NOMADS OF THE DESERT

He rides with the grace and ease of one long accustomed to the saddle. It is not strange that this is so because horses have been a dominant influence in his life since earliest childhood. Among all men who ride horses he stands out for his distinctive bearing and his pride of horsemanship. A Navajo on his horse is something to see. He can jog along all day, tirelessly and unhurriedly, he and his pony an intimate and integral part of the landscape. His pony tracks in the sand are lost by the wind, but all the winds that blow cannot erase his mark on his endless acres or lessen the affection he holds for them. He is as much a part of the lonely land as the gnarled juniper flinching before the ungentle elements. Child of sun and sky-nomad of the desert-his is the way of the wanderer, his horizons the faraway dreaminess of sky and earth bounding his beloved land.

His domain is an expanse of sand, slick rock, mesa, mountain, canyon, butte, desert and plateau extending over a large part of northwestern Arizona, northeastern New Mexico and the southeastern corner of Utah. His reservation, both in size and population, is the largest Indian reservation in the United States.

This Page "TRADING POST AT TONALEA" Barry Goldwater

Opposite Page "GIRL FROM NAVAJOLAND" Josef Muench

The Navajos are a happy people. They do not demand too much from their surroundings and they make the most of what they get. They are a witty, friendly people, living as nomads, but when the occasion arises enjoy gathering at sings or small rodeos deep in their lonely land.

The land of the Navajo is a windswept empire of sun, sage, sand, mesa, canyon and plateau. Here the tribe has not only managed to survive but has increased at a rate greater than their white neighbors. Their future is grave, however, and is the concern of all of us in this country.

From their sheep, blankets and their jewelry many Navajos have been able to eke out a bare living. To compete in the world of today, the big need is education for young and old alike. They do not want to lose their entity as a tribe but want the right of all Americans to progress.

Navajoland, about the size of the state of West Virginia, measures 15,444,952 acres. Over these acres are scattered most of the 61,000 Navajos-12,000 families with a population density of 2.1 persons per square mile. This is low when compared to eastern states where in places like New York City there are as many as 400 people per acre, but it is high when compared to some areas adjacent to the reservation and tragically over-populated considering the low productiveness of the land. In 1868, when the defeated Navajos entered into treaty with the United States of America, the tribe numbered about 9,000. They are increasing at the rate of 1,200 each year despite the high death rate, particularly among children. Statistics are sad when applied to this tribe: 80 per cent are illiterate and cannot speak English, the average annual income per family is about $400, not enough even to cover the bare necessities of life. There are 24,000 Navajo children of school age, yet school facilities available can only serve 7,500. Sixty-six per cent of the tribe have had no schooling, and for the tribe as a whole the median number of school years is less than one. Medical services are desperately inadequate, the government supplying only six hospital beds per 1,000 population. The bright light in this dark picture has been the heroic work of missionaries serving as many Navajos as their medical facilities allow. Usable land has been seriously over-grazed to the extent that unfettered erosion is destroying much of what is left. While drainage from the reservation supplies only two and a half per cent of the water flowing into Lake Mead, it is estimated that 20 per cent of the silt deposited there is what was once the good rich soil of Navajoland. In one instance it has been noted that a wagon road ended in a gully 70 feet deep and 300 feet wide, of such intensity have been the torrential rains of summer, allowed to run off with savageness and to cut cruelly into the unprotected earth.

Now, though, the sun is beginning to shine through the dark clouds of economic stress that has for too long darkened the land of the Navajo. There will be more schools and better health facilities. There will be roads. Capable men are planning ways and means of increasing the income of these Indians so that they can survive in their own land, enjoy the heritage that is the right of all Americans. . . . R.C.