The Gentile System of the Navajo Indians

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THE GENTILE SYSTEM
OF
THE NAVAJO INDIANS
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WASHINGTON 􀀗􁝁ATTHEWS, M. D., LL. D.
BY
l\fAJOR AND SUlGEON, UNITED STATES A.R.?.tY
DELlVE:RED AS A LECTURE lEFORE THE A.N'l'HROPOLOGICAL
SocntTV, w ASHlNGTON, D. C.
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;.;,!􀀆􀙴t􀀇􀝲rf" THE JOURNAL OF
AMERICAN FOLK-LORE.
VoL. III. -APRIL-JUNE, 1890. -No. IX.
THE GENTILE SYSTEM OF THE NAVAJO INDIANS.
r. IN the most extensive and, to my mind, the mbst reliable ver­sion
which I have recorded of the great creation and migration
myth of the Navajbs, mo're than two thirds of the story is told before
the first menti:011 of an existing gens is made. Men (or anthropo­pathic
animals and anthropomorphic gods,. as they may better he
considered) had ascended through four lo\ver ,vorlds to this world ;
they had passed through many dire vicissitudes; they had increased
and warred and ,vandered ; they had been almost exterminated by
evil powers; the sacred brothers - the Navajo w a r -gods -had been
born, had grow11 to 1nanhood, a11d had in turn slain the evil termen-
. t0rs 0.f their race, before the ancestors 0f the nuclear gens of the
Navajos were created.
2. That portion of the legend which gives an account of the origin
an<l accessi0J1 of each gens, and the origin of its name, fills fifty
closely written f0lio manuseript pages. To repeat it in its entirety
would make this paper too long, and weuld convey much in-formation
that is foreign to the matter no,v under consideration ; therefore it
is thought best to give only an abridgment of the story in this eon­nection,
reserving the un,abridged tale for future publicati.Qn.
3. When the goddess Estsanatlehi wenti at the bidding df the
sun, to live in the v.restern ocean, and the divine brothers, the war­gods,
went, to Thoyetli ii1 the San Juan valley to d,vell, Yolkai
Estsah, the White Shell Woman, went alone int0 the San Jqan
mbuntains, and there she wandered ar,ound sadly for four days and
four nights, constantly mourning her lonely condition, and thinking
110,v people might be created to ]{eep her con1pany. On the morn­ing
of the fifth day the god QastecyaJ.<;􀃋􌬠 came to see her, and having
heard l1er plaint, promised to retur.n in four days more. When h e
came back he brought \.vith hitn several other gods, ,vhose long
names need not be mentioned here,, and all the-se powers, with their
combined eforts, and 1:>y mean$ 0£ many cetemonies, created a hu.
90 J'our:1tal o/ Amerzcan􀀛􁭆Folk-Lor:e.
man pair out of tv,o ears of corn, -.a yellow ear .for the female and
a \'lhite ear for the male. The wind-god gave to tb!ese the breath of
life ; the god of the white rock crystal gave them their minds; and
the godcless of the grasshoppers gave them their voices. This pair, . ·
being regarded as brother and sister􀃦􎘠 could not marry one another ;
but a divine pair was found tb intermarry with thetn, and from these
are descended the gens .of Tse'jinklni, \vhich signifies Dark Clif
House, or Hous@ of the Dark Clifs. They are s o called because
the gods brought from the houses in the clifs of Tse'gihi the ears
of corn of which the first pair was made. [In the language of the
legend, "Seven times old age has killed " since this pair was created.
This Navajo expression would be rendered by interpreters, "Seven
ages of old men." Some Indians have told me that this "age of an
old man " is a definite cycle of 102 years, -the nu1nber of counters
used in the game of kesitce. Others have said that it is "tbreescore
years ·and ten," which they say is the ordinary life cif an old man,
while others declare that it is an indefinite period marked by the
death of some very old man. If this Indian estimate ,vere accepted,
it would give for the e.xiste11ce of the nuclear gens of the present
con1posite Navajo nation a period of from 500 to 700 years.]
4. At the lodge of Yolkai Estsan, in the San Juan mountains, these
two couples remained for four years, and. here· a boy and a girl was
born to each. From the mountains they removed to a plac.e called
Tse'1akaiia, or White Standing Rock, and here they had lived for
thirteen years when the following incident occurred : One night
from their hut they saw the gleam of a distant fire, and tbe next day
went to look for it, but sought in vain. The next night they once
more saw the gleam, and the n:ext day looked again vainly for signs
of the fire. On the third night they stuck a forked stick in the
• ground, and took sight on the fire, and the next day, looking over
the forked stick, they were guided to a small grove on the side of a
distant mountain ; to this they at once repaired, but found no sign
of the presence of man, and no remains of a fire. They were about
to give up the search, when the wind-god whispered to them that
they had beeri deeeived, that the .fire tl1ey had seen shone through
the mountain, and he bade them search on the other side. So they
crossed the mountain, and there in a bend or turn in a canon they
found a group of twelve persons of various ages. The joy of both
parties was great at thus finding beings like themselves in tbe wil­derness,
and tney en1braced one another in joy. The strangers said
that they had lived in tnat canon only a few days, and that they had_
come thither from a distant and miserable land ,vhere they had lived
on ducks and snakes. They were given the name oJ Tse'tlani, which
signifies Turn-in-a-G:afion People, from the place in which they were
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T'he G,entz'lt Sy.st-em of the Na,va;:a Ind£an'S. 91
found. As they dicl not claim for themselves a speeial creation, they
)l'Jere supposed to have escaped the fury 0f the destroyers (a11aye) by
virtue of some divine quality. Hence they ,vere called ¢ine ¢iglni,
holy or sacred people, as "vere other gentes who joined afterwards.
5. From the place where they m.et, this combined peop>le moved to
<;:o'¢okonji, or Bitter Water, where they remained only a fe,v days.
Then they went to Tca'olgaqasdji, where they lived long and culti􀃻􏬠
vated Gorn. vVhen tbey,had been here feurteen years, another small
group of people came into their neighborhood: these were also con­sidered
¢ine ¢iglni, as they had escaped from the alien gods. They
said they came fro1n the mountain of Dsilna0c;H, and they were there­
fore given the nan1e of Dsiloao<;Hni, or Dsilnao<;H¢ine. They did
not camp at first with •the older gentes ; they dwelt a little distance
from the latter, and often .sent to them to borrow pots and metates ;
but tl1ey finally came and lived beside the older- gentes, and have
ever since been close friends with them (i. e.., became me.n1bers of
the same phratry). The new arrivals dug in the old pueblo ruins
and found .pots and stone axes ; ,vith the aid of the latter they built
themselves houses.
6. At the end of seven years from the accession of the third gens,
another party arrived. This people said they had been follo,ving the
Dsilna:o􀃼􏱩ilni all over the land for many y􀃽􏵡ars. Sometimes they
would discover the dea.d bushes that ren1ained from their old camps;
sometimes they-would find the bushes still partly gretn ; occasionally •
they would find old and nearly defaced footprints; but again they
would lose all traGes of them. Now they rejoiced that they had at
last found those "vhom they had so long and ,vearily pursued. The
new0comers ,vere observed to have arrow:-cases (unlike tqe modern
Indian quivers) similar to those carried by the Dsilnao􀃾􏹦flni; for this
reason they ,vere regarded as related to the latter, and therefore
these two gentes became very close friends (i.e., formed one phratry).
The strangers said they can1e fr.om a land where there ,vas much
yueca, and whie.h they called for this reason Qackanqatso. They said
they -..vere the Qacka.n¢ine er Yucca People; but the older geotes
called them from their fottner home, Qacka.n
€Jat$o, 0r Qacka.nqatso­¢
ine.
7. Four.teen years after the advent of the fourth or Yucca gens,
all these Indians (let us now call them Na;vajos) moved to the neigh­borht>od
of Kintyeli, a ruin in the Chaco Canon, which was even
then in ruins. They were no,v a good-size<;!, party, and their scattered
can,pfires at night wer.e so numerous that some strangers cilwelling
on a far-distant mountain, observing the lights, can1e down to see to
-.vhon1 all the'Se fires c0uld belong. These strangers eamped with
the Qackanqatsib and Dsilna<:>,«;ilni. They came from a place south
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of where is now Zuni, n􀃧􎝡ar the salt.lake called Naqo:pa', whieh means
a horizontal hr6wn streak on the grbund, and for this reason they
were called Naqopa'-¢ine or Naqopani.
8. After this occurrence the Nav21,jos · moved to a place on the
banks ef the San Juan called Tsin<;obetlo, or Tree Sweepjng the
, Water (probably a birch). It was now autumn, and aoncluding to
ren1ain here all ,vinter or longer, they built warn1 qo.gans (huts) -and
cleared land to be planted with corn in the spring. Six years after
they had settled in the San Juan, a sixth ban.d came from a place
ca1led Tsinajfni or Black HDrizontal Forest, and it bore this nan1e
in the tribe ever after. The myth states with much particularity
the social condition· of the Navajos at this time. It says. they had
as yet no herds; th.ey made their clothes n1ostly· of cedar-bark and
other vegetabJe fibres, and built stone store-houses among the clifs.
9. Eight years after the Tsinajfni joined the tribe, son1e stra11ge
campfires were observed on a distant eminence on the north side of
the river, and couriers being sent out returned with the news that
the fires belonged to a strange people camped at a place called
<;qa'-nesa'. These joined the Navajos as a new gens, and ,vere
called <;qa'nesa'ni, from the place where they were found in camp.
10. Another band, making now eight in all, joined the tribe -five
years later, while it still sojourned in the neighborhood of Tsin90-
betlo. These people ca1ne, they said, from a place called Dsiltla', or
Base of Mountain, where an. ari.-:oyo runs out from the mountain into
the plain, and they were therefore called Dsiltla'ni. As they were
seen to have similar head-dresses, bo,vs, arrows, and arrow-cases to
those of the yqa'nesa'ni, they were considered ki11dred .of the latter,
with whom they are now closely related and cannot intern1arry.
They intr<?duced the art of making wicker bottle.s and pottery.
11. Five years later they had a very in1portant accession to their
ranks in a . numerous tribe from <;:'qa'paha-qalkai (White Valley an1ong
the Waters), near the present city of Santa Fe. These bad long
vie,ved in the western distance the n1ountains where the Navajos
dwelt! and wbndered if any one liv€d there. After a time they de­cided
to go to the mountains. They journeyed westward twelve
days .until they reached the mountains,. and they spent eighteen
days travelling among then1 before tl1ey encountered the Nay,ajos.
When they met the latter people,, they could discover no evidence of
relationship with them, especially in language; so for twelve years
the two tribes dwelt apart, but always on friendly terms. In the
mean time, ho\vever, intermarriages b-ad taken place, and the feelings
of friendship grew until at length the <;qa'paha'-¢ine were ado.pted
by the Navajos as a ne\v gens .
12. 1'he <;qa'paha settled, near the re·st of the tribe, at a point in
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The Gent-£le System of tke Navajo I1zdzans. 93
the San Juan valley named Hylec;in (Trails Leading Upwards). Up
to this time all the old gentes spoke one common tongue, th􀃹􏤠 old
Navajo; but the speech of the <;qa'paha was different. In order to
reconcile the diferences, the chief of the Tsinaj fni and the chief of
the <;qa'paha, wh0se name ,vas Gontso, or Big Knee, met night after
night for niany years to talk about the two lapguages, and t0 pick
out the ,vords of each \vhicl1 were the best. But the words of the
<;qa'paha were usually the plainest and best, so the prese11t Navajo
language resembles more the old <;qa'paha than the old Navajo. [It
is \Vell to relate that th.is compliment t0 the <;qa'paha tongue WcJ.S
uttered by one who was himself of this gens.] ·
13. Some years after th·e rem.o,ra! to Hyle􀃺􏩩in, a party of Utes
visited the Navajos, and stayed all summer. In the autumn all de­parted,
except one family, which remained behind witl1 the <;qa'paha.
At first they intended to stay but a short while, but they lingered
along year after year, and ended by never going away. In this Ute
family there was a girl named Tsa'yisk{¢, or Sage-brush Hill, ,vho
married a Navajo and became the mother of a large family. Her de­scendants
are now the gens of Tsa'yiski¢ni, who are closely allied
to the <;qa'paha (in the same phratry), and cannot intermarry with
the latter.
14. Not long subsequent to the visit of the Utes, the Navajos
,vere joine.d by more people; as these came from <;:qa'paha-qalkai,
alld spoke the same language as those who first came from that place,
they were not formed into a separate gens, but were adopted into
the <;qa'paha¢ine.
r 5. About this time, or a little later, a large band of Apacl1es
came from the sbuth to the settlement on the San Juan. "We­come
not to visit you, but to join you," they said. "We have left
the Apaches forever." They were all tne1ubers of one gens among
the Apaches, that of Tsejin,eiai, or Black Standin·g Rocks (i. e., a
trap ·dyke), under which name the Navajos adopted them as a gens.
They are now affiliated with the <;qa '􀃻􏭡aha, ,vith "vhon1 they cann0t
intermarry. An.other (small) party of Apaches came later from tl1e
same pJace as the last, and were added to the same gens.
16. In those days, there being famine in Zuni, some persons, in­cluding
,vomen, came over from that pueblp t0 the valley of the San
Juan to dwell with the Navajos. They came first to the yqa'paha,
and were adopted directly into this gens. The gens of Zuni (Nanac­<;
eji0) was formed later.
17. About the same time that the fami,ne occurred at Zufii, it
prevailed also at Klogi, an old pueblo no,v in ruins, some,vhere in
Rio Grande valley, not far from the pres.ent pueblo of Jemez. Fugi.
tives from this place formed the gens of Klogi, which afiliated with
<;qa'paha.
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94 Journal of 7.1-meritan Folk-Lore.
18. The next accession was a faqiily of seven adults from a place
called <to'qani, or Near the Water; under this name, as a gens, its
me1nbers afili--ated·,vith Dsiltla'ni, tlie people among whom they first
came to dwell.
19. T'b'.e peop\e who next joined the Navajos came fr0m some
place west of th·e San Juan settlement. They ,vere not a newly
created people; they had escaped in some way from the alien gods,
, a'nd were· therefore regarded as ¢ine ¢iglni. They represented two
diferent gentes, yqa'tcini and Kai-¢ine, or, Willow-people, and for a
while they f0rmed two gentes i n the tribe; 'but i n these days all
traces of this division has 'been lost, and they are all now called
without distinction <;qa'tcini or I<:ai.
20. Previous to this time the Navajos had been a peaceable tribe;
but n0w they found the1nselves becoming a nun1erous people, ahd
son1e b·egan to talk of war. Of late years they had heard n1uch of
the great pueblos along th·e Rio Grande i but how their people bad
saved themselves from the anaye, or alien gods, ,vas not known. A
rnan name.cl Napail-in9a got up a war party and made a raid on a
pueblo named Kinlitcl, or Red House, and returned with so1ne cap­tive
won1en, ·frnm whom the gens of Kinlitc1 or I{inlitclni, is d e ­scended.
21. Next came a band of Apaches fr@m the south, representing
t\.VQ gentes, lest<e:111-i (Red Streak) and Tlastclni (Red Flat Ground).
These were adopted as tvvo separate gentes by the Navajos, and be­came
afiliated vvith the Tsinaj{ni (i.e., entered the same phrat.ry).
22. Not long after the arrival of these Apache bands, some Utes
cam·e into the neighborhood of the Navajos, ·campin·g at a place
called Tse'<;-l 'yikani (a ridge or promontory projecting into the river),
not far fr,om Hylei;in. They had g0od arms of all kinds and two
· varieties of shields, one ,vith a crescentic i􀄙􁥤dentation at the top.
T·hey lived for a while by themselves, and were at first inclined to
be unruly and impertinent ; but in the course of time they merged
into the Navajo.s,forming the gens of Noc;a or No<;a¢ine (Ute people).
23. About the time they were incorporated by the Navajos, o r
s0on after, a patty of these Utes made a caid on the Mexican settle­ments
somewhere i n the neighborlYood of Socorro, and captured a
Spanish woman. ghe was their slav.e; but her descendants became
free amon°g the Navaj0s, and formed the Nakai-.eine (.People of the
\Vhi-te St1·anger), or Mexican gens, who are afi.l.iated with the N oi;a­¢
ine.
24. At the period of Navajo history ,vhich we have now reaehed
[evidently after the advent of the Spaniards], Big Knee, the chief 0f
the yga'paha, was still alive, but he was a very old and feeble n1an.
In those clays they had a healing dance called natci¢, whiGh lasted
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The Gentile System of the Navajo Indict1is. 95
aU winter; but it has long ago fallen into disuse,, and its rites are
for:gotten. During one eventful winter., this dance was held for the
benefit ·of Big l(nee ·at the sacred p)ace called yo'yetli, in the San
Juan valley. One night, as the dance was in progress, ·some strangers
joined them, coming from the direction of the river. Adopted by
the Navajos, they formed the gens of <;o'yetllni, and became, afiliated
with the ,gentes of No􀃘􍡡a¢ine and Nal{a1¢ine.
25. On. another occasion, .during the same winter, som·e Apaches
came from their country to witness the dance of natci¢. · Among the
wome.n of the <;qa'pa.ha was a: wanton who became attached to a
young Apache, and secretly absconded with him when he left. For
a long tin􀃙􍥥e her people did not know what had become of her; but
after many years, learning ,vhere she was, some of them went down
into the Apache country to induce her. to return. She came back,
bringing with her two daughters, who had unljsually fair skins, and
were n1uch admired. They became the mothers of a new gens,
named Qa:ltso, or Yellow Bodies.1
26. On another night of the same \vinter, ,vhile the dance for Big
Knee was in progress, two strange men entered the Navajo camp.
They announced themselves as the advanced couriers of a multitude
of wanderers \vho had left the shores of the great "vaters in the
west to join the Navajos. And now we shall l1ear the story 0f the
people who came from the "vestern sea.
27. As before related (paragraph 3) Estsanatlehi, the goddess of
the west (who was created in the Navajo land and became the "vife
·of the sun), went at the bidding of the sun to dwell in tbe western
ocean. After she had lived there some time on a floating home i n
the sea, she longed for the society of man, and -determined to make
something of the human kind to keep her company. From epidermis
scratched from her left side, under tl1e arm, she made four persons
(two men and two won1en), who be. came the progenitors of the gens
of Qonaga.'ni ; fron1 the epidermis of her right side, under the arm,
she made four persons, from whom oame the gens of I{inaa•ni. In
like manner, from her left breast she made the four ancestors of the
geris of <;:o'􀃚􍩩itc1ni; from the right breast tlre ancestors of Bi􀃛􍭡a'ni;
from the middle of her chest the ancestors of Qaekl{jni, and fr0m
the middle of her back, between the shoulders, the ancestors of
Bi<}ani.i These groups did not at first bear the names by which they
are now known. They were always recognized as distinct from @ne
another, but they received their names later, as will be told.
28. After a while she transferred them from her floating house on
the ocean to the adjacent co:i.st of the 1;I1ainland, and here they lived
1 Some explain this name as m􀀾􃹡a,ning Yellow Valley, and give it a local origin.
2 This gens is not mentioned again in the myth.
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thirty-four years and had many children. At the end of th􀃆􌙴t time
certain mythic perso11ages, called the twelve brothers, visited them,
and t1:1ld them that there was a numerous and prosperous nation like
themselves d,velling far to the east. "We do not vi􀃇􌝩it them," said
the t,velve brothers, "but we stand on the mountains and view them
frem afar." This news produced a great C'omn1otion among the
western people; they discussed the matter for many days, a:nd finally
determined to travel eastward till they found the race that was like
themselves.
29. Before they went, Estsanatlehi called them to council and said,
"It is a ,very long and danger0us journey that you are about to un­dertake,
and it is ,¥ell you should be protected on the way. I will
give you five of my pets for guardians;" so she gave then1 a bear,
a great serpent, a deer, a puma, and a porc;upine. She gave them,
too, five mystic wands : to those who became Qonaga'ni she gave a
wand of turqu·oise; to those who became Kinaa'ni, a wand of white
shell ; to tl1ose ,vho became <;o'ititcini, a wand of red shell ; t9 those
,vho became Bi􀃈􌡡a'ni, a wand of black stone; and to those who be­Game
Qacl{jni, a wand of red stone. Four days after this council
with Ests.anatlehi they set out on their journey.
30. Between the twelfth and sixteenth days of their eastward
march they went four days without water, and great were the sufer­ings
of the children. At the neon halt on the fourth day the bearer
of the turquoise wand stuck his wand in the sand, worked it from
side to side in the hole he made., and soon a stream of water rushed
up through the hole. A woman of a diferent gens to that of the
turquoise wand-bearer stooped down, tasted the ,vater, and exclai1ned,
"It is bitter water." At t>nce the people nan1ed her <;o'¢itcini, or
"Bitter Water," and her gens has borne the same name ever since.
3 r. They made but a short stay at the Bitter Water - long enough
to prepare and eat a meal - and then ,hurried on, in order that they
might reach) before night fell, a mountain they saw in the eastern
distance. When they came to the mountain they found at its base
a, spring around which some Indians ,vere living. The people of
the spring, who greeted the wanderers pleasantly, and n1ade them
welcome, said tl1at they had been created at the spring, and had al­ways
dwelt there; that the place was called Mai􀃈􌡯o' or Coyote Spring,
and that they were the Maitine or Coyote People. The wanderers
stayed four days at the spring, during which time they used every
persuasion to make the Coyote People accompany the1n. This the
latter hesitated to do, as they knew of no other water for many days'
journey around them; but at length they yielded, and o.n the fifth
day from 􀃉􌥨he arrival 0f the wapderers Coyote Spring was deserted.
To-day an1ong the Navajos this people are more often called Mai􀃈􌡯o'-
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The Gentz"le System of the N'avajo Ind-ians. 97
¢ine, from the locality where they were first found, than Mai¢ine,
which was their original 11an1e.
32. After leaving Coyote Spring they trave11ed all day, but found
n o \.vater. The next day the bear.er of the white shell wand stuck
his wand into the sand and manipulated it, as. th􀃢􎈠 bearer of the tur­quoise
,¥and had done on a previous. o.ccasio.n, and, as before, \.vater
came forth from the hole he made. A ,voman, not of the wand­bearer's
gens, stooped to drink. "It is muddy," she cried. "Then
your na1ne shall be Qael!j" (Mud), said those v,ho heard her, and her
gens has borne the name of QacHjni, 0r Mud-people, ever since.
33. They journeyed 011 (resting at night) until the following noon
without ,vater ; when then they halted, the red shell wand was thrust
into the ground, water came forth, and one of the Mai<;o' woITlen
knelt do,v11 to drink. She declared the water to be saline, or alkaline
(¢okonj), so to her and to her descendants '"'as give11 the name of
<;o'¢okonji, or Saline Water. (See paragraph 6o.)
34. They travelled until night, and again until noon of the next
day without finding ,vater; then they rested, a11d the bearers of the
black wand tried their po,ver. As usual water rose, but this time i t
was sweet and clear. All drank heartily and filled their vessels,
except one boy and one girl, ,vho stood by and gazed at the water.
"Why do you not come and drink: before the water is all g one?·" some_
one said ; but they only stooa still and looked. As the girl had her
arms folded under her dress (the Navajo ,von1an's dress is open at
the axillre, so that the arms may be folded under it in cold ,veather),
the people turn@d to her and called her Bi<;a'ni, which signifies
Folded Arms, and thus her gens has been called ever since.
35. The next march was again a dry one, and on the following
noon the power of the red stone wand was tried. The water sprang
up as before; but on this occasion no gens ,vas named. In about
twenty-seven days from this time they arrived in the neighborhood
of the San Francisco mountains. They had lived by the way mostly
on seeds and very small animals, such as hares and marmots, only
occasionally killing a deer.
36. At a spring to the east of the San Francisco mountains they
stopped for several days, and built a stone wall, ,vhich still stands.
Here the p11n1a killed a deer. The bear sometimes killed rabbits.
The deer ran along ,vitl1 the cro\vd, doing neither good nor harm.
The snake and the porcupine were not only of no tise, but they were
an annoyance, for they bad to be carried along ; so the people deter­mined
to part with them. vVhe.n they reached Natsisan (.now called
Navajo Mo.untain) they turned their porcupine pet loose, and this is
the reason there are so ma1iy porcupines there now. At a place
cal1ed Tse'jintcicily,a, in the land of the Oraibes, they released the
Journal o.f Ame1--ican Folk-Lore.
snake among the lava i:ocks, and this is why snakes. are s0 abundant
there.
37·. It ,vas late in the autumn when they arrived at a place called
Y0tso, or Big Bead, and saw.some human footprints ,vhich were hot
very recent. This discovery 'occasioned great e:xciten1ent, for the
tracks it ,vas thought might have been made by the people whom
they wished to find. The majority of the wanderers detern1ined to
sojourn at Yotso all ,vinter, but the remainder, including parts of
diferent gentes, became impatient; hurried on, and were not seen
again. Tbe present Jicarilla Apaches are supposed to be descended
from a portion of these rash seceders. 'Those ·who re1nained at
Yotse sent, at diferent ti1nes, two pairs of couriers to follow the
fugitives and induce them to return. One pair of couriers came
back after an unsuccessful pursuit ; the other pair kept on, eventually
reached the Navajo camps .at 􀁛􅭯o'yetli, as before related (paragraph
27), and remained there all \vinter.
38. When spring came, the wanderers set '<􀄌􀱵ut again o n their jour­ney.
They had not travelled many days until they reached a place
marked by one great lone tree, and here some of the 􀁛􅬰0'¢itc1ni said,
"Our children are weary and feeble ; their knees are swollen ; their
feet are blistered ; we will go n o farther. In the course of ti1ne the
people will come here and find us." So they re1nained, and became
the gens of the Tsinsaka¢ni, or People of the (Lone) Tree, and they
are now afiliated with the <;0'¢itc1ni, from whom they s.epa.ratecl.
39. Soon after this event the wanderers reached a place called
Pinbi<;o', or Deer Spring, and here another party left the <;:o'¢itcini,
giving excuses similar to those of the former deserters. They be­came
the gens <5f Pinbi90', or Pi0bi<;O'¢ine (Deer Spring People), and
they are now afiliated with the <;o'Ititcini. At Pinbi<;o' the ,va\1clerers
desired their pet deer to go ; but he ref used to depart, and h·e re­n1aine,d
,vith the. gens of Pinbi<;o'¢ine. What finally became of him
•
•
1s not kn0w-n.
40. In the c0urse of time, all that was left of the ,vestern wander- •
ers, after these various desertions, arrived at Hyie<;in. Big l(nee
still lived, but he was feeble and in his dotage, and he was not re­spected
an.d obeyed as of old. Some of his gens, the <;:qa'paha, fan­cied
they detected a relationship between themselves and the newly
arrived Qaclijni, because their names bad a somewhat similar mean­ing,
and their head-dresses_ and accoutr:ements ,vere fashion􀄍􀵤d alike ;
therefore they in\lited the Qaclijni to dwell with them. These two
gentes have ever since been close friends, yet <;qa'paha may marry
with Qacl{jni.
41. The bear was the last pet which tl1e ,vanderers retained. When
their j0urney ,vas done they said to him, '' Our pet, you have serve.cl
•
The Gentile System of 􀀛􁬡!te Navajo Ind£ans. 99
us well; but we are now safe among our friends and need youx; ser­vices
no more. If you \>Vish y0u may leave us. There are n1any of
your kind in Tcuckai (the Cbusca Mountains). Go there and play
with them." So they turned him loose in Tcuckai, and bears have
been very abundant there ever since;
42. One of the gentes of the \Vestern immigrants was still name­less
-the pe· ople to whom Estsdnatlehi had given the wand of tur­quoise.
They did not remain long in the San Juan valley, bt1t soon
after their arrival set out on a journey toward the south. After
son1e clays' travel they encountered, among some high overhanging
rocks, a sn1all band of strangers speaking a language like their
O\Vn, - a poor people ,vho lived mostly on wild seeds and small ani­mals.
They said that they had been created in the place \vhere
they were then living, only seven years previously and tbat they
called themselves Tse'¢ine, or Rock People. The nameless gens,
bo\vever, gave them the name of Tse'nahapih1i, or Overhanging
Rock People.
43. The ne,v-found people told the nameless gens of some Apaches
,vho dwelt farther to the south, but not far away; and thither both
bands repaired. They found the Apaches at a place called Tcohonaa,
,vhere they all recognized each other as friends and embraced one
another. When the visitors had been t.hree years among the
Apaches, the Tse'nahapflni left for the north to join the Navajos;
but the nameless gens stayed longer. At the end of that time, hav­ing
detern1in-ed to return to the Navajo camps on the San Juan, tl1ey
packed up their goods and prepared to leave. As they stood all
ready to depart, an old \von1an was observed walking around them.
When she had made a complete circuit around the party she turned
to them and said, "You came to ·us without a name, a11d have dwelt
seven years \>vitho.ut a name among-us; b·ut you shall be nameless
no longe.r; you are henceforth Qonaga'ni, or Wailked-around People"
[literal! y, People of the Walking-place].
44. When the Qonaga'ni ret􀄖􁘱1rned to the Navajos they found that
their friends the Tse'nahap11ni had arrived before them, and had be­come
close friends with the 'flastclni, the !Zestelni, the Kinlitcltli,
and the TsinaJini. The Qonaga'ni became in tin,e afiliated with the
gentes of <;o'qani, Naqopani, Dsiltla'ni, and <;qa'neza'ni, and these
five gentes are now as one people; no man of one gens can r;narry a
,von1an of another.
45. There are two of the original gentes who came from the Pa­tific
coast, namely, Kinaa'ni and Bic;ani, of whom i t is not told when
they received their names. The former signifies a high-standing
stone building or pueblo. The people were ,not thus narnecl because
they had ever built or inhabited such a house, but because they \.V.ere
'
100 7ournal of A merz"can Folk-Lore.
for a long time encamped near an old ruined pueblo. [The stone
w<l,ll mentioned in paragraph 36 probably has relation to their na1ne.]
46. About the time of the return of the Qonaga'ni, while some of
the gens of yqa'paha were dwelling at Agahala' (Sea:ttered Wool),
these sent out at nightfall two of their children to a neighboring
spring for ,vater. When the cl1ildren returned they brought v,ith
them two !:}xtra water-bottles, and being questioned, they said they
bad taken them a\vay fron1 two strange children whom they met at
the spring. The parents denounced the tbeft,,and went towards the
spring to seek thd strange children. When the latter were found
they said : "We belong to a band of wanderers who hav:e con1e from
a distance and are now encan1ped '°n yonder mountain. They sept us
two here to look for water." "Then we tan give y0ur peop-le a natne,"
said the <;qa'paha. "We will call them <;:o'bajnaaji '' (Two Come
for Water Together). The kind-hearted <;:qa'paha bade the strange
children rest in the lodge, and sent their own sons back to the-ca.1np
of the strangers "vith water, and an invitation for the latter to jo.in
them. From this ft came that yo'bajnaaji is afiliated with <;qa'paha.
47. The J-egen􀄇􀜠 next tells us of t\vo batlds of Apaches and one
band of Utes who joined the Navajos, and were not regarded as new
gentes, but were adopted by the <;qa'paha; it also tells of a third
band of Apaches who dwelt first with <;o'tokonji, but after\vards
joined the <;qa'paha, among whom their descendants are now called
<;0'¢ok0nj i.
48. We next hear of parties of Zuni Indians, who came voluntarily
to live among the <;qa'paha during periods of starvation in the Zuni
villages, and who formed the gens Nanacc;ejin. This is the Navajo
name. for the Zufiis, and is said to mean Black Horizontal Streak.
49. About tbe titne of the advent 0£ the Zufiis, or a little later,
there came from the ,vest a strange people with painted faces, who
were na1ned !tildjehi, and ,vere supposed to have been a part of the
nation now eallecl Mojaves in the Colorado Canon. The !lil'djehi
. first afiliated with the Nanacc;eji􀄈􀠬, but to-day they are better friends
with the <;qa'tcini than with the Nanacc;ejin.
50. On one occasien a war party containing members of different
gentes went fr<>m the San Juan settlements to a pueblo called Cai­beqogan,
or House of Sand. Here two girls ,vere captured by men
of Tse'jink{ni and brought home as slaves. There was a salt lake
near the House of Sand, and they bad in the pueblo a gens of Salt
People to which the girls belonged. From. th1=se. girls have de­scended
a numerous race, who bear the name Acihi, or Salt People,
and who are afiliated with the capturing gens of Tse'jinkfni.
5 I. Later, in a season of scarcity, some people voluntarily left the
House of Sand to live with the Navajos. They said that in their own
,
The Gentile System o/ the Navajo Indians. IOI
pueblo there .vas a gen,s of yqa'paha, and hearing there was such a
gens-an1ong the Navajos􀄍􀴠 they had come to join them; thus they be­came
a, part of <;:qa'pah.a, and were not forn1ed into a new gens.
52. A war party which went t o raid around the pueble of Jemez
(called Mai;teckij, or Coyote Pass, by tbe Navajos) brought back
\vith the1n a girl. She \Vas captured by one of the Tlastcrni; v,as
sold by her captors to one of the Tse'jink{ni; and became the progen­itor
of the gens of Mai¢etkijni, or Coyote Pas.s Pe@ple, who are now
afiliated with Tse'jinkfni, the gens of the piuchaser.1
53. At son1e time; just when it is now forgotten, seven people
\rolu11tarily joined the Navajos, coming from a place called Tse'yana­
􀄎􀹯o'ni, or Horizontal Water under the Glifs. They tame at first foF
a short visit only; but, deferring their departure from time to time,
they ren1ained as long as they lived. The gens of the Tse'yanai;oni
is no,v extinct.
54. Once, while some of the gens of Bi<;a'ni were eneamped at
a place called yo'tso (Big Water, or Big Spring), near the Carrizo
Mountains, a 111an and a woman came out of the water -and entered
the􀄏􀽲r cal)1p. They formed the gens of <;o'tsoni, or Great vVater
People, who are afiliated with the Bi<;a'ni.
55. \"le must now consider to \.vhat extent this legend may be of
aid to us in the study of the social organization of the Navajos. It
seems, like the traditions of all primitive races, to consist of mate­rial
of thr,ee sorts: The first is unquestionable myth, whieh, though
it 1nay not contain a \VOrd of truth, is pregnant ,vith instruction to the
discrin1i11ating seeker after truth ; the second lies across the dividing
line bet,veen myth and histor)r, - material in ,vhich the gaps of im­perfect
tradition have been filled by the imagination of minds taught
in the n1ythic school i the tbird is historic, -not absolutely veritable
history (for where is such history to be found ?), but consisting of
oral traditions not suficiently antiquated to be greatly cor,rupted.
It n1ust be studied throughout inferentially, and ,vith the correcting
aid of all pertinent accessories ; with the aid of comparative my­thology,
of con1parative history, of geography and topography, of the
philology and sociology of the Navajos and surrounding tTibes, ,vith
the aid of the traditions of surrounding tribes and of the \v1-itten
history of the Spanish, Mexican, and An1etican occupations of New
Mexico. It ,vill b·e observed that rriuch of the tale relates to events
which occurred after the advent of the Spanish, and a very high
antiqitity is not claimed for the most remote events. With these
observations concerI1ing the legend kept in vie,v, we will find it a
valu:i.ble auxiliary to the study of the present division of the Nava􀄐􁀠
jos into gentes and phratries.
1 Fugitives from Spanish persecution at Jemez, were added to this gens later.
,
,
102 Your1ial of American F{Jlk-Lare.
56. As previously intimate􀄐􁀬, I have collected other versions of
this Jegend from Indians, but none as complete as the one presented.
They all agree pretty well as to the n1ain p·oints; the diferences are
mostly in the less important particulars, such as the mythic ciroum­stances
under which the names originated. Usually the diferences
are easily reconcilable, or apparent diferences vanish on close exam­ination.
57. This story, a'S I give it, is an epitome of one related by a ven­erable
shaman named Qa􀄑􁅡ali Nez, or Tall C'h.anter. It accounts for
only thirty-eight gentes; but th.is inforn1ant named for me. on this
and other occasions forty-three gentes in all, two of which, he said,
were extinct. An1ong the variou·s lists in my possession none give
a higher number than this ; in some I find 11ames not included in the
list 0£ Tall Chanter, but these are ofset by the omission of names
which he tnentions. If each name represents a diferent organiza­tion,
,ve have at least fifty-one gentes in the tribe; but since we find
in the legend instances of one ger,1s having t,vo names (paragraphs
19, 3 r), it is not improbable that some names are duplicates. It is
quite possible, howe:v.er, that gentes clerived fron1 captive or en­slaved
women added to the tribe since it has grown ,vealthy and
po,verful, and scattered over a wide territory, may exist in one part
of the tribal domain unknown to the best-informed persons in
another part. Extinct gentes may be forgotten by one informant
and remembered by another.
58. I present belo,v, (paragraph 61) a complete list of these names.
The first '.fbrty-three are those of Tall Chanter, arranged to the thir­ty-
eighth in the order in which they are introduced in the legend.
Beside lists which I have obtained directly fron1 Indians, I have had
opportunities of consulting tvv,o others, unpublished, one of which
was collected by Captain John G. Bourke, U. S. Army, ancl the other
ijy l\1r. R.-L. Packard. Both were procured at Fort Defiance, Arizona,
through the san1e interpreter, Mr. Henry Dodge. The legend, as I
have said, accounts for thirty-eight gentes; it may be only a coinci­dence
that in the following list _of fifty-one names only thirty -eight
are well corroborated. For those. marked with a star (*) I have the
authority of one informant only, \Vhile upon those not so marked all,
or nearly all, agree.
59. In n1any cases two forms of the name Qf a gens have been
n@ted, one \Vith and one without a termination (¢ine, ni, or i) mean­ing
"peoi:>le.'' vVhen two such forms are on record in my notes, I
give here the simpler form first, and the other after in parenthesis;
but in all case&, to simplify stu.dy, I omit the word "people" from the
English equivalents.
6.G. _Where .more than one translation has been given tne, !'record
•
•
The Gentile System of the Navajo Ind-ians. 103
in the list that whieh I regard with the most favor; some of the
translations are necessarily very liberal. There are na1nes f6r which
no brief English equivalents could be found1 and for \vhich, therefore,
approximate equivalents had to be given; names which requ􀂗􉝲re expla-nation
rather than definition or synonymy, and names whose etymo -
l0gical definitions do not convey their true meanings. For instance,
Tse'jin¢iai signifies a long line of black rocks standing up like a
vvall. Thjs might mean an artificial wall of blackish stones, but as
the result of much iI1quiry I learned that the name refers to a loe.al-ity
where there exists a formation known in geology as trap-dyke.
This is the equivalent which I give for Tse'jin¢iai in the following
list, and yet I would not venture to put both words in a dictionary
as sy11onyn1s. In the name <;o'¢okocnji the element ¢okonj refers to
anything \vhich has a distinct but not repulsive taste; it has syno-nyms
in other Indian languages, but not in E11glish; it applies to
sugar and salt, but not to bitter barks. "Sapicl " is not an equivalent.
I know from explanation only that the water is supposed to have had
an agreeable saline taste.
MaiQftOh I.IBRAR\'
61. LIST OF THE NAVAJO GENl'ES,
I. Tse'jinkfni,
2. Tse'tlani,
3. Dsilanoc;Hni,
4. Qacka•qatso (Qacka•qatso¢ine),
5. Naqopani,
6. Tslnajfni,
7. <;qa'neza.' (<;qa'neza'ni),
8. Dsiltla'ni,
9. <,;:qa'paha (<;qa'P,aha¢ine),
10. Tsa'yisk1¢ni,
r r. Tse'jin¢iai (Tse'jin¢iai¢ine),
r2. Klogi (I{logi¢ine},
I 3. <;o'qani,
L4. <;qa'tcini,
r 5. :Kai (Kai¢ine),
r6. I<"inli tel: (Kinlitclni),
r7. ¢estclni,
18. Tlastclni,
19. Noga (Noc;a¢ine),
29.. Nakai ( Nakai ¢ine),
21. <;o'yetllni,
22. Qalto (Q􀄴􃑬ltso¢ine),
23. <;o'¢itcihi,
•21,. Maig_o' (Mau;o·'¢ine),
25.. Qaclfj (Qaclfjni),
26. <;o'¢oko"ji,
27. Bic;a'ni,
28. Tsinsa_ka¢ni,
29. Pi"bi c;o' (Pi•bic;o¢ine),
House of the Black Clifs.
Bend of a Caion.
EncircJed Mountain.
Much YQcca.
Broivn Streak; Horizontal on the Ground.
Black Horizontal Forest.
Among the Scattered (Hills).
Base of the M0untain.
Among the vVaters.
Sage.brush Hill.
Trap•dyke (see paragraph 60).
(Name of an old pueblo.)
Beside the Water.
Among the Red (Waters ·or Banks).
WillO\VS.
R_ed House (of Stone).
R:ed S tre·ak.
Red Flat.
Ute.
White Stranger (Mexican).
Junction of the Rivers.
Yello.w Bodies (see paragraph 25, note).
Bitter Water.
Goyote Spring.
Mud.
Sali ne' Water (see paragraph®)!
Folded Arms.
Lone Tree.
. Deer Spring.
'
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•
104 YrJurnal of American Folk-Lore.
30. Tse'nahapflni,
31. Qonaga'ni,
32. Ki"aa'ni,
33. Co'l)ajnaaj (.Co'bajnaaji),
34. N anac<;eji•,
•-ss- ¢' ildjehi',
36. Acihi (Acihi¢ine),
37. Mai¢etkij (Mai¢eckfjni),
*38. 1'se'yana<;o'ni [extinct),
39. <;:o'tsoni,
40. Bi<;ani or Dsil<;ani,
41. Tse'yikehe (1'se'yikehe¢ine),
* 42. Tlizilani,
•43. <;:o'tcalsi<;aya [ extinct],
*44. Aatsosni,
*45. Naa'f (Naa'i¢ine),
*46. Yoo,
*47. I{a'nani,
*48. Tse',;qani,
*49. Loka (Loka¢ine),
* 50. Tse'¢eckfjni,
*51. Qoganlani,
Overhanging Rocks.
Place of Walking.
High-standing House.
Two Come for Wate)·.
Black Horizontal Stripe Aliens (Zufii).
(Not translated.)
Salt.
Coyote Pass (Jemez).
Hori-zo·ntal Water under Cliffs.
Great Water.
Bro\V of Mountain.
Rocks Standing near One Another.
Many Goats.
Water under tne "Sitting Frog''(?).
N arro,v Gorge.
1vionocline.
Beads.
Living Arrows.
Among the Rocks.
Reeds (Phragnzz'tes).
Rocky Pass.
Many Huts.
62. There is little doubt that in the majority of cases the names
of Navajo gentes, which are not the names of tribes, are simply
designations of localities. We ,do not arrive at this conclusion from
the teachings of the legend alone, but from the meanings of the
names themselves, so often unquestionably local. Indeed, in so1ne
cases, where \.Ve feel certain of a 1ocal origin for the appellation of a
gen.s, the le.gend presents a diferent origin, as in the cases of the
western immigrants who are said to be named from \.vo1ne11 who, in
tu·rn, were known by words they uttered when they first tasted of
the diferent n1agic fountains. Where the legend positively states
that a gens \.vas named after a locality where it lived, \Ve have little
reason to doubt its truth, even though the interpretation of the na1ne
may not be above criticism. We are told in the above story not
only that many of the gentes originated in localities \vhose names
they bear, that often they had lived so long in these localities that
the memory of 1nan ran not to the contrary, that they believed them­selves
created in these localities, but we are told that after they had
become incorporated \.Vith the Navajo nation they ofteri continued to
live more or less apart dov,n to a very recent day. Even when they
lived in close proximity to one another in the valley of the SaJ1 Juan,
they did not mingle hou;,es and farms promiscuously, but members
of the same gens held somewhat together. Men1bers of each and
every gens may new be found scattered all over the Navajo country,
and chiefs seem to exercise on1y l0cal authority ; yet if you ask a
Navajo what people any particular chief controls, he will invariably
•
The G.eneil System of the Navajo In ltains. 105
give you the name of the gens, and not of the modern local group,
to which such chief belongs. I have some reasons for believing
that to this day, much as the gentes are scattered, son1e of them are '
still more prevalent than others in certain localities. However,
leaving all uncertainties aside, we have facts enough tQ warrant U·S
in concluding that most of these gentes ,vere originally, and untii
quite recently, local exogamous.groups, and not true gentes, accord­ing
to Morgan's definition. Whenever, as 1nentioned in the tradi­tion,
from an alien race a new access.ion came, it received, as a rule,
the name of the tribe or pueblo from which it was derived, as if the
whol'e people thereof was regarded as an exogamous group. In few
cases (paragraphs I 5, 50, 51) do we find any regard paid to the former
gentes of the new arrivals.
63. ·Of tribes allied in language to the Navajos and Apaches, -
that is, Athabascan tribes, -among the nearest, geographically, are
those of the Siletz Agency in Oregon. These Indians have been
recently well studied, particularly with regard to their social organi­zation,
by the Rev. J. Owen Dorsey, to whom I am in􀃙􍥥ebted for fhe
inforn1ation I here impart eoncerning them. They are no,v collected
on a government reservation, and are divided into a series of exoga­mous
clans (gentes we may call them), but each clan re.presents a
diferent village in the Rogue River valley occupied by the Siletz
Indians with.in the memory of men now living, and bears the nan1e
of the village from whence i t came. As now no man may marry
within his o,vn clan, so in former days no man might marry within
his own village,; he was obliged to seek his wife elsewhere. In short,
the village was an exogamous group, such as the Navajo gens seems
to have been. The names of the Siletz villages bear a general
formative resemblance to the names 0f the Navajo gentes, but only
in one instan·ce do I find a close similarity; this is in the name of tl1e
village of Tutuni, which has much the same sound and quite the same
meaning as that of the Navajo gens <;o'tsoni, or People of the Great
Water. Having in vie\v only such resemblances between these two
branches of the same Athabascan stock, it is easy for us to suppose
that they had at no distant day similar clan organizations. But a
dificulty seen1s to arise when we learn that they have diferent laws
with regard to the line of descent. Among the Navajos the child
belongs to the gens of his mother; among the Siletz. Indians, he be­longs
to that of bis father. There are some ethnologists. ,vho main­tain
that the change from mother-right to father-right involves a
great adva􀃚􍩣ce in civilization or in social organization, and a great
lapse of time. There are others who consider the cha:nge a facile
one, and cite instances where they have known it to occur. Among
the Navajos it seems to involve no change at all, if we may juclge
VOL. it!. -l'i O. 9. 8
,
•
106 7oitrnal of Amerz"can Folk-Lore.
from the legend in which, as I will presently point out, d·escent in
both lines seems to be recognized as determining consanguinity. If
we have an1ong the Navajos evidence of the existenqe of both
father-right and mother-right, and among the Rogue River Indian$
evidence of father-right and no evidence to show tl1af some regard
is not paid to mother-right, the ai-gument in favor of a forn1er iden­tity
of la"vs regulating descent and a sin1ilar origin of .gentes, among
these two tribes, wi,11 not appear unreasonable.
64. Althoug.h the names of the Navajo gentes are not now totemic,
the legend see'ms to indicate that some of then1 once "vere ; and al­though
I have not disc:overed the existence of clan totems among
the Navajos to-day, there are passages in the legend, and tl1ere are
customs no,v existing among the people, which ca11 be well explained
by assuming that such totems once existed. The eriginal gentes of
the immigrants from the Pacific shore had, says the legend (para­graph
27) no names when the gQddess Estsanatlehi sent then1 forth
o n their eastvvard journey ; later they acquired names app·arently
of local origin, like the older Navajo clan names.. But when they
set out on their journey each clan was provided with a diferent pet,
a bear, a puma, a deer, snake, and a porcupine (paragraph 29).
The Navajo ,vord (lin), which in this connection I translate as "pet,''
means a domestic animal of any kind, of late years especially a
horse ; it also n1eans an animal fetich or personal animal totem.
In the myth .of the_ Mountain Cha11t, a Navajo youth is made to ad­dress
his deer mask as "cilin," my pet.1 I might, then, have given
the translation of this word as totem, and thus have avoided all argu­ment
at the expense of the reader's enlightenment. Again, when
these clans had received l0cal names, the pets were set free. These
passages, and others in the legend, allude in all likelibo0d, to the
former use of totemic clan-symbols, probably to the ·existence of
totemic clan-names, and possibly to a custom1 not now practised by
the Navajos, of keeping in captivity live totemic animals, - a cus­tom
common to the ancient lVIexicans and the modern Pueblos. The
story of the Deer Spring People. (paragraph 39) affords, perhaps, the
best evidence in favor of totemic names to be found in the legend.
It is related that a portion of the Bitter Water People (yo'eitclni),
becoming weary of travel, remained at a place c.alled Deer Spring,
where they became after,vards kno,vn as the Pinbi<;o'¢ine, 0r Deer
Spring People; that here the deer was desired to depart, but refused
to do so, and remainecl with the peop. ]e. who stopped behind at the
spring, and that what finally became of him is not lrnown. Assun1-
ing that the immigrants from the west had once totemic names, we
1 The Mottntaz·n Cltant: A Navajo Cere1nony. Fifth Annual Report of the
Bureau 6£ Ethnology, Washington, 1888. pp. 395, 466.
The Gen:tile-'System of the Navajo Ind£ans. 107
explain this part of the tale by saying that i_t was people of the €leer
gen-s ,vho stayed behind, and naturally gave their nan1e to the spring
where they remained, that in the course of time they became as tl1e
People of the Deer Spring, and that, as they still retain their old
toten1ic name in a changed form, the $.tory-teller is constrained to
say that the fate of the deer is not known. On the same assump­tion,
an explanation similar in part to the above may be given fot the
origin of the names of son1e gentes not derived from the \vestern
immigrants, such as the Mai􀃳􏍯o'¢ine, 0r Coyote People, wl10 were
picked up by i1nmigrants en ro1tte, These called then1_selves Mai¢ine,
or Goyote People; but they are called no,v by the Navajos after the
spring (Mai􀃴􏑯o') where they lived, - the spring probably being named
from the people w-ho dwelt there. The gens of Qack.anqatso¢ine, or
Much Yucca People, \Ve are told (paragraph 6), was originally called
Qackan¢ine, or Yueca People, and the land where it dwelt Qackanqatso,
"because many yuacas grew there," say my in{orma,nts. May ,ve not
say instead, "because many people of the Yucca clan lived there"?
Another circumstance which n1ay be regarded as pointing to a for­mer
clan totemism is the existence among the Navajos of certain
taboos; these are chiefly fish and natatorial birds. When we read,
in the legend, that bef0re they joined the Navajos the Tse'tlani lived
on duck and snakes (paragraph 4), we need not suppose that this is
said \Vith a view to commiserate them on the inferiority of their diet,
but merely, perhaps, to show that they had net the san1e taboo as the
original gentes, and that, w.ha:tever other things they may have had in
common '\Vith the latter, they difered in this particular.
65. As we follo.v the tale, we observe that diferent gentes are
received into the tribe with diferent degrees of willingness 0n both.
sides. In so1ne cases t,vQ parties, 1ne(;!ting for the first time, thro,v
themselves at once into each other's ar1ns. Clans dwelling o n the
Pacific coast hear of the existence of kindred tribes far to the east,
set out over a long and dangerous route to join them and, aerriving
among the Navajos, are received at once and withottt question. On
the other hand, we hear of clans who remain for a long time neigh­bors
of the Navajos before they enter into tribal relations with them;
of other clans descended fr9m captives taken £rpm hostile tribes ; and
of others who only seek a refuge among the Navajos from starvation
or persecution, We can broadly divide the accessions into two
classes, the ready and the reluctant, and it remains for us to conjec­ture
what social element produced this diference. I have little
dqubt that this element was language. We observe that all gentes
derived from the Apaches, a tribe allied in language to the Nav-ajos,
are to be classed among the ready, while all accessions from tribes
which we now know to speak tongues alien to the Navajo; belong to
•
'I.
108 journal of A meri'can Folk-LfJre.
the reluctant. Reasoning then from th:e kaown to the unknown, we
can, if ,ve accept the leg·end, without much dificulty distinguish the
gentes of Tinileh or Athabascan origin from those of alien origin in
the present highly complex tribe known as the Navajos. What lan­guage
the <;qa 'paha spoke we do not know, l:>ut the legend teJls us
tl).at it was diferent t0 the Navajo. I have P.rocured a short list of
ancient Navajo werds (before the advent of the <;qa'paha) with their
modern synonyms. Perhaps I may yet succeed in getting a list of
the <;:qa'-paha as it was. It is not, however, until aJl the language$
of the South,vest have been thoroughly studied that we c.an even
a,pproximately determine all the eletnents of the. Navajo tongue, - a
tongue whicb will no doubt reveal an interesting array of loan-,vords
to the future philologist.
66. It may be note.d that in the legend frequent allu·sions are
made to gentes forming with other gentes special friendships and
afiliations, which were often of such a nature as to preclude marriage
between members of diferent gentes. This system of afiliation
divides the Nav;ijo gentes into a number of groups which have n.o
special names, and ,vhich in other respects difer somewhat fron1 th.e
subtribal groups of other races. Yet they are so closely analogous
to the phratry as defined by Morgan that I can do no better than
apply to them this name, which he l1as adopted for us from the
Greeks.
67; Diferent informants divide the tribe into somewhat diferent
phratral groups. Tall Chanter made but nine phratries. Captain
Bourke's informant made .eleven, with three independent gentes.
The 11u1nbers made by others range from eight to twelve. The ar­rangement
of gentes into phratries are somewhat diferent. The ma­jority
of these discrepancies may be accounted for otherwise than
by supposing ignorance on the part of the informants, or err.or on
the part of the recorders. It is t@ be observed that in the legend
mention is made of cases in which gentes have in the course of
time changed their phratral a:filiatio.ns, a11d there is one case given
where one gens belongs to two phratries (paragraphs 40, 68). In­quiry
on this poirit has elicited the information that such cases are
not uncommon; and again there are sub-phratries, i. e., a certain
number of gentes in a phratry are more intimately related to one
another than they are to the other afiliated gentes. In short, the
Navajo phratry is not always a homogeneous organization, and infor­mants
may difer without invalidating each other's testimony. It
would· have been \vell had I found an intelligent n1an for each gens
to give me his own phratral afiliations ; but this plan did not occur
to n1e until quite recently, "vhen the opportunity to pursue it was
lac·king, and when I had advanced far in the study and con1parison
of my records.
The Gentile System of the Navajo Indians. 109
68. The nine phratries, as given by Tall G:hanter, are as follows : -
I. I, <;qa1paha; 2, 􀅌􄱲rsa'yisk(¢ni; 3, Tse'jin¢iai j 4, Kl?>,gi; 5, Qaltso; 6, Go'baj­naaj.
II.. r, Tsinajfni; 2, Kinlitcl·; 3, ¢estelni; 4, Tlastclni; 5, Tse'nahapflni; 6,
Tliiilani.
III. 1, Tse'jinkfni; 2, Aaihi; 3, Mai¢-eckfj; 4, FJsilnaoc;Hni; 5, Qacka"qatsb; 6,
Tse'tlani.
IV. 1, <;qaitcioi ; 2, Kai; 3J Nanacc;eji􀅍􄴻; 4, Tse'yikehe ; 5, ¢ildjehi.
v. I, <;o'yetilni; 2, No<;a .; 3, Nakaj.
VI. 1, <;o'tsoni; 2, Bi<;a'ni; 3, QacHj; 4, Bi!iani; 5, Ki"aa'ni.
VI I. r, ;<o;¢itclni; 2, Pi•bi;<o' r 3,· Tsinsaka¢ni.
VIII. 1, !;o'qaoi; 2 , Dsiltla'ni ; 3, Naqopani; 4, <;qa'neza'; 5. Qonaga'ni.
IX. I, Mai<;o' j 2, <;o'¢oko"ji.
Tse'yanac;.o'ni a,nd <;o'tcalsi􀅎􄹹ya are extinct.
69. The f ollowiqg are the eleven phratries recorded b.y Captain
Bourke:-
I. 1, (;o'tsoni ; 2, Bic;ani; 3, Qaclfj; 4, Tse'¢eekfjni.
I I. 1, Qonaga'ni ; 2, Dsiltla'ni ; 3, Qo'qani ; 4, (;qa'neia' ; 5, Naqopani,
11 I. I, Acihi ; 2, Tse'jinkfni ;. 3, Mai¢eckfj.
IV. 1, <;qa'paha; 2, Qaltso; 3, Tsa'yiskf¢ni; 4, <;o'bajnaaj.
v. I, <;o'¢itcrni j 2, Tsinsaka:¢ni j 3, Pi"bi<;o' i 4, A<;o'tsosni.
VI. 1, <;o'¢oko"ji; 2, Tse'jin¢iai; 3, Klogi.
VI I. t, Nanacc;eji"; 2, <;qa 'tcini. .
VI I I. 1, Dsilnaoc;ilni ; 2, Yoo; 3, Tse'yikehe ; 4, Tse'nahapflni.
IX. 1, Tlastcini; 2, Kinlitcl; 3, Tsinaj£ni; 4, ¢estcini ; 5, Ka•nani; 6, Loka.
x. I, Nakai j 2, <;o'yetllni.
XI. r, Ki"aa'ni; 2, Bi<;i'ni ; 3, Dsil<;ani.
·Qacka•qatso, Qoganlani, and Kai are unafiliated gentes.
70. At the first glance the above lists would seem to be widely
diferent ; but on exam.ination this apparent diference is found to
depend largely on diference of arrangement. For twenty-nine of
the thirty-eight best authenticated gentes the two lists agree, as
shown in the following table-, where the phratries of Tall Chanter are
indicated in Arabic numerals, and those of Captain Bourke in Ro- i
man:-
1. (IV.) <;qa'paha, Tsa'yiskf¢ni, Qaltso, <;o'bajnaaj.
2. (!􀀅􀔮.) Tsinajfn.i, Kinlitcl, ¢estc1ni, ·r1astelni. 􀀂􀈠
. -
3. (II T.) Tse'jinkini, Acihi., Mai¢eckij.
4. (VI I.) <;qa'tcini, Nanac􀅏􄽥eji•.
5. (X.) <;o'yetllni, Nakai.
6. (I.) <;o'tsoni, Qaclij, Bi<;ani; (XI.) Bi<;a'ni, Xi•aa'ni.
7. (V.) <;0'¢itc1ni, l'i"bigo', Tsinsaka¢ni.
8. (IL) <;o'qani, l;)siltla'ni, Naq0pani, <;qa'neza'.
9· (VI.) <;o'-¢oko•ji.
Atnong all phratry lists i.n my possession I find an equal or gr.eater
agreement than the above concerning the well-authenticated gentes;
i t is in givi:ng the afinities of the ill-authenticated that the dive.rsities
mostly occur.
•
I IO :Joztrnal of American Foik-.Lore-.
71. The reasons assigned in the legend for the incorporation of
gentes into pbratries are various. Sometimes two or n10re gentes
live as near neighbors for a long time and gradually become afil­iated
(paragraphs 5, 7, 13, et al.) ; on atber 0, ccasions two g.entes dis­cover
that their names ar.e synoI)ymot.rs (paragraph 40), or that their
dress and accoutrements are alike (paragraphs 6, I@), ·and hence con­clude
that some old relationship must e,"<ist between tber.a ; but
when we come to i;eceat and historic days, we find reasons of a dif­ferent
character given. A man of the No􀃾􏹡a or Ute gens captures a
Mexican woman ; her children take the name of Nakai, or M·exican,
as a gens, but they belong to the phratry of her eaptor (paragraph
23). Why ? Is, it not because her captor became the father of her
children?. Again, men of Tse'jink{ni capture a wo1na11 of the S;alt
gel'.Js @f Caibehogan ; her children form the gens 0f Acihi or Salt,
and belong to the phratry of Tse'jinkini (paragraph SQ). A man of
Tlastclni takes captiv;e a woman of J ernez, but sells her to a man of
Tse'jink{ni ; in this case the descendants belong to the gen-$ of
Jemez, or Mai¢.eckj{ni, and to the phratry of Tse'jink{ni; that is,
not to the phratry of the captor, but td that of the purchaser, who
is also no doubt lhe father of her children. We have some evidence,
then, that as the gens transmits mother-right, so the phratry tra11s­mits
fath.er-right. Can the modern Navajo marry into the phratry
of his father? I regret that I cannot answer this question.
72. It is held by Morgan and others that n1odern gentes are but
divisions of parent g·entes which are nov, represented by the phra­tries
; in other words, that gentes have arisen by a process of seg­mentation.
According to the legend, some such segmentation has
taken place to a limited extent among· the Navajos (paragraphs 33, 38,
39), but in the maj0rity of instances phratries are formed by the a.g.
gregation of gentes, a process exactly opposite to that described by
Morgan. We do n©t rely on the legend alone for evidence of this;
it requires no argument to show that at least the gerites derived from
alien tribes must be additions to the phratry from without. Morgan
finds that amo,ng the tribes which he has studied the phratry bears
the name of one oJ its gentes, - the gens which is supposecl to
have sufered division. The Navajos give no forn1al natne to their
pbratries; yet I find a tendency among the1n, wl1en speaking of
their phratral afiliations, to refer more fre.G!uently to some one
gens - usually the most ancient or m0st nu1nerous - than to any
other in the phratry. Thus a man of the g,en·s of T'sa'yiski¢.ini in
the first phratry (paragraph 68) is more likely to say he belongs to
the phratry of <;,qa 'paha than ta that of Qaltso. It is easy t0 be­lieve
that this tendepcy might in time culminate in the permanent
sel􀃿􏽣ction of a name f@r a phFatry.
Washington Matthews.