural center of the tribe, and
for its peach crops, derived from thousands of trees planted in sheltered
nooks. In the summer scattered members of the various families or
clans gather there by hundreds from every part of the reservation to
feast together for a week or two on green corn, melons, and peaches.
As a rule, however, each hogán stands by itself, and it is usually hidden
away