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Show 178 BASIS OP AMERICAN HISTORY [ 1600 their traditions indicate that they were formerly only poor hunters and lived largely upon the seeds of wild plants and upon such small animals as they trapped. To obtain pasturage for their flocks and bands of horses, they are obliged to live in small groups and lead a rather nomadic life. This has had its effect on their social organization into local groups. The lack of a definite or recognized government and authority was reflected in the difficulties experienced by the United States in its treaty negotiations with the tribe. In a few of the larger canons, where there are small streams and patches of arable land, permanent settlements exist, seldom of more than ten or twelve families; though such places are often the scenes of large gatherings on ceremonial occasions. All cultivated or arable land is held as private property, and while the rest of the country is free to all, the rights of certain families or groups to certain localities seem to be generally recognized. In earlier times the clan organization was more compact, and the country was apportioned among the different clans, of which there were over forty; but most, if not all, of the names given to these clans are merely the designations for certain localities. 1 The habitations' of the Navajo are of two sorts: a simple shelter or brush arbor used during the 1 Matthews, Navaho Legends, 31. * Mindeleff, " Navaho Houses" ( Bureau of Ethnology, Seventeenth Annual Report, II.). |
