YOURS SINCERELY

SOME BULL: Ref. Page 13, column 1, line 2, January issue ARIZONA HIGHWAYS. HOw many people have asked you for a picture of a 17,000 bull buffalo. Or is that the weight of all the bulls? E. E. Ely St. Louis 16, Missouri 17,000 pounds of bull is some bull. A bull that size charging across the prairie would cause earthquakes in China. But alas! the animal's weight was an error in proofreading instead of an achievement of nature. Correct size: 1700 pounds.

KARL MAY AND THE INDIANS: Some time ago an acquaintance in the U. S. sent me some issues of your wonderful ARIZONA HIGHWAYS Magazine.

For many years I am a fan in Indian affairs, I study ethological problems about Indian life, history and traditions and write articles concerning this matter. As I am export-merchant I trust that once I shall have an opportunity to travel through your famous country, which up today is only known to me from books, etc., also from some of the excellent ARIZONA HIGHWAYS issues.

Maybe you heard something about Karl May, a famous German author who wrote many good novels about life in the U. S. and other countries, which were colonized hundred years ago. Karl May's books are read all over the world. His best work is "Winnetou," the story of an Apache chief who became from a savage man a real Christian. Perhaps Karl May has idealized a bit, but my opinion is that the Apaches were better than their reputation. I should be delighted, if you would bring something about this brave people in your magazine. Because of their tragic history the Apaches are more magnetic for me than the famous Navajo tribe. I think there were made many failures in the Indian politics of the past. If all American people would have known the soul of the Apache like for instance-the great General Crook, the Apache wars would Have ended earlier. But today it is easy to speak of human errors in the past, of course. Therefore, I should state that as well the Apache as the American pioneers who brought a new civilization to them were brave men who merit our admiration and our respect!

In Radebeul near Dresden, is the famous Karl May museum, a show of strange things about ancient North-American Indian culture and history. The manager is Mr. Patty Frank, a friend of mine, who travelled as a cowboy with Buffalo Bill's show.

Wilhelm Manig Koelner Strasse 354 Leverkusen-Bayerwerk Germany

OF NAVAJO BELIEFS: Doubtless you have received many letters praising you for the August 1950 issue on the Navajo. It is excellent, and you deserve every bit of commendation for it. However, there is one point that should be noted-and which, for the sake of the record, I request you to publish if you have not done so already.

The article, "Good Medicine," is excellent, except for the implications in the last paragraph. If one considers the Navajo attitude toward the medicine man as analogous, say, to that of Spiritual Healing or the Sacrament of Unction in some of the Christian denominations-there need be no real insistence upon "putting the medicine men out of business" in order to get across modern medical techniques. One might consider Navajo ritual as hocus-pocus, but that is not the question. As long as the people accept modern medication for physical well-being-then there can be no quarrel with their desire to regain spiritual equilibrium through the native traditions. The article, "Good Medicine," might imply there is but one alternative to modern medical practice-that of the medicine man, with complete disregard for "pills and potions." However, where the doctor has won the confidence of the People they will accept any medication-until he states they need no more. But then they may have a ceremony of some sort to restore spiritual balance. Or, sometimes, the doctor gives his medicine while the Sing is progressing. If the desire is to get the Navajo to use modern medicines, then their use of native ceremony for complete well-being (the spiritual as well as the physical) as supplement to the doctor's medicines need not be a focus of attack. After all, many feel the psychosomatic factors in illness are important-and perhaps that is why the medicine man's ritual has its place in the Navajo thinking about disease. This desire for peace and well-being need not be "overcome by education and Christian teaching" -which may explain why the medicine man cannot "be wholly replaced by the white doctor.' It is possible for doctor and medicine man to work together, just as it is possible for doctors and clergy to work together with-or on-a patient. It must be admitted that much of the resistance to modern medicine and techniques is due to poor attitude and handling of the People by the medical service itself, not always by initial fear of ancient prejudice.

The story, "The Wishing Pile," is interesting. But, again, for the sake of the record, it must be realized that not every Christian missionary requires abandoning Navajo tradition as part of Christian belief and practice. Some missionaries do require a complete break with Navajo tradition and beliefs, but other missionaries encourge the same traditions. In certain instances, the missionaries, themselves, will assist in obtaining the services of the medicine man for the patient. So that, to return to the first article, which "education and Christian teaching" do you mean to "overcome the ignorance and superstition of the Navajo centuries?" Who decides where the line is between true knowledge and religion? This gets close to the presumption that "my way is right and your way is all wrong . . ."(Fr.) Eugene Botelho St. Christopher's Mission Bluff, Utah

OPPOSITE PAGE

"CHIRICAHUA WILDFLOWER MEADOWS" By WELDON F. HEALD. Each summer the high Chiricahua Mountains, in southeastern Arizona, stage one of the West's finest wildflower shows. Here are sunny slopes spread with golden helenium among the ponderosa pines on the trail to Fly Peak. This photograph was taken last August with a 4 x 5 Crown Graphic, 152 MM Kodak Ektar lens, 1/50th second at f.8. "We counted forty-seven different kinds of flowers," the photographer says, "on this one hike and passed larkspurs more than seven feet high."

THE DESERT

A desert owl and a rattlesnake Live togetherOut of the weather In a badger hole When the sun went down, the owl came outBlinked its eyes and looked aboutThe rattlesnake slithered around And made for the hole, deep in the ground.

The packrats were busy as could be Pilin' up chollas 'round a tree To protect their runways from marauderin' pests Who were hell-bent on destroyin' their nests.

Out of the night A weird cry! A mountain lion-against the sky. A lone coyote Gave out a note So shrill . . . It gave the den 'zens of the desert A fearsome chill. . . Then . . . All was still.

SOUTHWEST SHEEPWALK IN SPRING

The long wide mesa spreads beneath blue sky: Its sweet new grasses lightly rooted where The night-rain stands in puddles, and closeby Their mothers, young lambs wobble in thin air, On new-found legs that scarce the weight will bear; The springtime welcomes this clean flock of sheep Within its broad expanse: the sun glows warm: And three black lambkins seem about to creep Among some white ones birthdayed in the storm, To add their touch of artistry and form: "One black to each one hundred white," the count: This flock quite large is doing well, is dear To the young Navajo who leads his mount Nearer the spring, where water crystal-clear, Quenches the thirst of those who happen here; The sun, the mesa, and the shepherd keep An eager watchfulness that not one stray May wander too far from the other sheep: That graze then rest then frisk, and grow the way The greatest Shepherd planned this southwest day.

BACK COVER

"IN OLD TUCSON" By GEORGE TOUSLEY. an attraction for travelers is Old Tucson, not much more than a hop-skip-and-jump from the city itself. This was built at a movie set by Columbia Pictures in 1940 for the filming of "Arizona," which featured Jean Arthur and William Holden. With movie magic, fresh adobe buildings were aged overnight. A week after the set was built it looked like a genuine replica of an old sun-beaten frontier villageand it still does. The photograph was taken with an 8 x 10 Korona View Camera, 12-inch Turner-Reich Triple Convertible lens, Ektachrome, one second at f.64.