The Navajo

form the hub of a wheel, of which the spokes burn among the pines; tonight the camp fires light far places. The streets of the beautiful little city, The Indians are hard riders.

as either too sacred, or too powerful to be so executed. Others, such as the Mountain Chant of the Navajo are too long, lasting, as they do, for many days and nights.

After the Ceremonial Dances, both dancers and spectators patronize the carnival, which is the white man's contribution to the en-tertainment. There is a merry-go-round, and a ferris wheel. And there are the usual midway concessions, including gyp games that were old when father was a boy and tent shows for men only. Compared to the take-a-chancers, the tent shows are, at least, more honest. There was a better show, I imagine, at the back of one such tent, where an incredulous old buck and three of his wives were taking turns at a peep hole, and reporting, in pantomime, what they saw within. It is not strange that our missionaries to the Indians have had a difficult time. Indians love to gam ble, and risk their dimes, with a faith that is pathetic, considering their chances.

It is midnight. The blare of canned music no longer offends the ear. The shouts of the barkers are stilled. The crowds of spectators have gone home. Carnival lights no longer compete against the stars. The Great Dipper hangs upside-down against a blue-black sky. Scorpio rides high. In the quiet arena groups of blanketed figures, in motionless silence, guard the embers of the ceremonial fires, now crumbling to ashes. The stillness spreads across the open field to the rim of blacked-out hills.

The camp at night is an eerie place. The low-burning fires serve only to accentuate the blackness of the shadows. The high-branching pines screen out the friendly starlight. Dark figures drift silently through the forest corridors, singly or in groups, or sleeping lie stretched upon the ground, with moccasin soles to the bed of coals that are bodies, straight and prone. Each is wrapped from head to toe in a single blanket, thus conserving all the heat of the body. An Indian with one blanket can sleep warmly on a night when a white man, with face, instead of feet, uncovered would shiver.

There will be more dancing, but no one knows either when or where it may begin. An hour passes reluctantly; then, without warning, a chant rises, shattering the calm of the forest. Bonfires spring up, and the whole camp is astir. The chant has become a chorus, a wild, weird medley of sound that is more coyote than human, with its guttural barks, and long-drawn cries rising to a falsetto of pipe organ intensity. There are two bands of singers, one group taking up where the other leaves off, so that there is no pause in the night's orchestration. A ring of spectators has formed around a space cleared for the squaw dance.

Indistinct in the half-light a Hopi girl appears, and selects a partner from the circle of hopeful braves. She grasps his blanket, and after a show of polite reluctance, he yields to her voiceless persuasion, and together under one blanket, they move sedately into the dance. Other girls similarly capture partners until the ring is packed with slowly pacing couples. In the squaw dance, it is the man who pays, and he pays whatever price the lady dictates, usually only a dime or so. It is, for the Indian youth, one of their few opportunities for courtship, and I do not imagine it is wasted, though the dance is decorous in the extreme. Only the young and unmarried dance, the others look on, or sit by the fires. Here pine smoke rises like incense to the Red Man's ancient gods, while only a few blocks away a modern city sleeps.

It is night again as I climb to the rim of the valley. The flame of the setting sun burns low, flickers once, and goes out. The sharp peaks tower against the painted sky. Ridge after ridge, the woven tapestry of the forest cloaks the silent earth. But no smoke drifts across the valley; no lights Passing the time of the day.

that have been riotous, are quiet. Store windows that yesterday were romantic in their display of velvets and satins, boots and silver spurs, and fine blankets, today show sun suits and sandals and what is fashionable in hats. And tonight the city sleeps in the benign shadow of its silent hills, that no longer echo the beat of the drum and the chanting of ancient songs. the Pow-Wow is over.

The Museum of Northern Arizona at Flagstaff, opened in 1928, is a veritable treasure chest of biological trophies and prehistoric relics. Organized by the Northern Arizona Society of Science and Art, the museum, under the direction of Dr. and Mrs. Harold S. Colton, fulfills a valuable mission in preserving objects of art and scientific interest. Its beautiful building is one of the show places in Northern Arizona.

THE Treasure Chest OF

The building now housing the Museum of Northern Arizona was opened to the public in April, 1936. The visitor to the Museum enters the loggia, attractively outfitted in Hopi furnishings. Exhibits dealing with the archaeology, ethnology, geology and biology of Northern Arizona are conveniently arranged and displayed. "To protect historic and prehistoric sites, works of art, scenic places and wild life from needless destruction; to provide facilities for research and to offer opportunities of aesthetic enjoyment" are among purposes of the Society.

The Museum maintains a staff of able scientists and artists constantly engaged in research and study of the surrounding region. Valuable contributions have been made to archaeological knowledge, and new discoveries are being made. The Museum encourages artists and stimulates appreciation of art works. Among the most in teresting exhibits is the annual Junior Art Show in April which features children's work.

NORTHERN Arizona is famed as a land of high, cool, forest-covered plateaus, deep red canyons whose cliffs hide the houses of vanished peoples, colorful deserts where today live the interesting Hopi and Navajo Indians, and towering mountain peaks some of which are covered with caps of snow most of the year. For years this region has been the haunt of the archaeologist and his cousin-in-disgrace the pot hunter, the biologist with his traps, the geologist with his hammer, and the artist with his canvas and brushes. Each one has come to study and to collect what has interested him, and naturally has carried off with him, on his departure, those objects which have seemed to him the most interesting and important. In this way, Northern Arizona was for years literally stripped of its most valuable biological trophies and prehistoric relics, while museums and private collections the world over were made richer at its expense. Thinking people in Flagstaff realized that unless something were done to keep the relics and curios in Northern Arizona the area soon would be cleaned out and there would be little left to show of the extensive heritage which had once been its pride. As far back as 1923 the active Woman's Club proposed to build a museum. Accordingly a building was erected with one room set aside to house a few donated collections of Indian and prehistoric objects, but then interest lagged. A few years later, in 1927, another group of interested citizens under the leadership of Dr. Grady Gammage, then president of the Arizona State Teachers College in Flagstaff, and Dr. Harold S. Colton, recently from the University of Pennsylvania, again proposed to build a museum to house important archaeological materials which otherwise might be carried away to other sections of the country to enrich institutions at the expense of Northern Arizona. Various meetings and discussions among interested Flagstaff citizens at last crystallized. A constitution was adopted and trustees were elected. The object of the corporation as stated in the constitution was: "To increase and diffuse knowledge and appreciation of science and art and to maintain in the city of Flagstaff a museum; to collect and preserve objects of art and scientific interest; to protect historic and prehistoric sites, works of art, scenic places and wild life from needless destruction; to provide facilities for research and to offer opportunities for aesthetic enjoyment." Dr. Colton was elected president and director of the museum. Since that time both he and Mrs. Colton have given much of their time, and otherwise supported the project. Big things often have small beginnings and when one sees the handsome building which houses the Museum of Northern Arizona today, it is hard to realize that only a little over ten years ago the museum was opened to the public for the first time in two small rooms in the Woman's Building which has been turned over to the trustees for their use. At the official opening, 8 p. m. September 6, 1928, Dr. Byron Cummings, noted archaeologist of the Southwest, gave a talk on the excavation of Turkey Hill Ruins east of Flagstaff. Material from the ruins was on display. Other exhibits were ready to be seen and the townspeople realized that at last a dream was coming true. As the years passed the scope of the Museum broadened and expanded under the stimulating leadership of Dr. and Mrs. Colton. Exhibits were built up, collections added to, research in the fields of geology, paleontology, biology, and archaeology was carried on. The very-much-alive department of art and ethnology held numerous arts and crafts shows and encouraged Northern Arizona artists to greater efforts. It was in April, 1936, that the Museum of Northern Arizona as we see it today was opened to the public. For the first time it was housed in its own building of native volcanic rock among a grove of lovely yellow pines and commanding a spectacular view. In describing the building, Museum Notes for February, 1936 states, "A visitor entering the front door finds himself in a large room, face to face with three plate glass windows framing a picture of the San Francisco Peaks. This entrance room with a high ceiling will be called the loggia. Here will be the office of the assistant secretary. The room will also be used for small temporary exhibitions. On the south end of the loggia a flight of stairs leads to a gallery where book cases will shelter the popular part of the Museum library. (This room is now furnished with Hopi blankets for rugs and other textiles, Hopi-made furniture, and decorated with Hopi designs showing how Indian materials may be used in our own homes.) On either side of the loggia, doors open into galleries, one of which will be devoted to archaeology and ethnology and the other will be used for geology and biology. From the geology-biology gallery one door leads into a laboratory which will be devoted to geology and biology. Another door leads into a large storage room into which the collections of archaeological material, tree ring material, and skeleton material were moved early in the year." A delightful patio planted with shrubs and small trees and boasting a small pool is encircled by the building on three sides while the fourth side is enclosed by a wall and small outdoor stage. Here the greater part of the annual Junior Art Show and Hopi Craftsman Exhibition is outstanding.

NORTHERN ARIZONA

A Hopi maiden, in traditional dress of her people, is one of a group of Hopi assisting in the Hopi Craftsman Exhibition at the Museum. These cultured, intelligent people lend a great authenticity to the exhibition.

Craftsman Exhibition are held each year. However, it is a proven fact that no matter how beautiful the building or how worthwhile and interesting its exhibits, the physical plant does not make the museum what it is. The purpose and ideals which are used in guiding its policies make it either a living institution or a dead depository for inanimate objects. The Museum in Flagstaff is very much alive and constantly contributing to our knowledge in many fields of science and art. There is a small but competent staff of scientists and artists working all the time in their various fields, and the people of Flagstaff through their continued interest in the exhibitions and lectures offered free for their enjoyment have lent encouragement and stimulation to the staff. The Museum of Northern Arizona is The painstaking study of archaeological ruins is part of this work of the Museum. One of the purposes for which the Museum was founded is to preserve for posterity and safeguard valuable scientific discoveries made in Northern Arizona.

Field trips and nature studies in the cool pine forests around Flagstaff are features of the summer program of the Museum of Northern Arizona. Qualified lecturers in many fields of science lead group discussions.

unique, perhaps, in that it has as custodians two Hopi Indians. These men, Edmund Nequatewa and Jim Kewanytewa, are always on hand to greet the visitors and conduct them through the rooms giving explanations of the various exhibits. Besides this work, each one is busy with some project for the Museum. Jimmy spends his spare time making kachina dolls hoping that eventually he will have one to represent each Hopi Kachina. A few of these are on exhibition. Since there are some 150 of these dieties this is quite an undertaking. Edmund is interested in writing down Hopi legends and folklore which are apt to be forgotten or changed as his people become more and more influenced by white people. Several of these have been published by the Museum.

During each summer season there is a series of art and arts and crafts exhibitions at the Museum. These begin with the Annual Junior Art Show in the latter part of to by those who know about them. These are the Annual Hopi Craftsman Exhibition -devoted exclusively to the finest crafts of the Hopi Indians and the Annual Northern Arizona Photographic Exhibition, by amateur and professional photographers of Northern Arizona.

Nor should the mention of the Museum's many contributions to the fields of science be neglected. Two of the most noteworthy are its discovery of ancient pit house ruins buried under the ash of Sunset Crater east of Flagstaff. By using charred roof beams to date the ruins by the tree ring method it was found that Sunset Crater erupted about 885 A. D. And the excavation of the Ridge Ruin east of Flagstaff is where remarkable discoveries of ancient textiles, artifacts, and ball courts were made.

Two Hopi Indians, Edmund Nequatewa and Jim Kewanytewa, are the custodians of the Museum. They greet visitors, conduct them through the display rooms and make explanations of the exhibits shown.

The skeleton of a sloth, discovered in a cave near Flagstaff, is transported to the Museum by field workers. Before the Museum was organized a wealth of scientific discoveries was lost to the people of Arizona.

School children of Flagstaff receive instruction in the making of Hopi pottery. The Museum program is designed to stimulate interest in arts and sciences among children and adults. Visitors to Northern Arizona are always welcome.

In April the work of children of the third to eighth grades in the public and Indian schools of Northern Arizona is shown. Various exhibits of photographs, paintings, drawings, crafts, and the like are on display for two week periods, while two other annual exhibitions are always looked forward The scope and work of the Museum of Northern Arizona is constantly broadening and intensifying. It is an institution used and valued by the people of Northern Arizona and Flagstaff in particular. It is indeed a treasure chest for everyone to profit from and to enjoy.

COVERING an area of 25,000 square miles of sunburnt, sandy desert, grizzly, phantom-like cacti, vari colored, naked buttes and hills, and blacken ed lava beds of extinct volcanoes, the Navajo Indian Reservation-the largest in the Unit ed States is a land of enchantment. It covers a vast area through northern Ari zona's Coconino, Navajo and Apache coun ties and far into New Mexico. Here the Navajo who calls himself the "Aristocrat of the Southwest," was first seen by white man when Coronado made his journey through their country in 1540.

The Navajo belongs to the wide-spread Athapascan linguistic group, and like most of the Athapascans, call themselves Dine, meaning "the people." How the term came to be applied to them is not known although there are two or three theories accounting for it. One theory derives the term from the Tewa words "Navajo" meaning a large area of tillable land. In 1630 Alonza Bena vides after writing an account of the Gila Apache spoke of a northern group whom he called the "Apaches de Navajo." The term was not applied to the tribe, but to the territory they occupied. He believed that Navajo meant "great planted fields" and there is evidence that at the time of the earliest Spanish contacts the Navajo did cultivate the land, use irrigation and erect huge granaries for their crops.

From the first contact with Spanish explorers until the tribe was pacified by Kit Carson in 1863, the Navajos were a warlike group, acquiring cattle, horses, sheep and other goods by raids against the Pueblos and Mexican settlements.

When the Spaniards conquered the pueblo dwellers in 1692, the Navajos fled to Can yon de Chelly, where they lived in compara tive peace for more than a century. As they increased in number, they grew bolder and resumed their old raiding. After acquisition of this territory from Mexico, two treaties of peace were made with the Navajo. One with Doniphan, the other by Colonel Wash ington, but neither of them put an end to the raids. In 1863 Colonel Kit Carson took an expedition into the heart of the Navajo country, killed many of their sheep and cattle so they were without means of sup port, and finally bottled them up in Canyon de Chelly. From there the whole tribe was sent to Bosque Redondo, Fort Sumner, New Mexico. They were kept here four years as prisoners of war.

Here they were given land to till, but for three successive years cutworms and drought brought them crop failure. Among their other tasks, the Navajo were set to work clearing river bottom lands, and epi demics of smallpox and pneumonia wrought havoc among them. Finally, declaring the land was accursed they staged a sit down strike which they refused to end. As govern ment charges on ration, they cost too much and they were finally returned to their homeland, after the chiefs promised they would be good Indians.

When they arrived at Fort Defiance a few head of sheep were issued to each by the government. Since that time the tribe has increased from the eight thousand who were captured to almost fifty thousand; their sheep, cattle, horses, goats and reser vation have all increased.

Furthermore, during the eighty years the breed of sheep has been improved with governmental assistance. The advent of the trader on the reservation has stimulated the arts of silver work and weaving, making it possible to obtain other goods.

The primary material basis of Navajo life lies in their herds of sheep and goats supplemented by agriculture. All of them also own horses and some today are raising herds of cattle. The Navajo move their herds over the land in accordance with the needs of grazing and water but they are really not nomads since every family moves within a limited area. In general, the flocks are herded on the high plateaus or in the mountains during the summer reasonably near a spring or stream. In winter they use snow for water and the sheep graze on what ever withered grass and brush they can find, although boughs are cut from the trees if the snow is exceptionally deep.

This mode of life makes villages impossi ble. Usually each family lives by itself and

DRAWING FOR ARIZONA HIGHWAYS BY ROSS SANTEE

the houses are scattered. It is rare to find as many as three houses clustered together.

Each family has two localities depending upon the season, and there are two types of houses, the hogan of logs and mud for winter and the brush shelter for summer. Although the hogan is a rude type of shelter and devoid of any decorative embellishment, the description of its prototype in mythology is described in poetic and beautiful terms. That is, the dieties built with poles of white shell, turquoise, obsidian, and four layers of the same materials. The floor was covered with a rug of obsidian, abalone, white shell, and turquoise and the door was curtained with a four fold blanket of dawn, sky blue, evening twilight, and darkness. The top was covered with rainbows and sun-beams.

After the winter hogan is finished, it is dedicated with a ceremony to invoke the blessings of and to honor benevolent powers and ward off the malevolent ones. Dry white corn meal is rubbed on each of the five main timbers of the house in a fixed order beginning with the south door post. Then the meal is sprinkled across the hogan in the direction travelled by the sun and a prayer is said. Then a medicine man comes and sings ceremonial songs for the house. He acts as the leader and the others join in the singing. There is a House Song for each of the cardinal directions, to the God of Dawn and the God of Twilight and to several dieties. There are twelve songs in all. These are actually one song repeated with only the name of the power addressed changed.

The Navajo also build a sweat-house nearby. It is small and built like the conical hogan, except for the doorway and the absence of the smoke hole. In use, a number of stones are heated in the fire and then placed inside the sweat-house. The Navajo strips to a breech clout, crawls inside and the entrance is closed with a blanket. After remaining twenty minutes or longer, the Navajo comes out, rolls in the sand or plunges into the stream if located near one. Both men and women use the sweat bath at all seasons of the year, and it is frequently used in the course of the long ceremonial chants.

The Navajo is a shy, retiring fellow in company of strangers; but when alone with his own kind he is merry and jovial, and much given to jest and banter.

The clothing of the modern Navajo is made almost entirely of materials obtained by trade, but the buckskin moccasins and the jewelry are of their own manufacture. Both men and women wear their hair pulled straight back and tied with a string at the back of the neck in a large and compact queue. The men ordinarily wear blue denim trousers and shirts, and for headgear either a silk handkerchief or the largest hat obtainable. The higher the crown on the hat the more desirable it is. Their own touchis to be found in the jewelry. Large silver belts of conchos, often set with turquoise, are worn around the waist; from their ear lobes hang pieces of flat polished turquoise suspended by a loop of string; around the neck are strands of beads of shell, coral, turquoise, and silver; on the fingers are rings of silver and turquoise and frequently a bow guard of leather decorated with silver and turquoise work is worn on the wrist. A moccasin of red dyed buckskin covers the top of the foot and comes well above the ankle, where it is fastened with thongs or silver buttons. The soles of the moccasins are always of cowhide. In cold weather the men wrap a blanket around themselves.

The modern costume for women consists of a long sleeved velvet shirt ornamented with silver buttons down the front, or with United States dimes and quarters used as buttons. The skirt falls to about six or eight inches from the ground, but its width is its distinctive feature. It is made of cotton cloth with strips of contrasting color sewed around it in three or four places and is often twelve to fifteen feet wide. It is this extreme width which causes it to billow out and flare when the wearer walks, and there is usually more than one skirt of the same kind beneath it. Her moccasins are the same as those worn by the men, although she may wrap a piece of white buckskin around her lower leg upon festive occasions. The woman wears as much or more jewelry than the man, the chief difference in theobjects being a number of bracelets instead of the bow guard. Today the woman wears a bright colored Pendleton blanket around her shoulders as a shawl. The woman's dress, like so many elements of Navajo culture, exemplifies their genius in borrowing materials from other peoples and reworking it into something distinctively their own. Their mythology, weaving, silver work and sand paintings can all be traced historically to some other people, yet all of these have been so reworked and infused with their own ideas that they are now typically Navajo.

The art of working silver was learned from the Mexicans and is not believed to be more than eighty years old. Although many silversmiths are now employed in the adjacent towns and equipped with more adequate tools, the description which follows is based on the tools traditionally used.

The smith's tools are as follows: a home-made forge roughly constructed of stone and adobe, a rude goat or sheep skin bellows, anvils of scrap iron, wedges of any metal base they could find. The silver is melted in clay crucibles or ones obtained from the trader. The moulds into which the silver is poured are cut in wood or modeled in clay. A blowpipe, borax for soldering, knives, awls, shears, hammers, files, pliers, punches and steel stamps are all purchased. The basic material is the Mexican silver dollar, which is either melted or hammered into desired shape, although United States silver coins are often used as buttons.

The chief articles made are beads, bracelets, rings, silver disks for belts, earrings. Jewelry of silver and turquoise is the Navajo's proudest possession, and it is in this medium that he saves and banks - not money. As salesmen of their products the Navajo equals the Yankee, and traders say the Navajo enjoys nothing as much as driving a sharp bargain.

Despite the most famous of all the Navajo arts is the woven rug made by the women. Despite the fact that this product is known all over the world, that the annual trade in rugs runs to hundreds of thousands of dollars and that it is the most dependable article to trade for white man's goods, the art of weaving among the Navajo has a brief but complex history. It is estimated to be about one hundred and fifty years old, the first written record dating from 1780.

The loom on which the weaving is done was borrowed from the Pueblo Indians and the wool was acquired from the Spanish. Their first textiles were blankets made entirely for their own use. They entered into trade with the Spanish later. From the beginning of the nineteenth century until the captivity in 1863 they wove a product known as the Bayeta blanket. Bayeta is Spanish for English baize, a red dyed cloth of finely spun wool which the weavers unravelled and respun to make the weft for their blankets.

When their flocks were destroyed and the tribe was moved to Bosque Redondo weaving came to a standstill. When they returned to their old territory four years later the government gave new flocks of sheep, issues of cotton clothing, cheap cotton twine for weaving warp, Germantown yarns and analine dyes. Soon afterward the traders came to the reservation and weaving became an industry, producing for sale rather than for their own use. It was largely the trader's influence that changed the basic product of their looms from a blanket to a rug. At first there were some very poor products, but eventually standards of color, design, weave, dye, etc., were established to insure the market value of the Navajo rug.

Accompanying if not strictly paralleling these changes in weaving materials were the changes in design. The earliest blankets, like those of many of the Pueblo tribes, were striped. During the period 1800-1863 a horizontal zigzag motif was added to the stripes, sometimes meeting in a diamond in the center. After the return from captivity the diamond design rapidly displaced the older terraces and stripes. At about the beginning of the twentieth century, a fourth style having a border was introduced. Within each style there are many variations in color and complexity of design, but most of them are geometric patterns.

There is a great deal of preparatory work before the actual weaving of the fabric upon the loom begins. The wool has to be sorted and the long strands spun into warp strands. Then the wool is washed with suds made from the yucca root and after it has dried carded. Spinning is done with a distaff, a two foot length of smooth wood with a round disk attached to it about six inches from one end. The distaff is held in the right hand and the carded wool to be spun in the left. The upper end of the distaff is placed in the wool and with a few turns catches in its strands. While the distaff is spun with the right hand, the wool is pulled out into a long string with the left. When the wool has been spun to the required length and thickness, it is wound on the distaff until it is full and then wound into balls.

The wool may be left in natural color, or it may be dyed either with native vegetable dyes or with commercial dyes. When using the native dyes, the weaver must know the plants and minerals required to get the desired color and some substance to make the color fast.

The loom is set up between two upright posts with a cross piece at the top and bottom. When the warp strand has been wound around two smooth sticks, they are tied by the ends to the cross pieces, and the lower one is either buried or weighted to keep the warp tight during weaving. The weaver sits in front of the loom and works from the bottom up, and the loom is so set in the frame that it can be lowered. When the blanket is half finished, it is reversed and woven from the other end to the middle.

The front and rear strands of the warp are crossed in the middle, and the front strands and rear strands each have a separate heald, so that they can be crossed after each weft thread has passed through, thereby locking them in position. The loom set varies with the type of weave, but the weaver uses one or two battens to beat down the weft, and a type of wooden comb for pressing it down. All the weaver's different colored yarns are before her. The design is kept in mind and worked out as she weaves. While there are many details about setting up the loom, keeping the blanket sides straight, variety of weaves, changing yarn, etc., which have not been described, the fundamental principles of Navajo weaving have been indicated.

The Navajo wife owns her own house or hogan, its furniture, her children, some sheep and their wool, the blankets she weaves, her jewelry, and sometimes a few horses. The Navajo man owns his horses, saddle, much turquoise and silver jewelry, and he may also own some sheep which he may have inherited from his mother. Either husband or wife may sell or trade what they own. However, either usually consults the other about any transaction of importance. The wife enjoys going to the trading post to sell or barter her wool or blankets, and the husband often accompanies her and acts as interpreter and adviser, leaving her free, however, to make final decisions.

Ceremonies of the Navajo differ from other tribes. If the body is ill or the spirit troubled, a ceremony results, just as a doctor or priest is called among the whites, with the difference it is announced in advance -except in cases of emergency. A small fortune in sheep, horses, or jewelry is spent in giving a chant, as the patient or relatives must pay the medicine man his fee and feed the people who gather to witness the ceremony. Of these the Mountain Chant is perhaps the most famous and lasts from ten to fourteen days climaxed by the Fire Dance.

In the Fire Dance, or Fire Play, the most perfect specimens of Navajo manhood are selected for the dance. As the legend goes, these dancers have been approved and massaged by the Navajo gods. They are dressed only in breech clout and moccasins, with their otherwise naked bodies plastered with white clay and their hair falling long and loose down their backs. Now begins the dance 'midst the thunder beat of the drums and the high quavering cry of the dozen or more fire dancers. Into the living fire they leap and cavort, with flaming brands of cedar bark in their hands with which the dancers literally bathe one another, seemingly immune to danger. The sight is both weird and spectacular, and as the dance continues to the end, the spectators stand awe-stricken and wondering. Wondering if indeed the Navajo gods from on High have not really imparted to their mortal children an immunity to all harm.