.N3M28 
 
THE GENTILE SYSTEM 
 
 OF 
 
 THE NAVAJO INDIANS 
 
 BY 
 
 WASHINGTON MATTHEWS, M. D., LL. D 
 
 MAJOR AND SURGEON, UNITED STATES ARMY 
 
 DELIVERED AS A LECTURE BEFORE THE ANTHROPOLOGICAL 
 SOCIETY, WASHINGTON, D. C. 
 
JOURNAL OF 
 
 AMERICAN FOLK-LORE. 
 
 VOL. III. APRIL-JUNE, 1890. No. IX. 
 
 THE GENTILE SYSTEM OF THE NAVAJO INDIANS. 
 
 1. IN the most extensive and, to my mind, the most reliable ver 
 sion which I have recorded of the great creation and migration 
 myth of .the Navajos, more than two thirds of the story is told before 
 the first mention of an existing gens is made. Men (or anthropo- 
 pathic animals and anthropomorphic gods, as they may better be 
 considered) had ascended through four lower worlds to this world ; 
 they had passed through many dire vicissitudes ; they had increased 
 and warred and wandered ; they had been almost exterminated by 
 evil powers; the sacred brothers the Navajo war-gods had been 
 born, had grown to manhood, and had in turn slain the evil tormen 
 tors of their race, before the ancestors of the nuclear gens of the 
 Navajos were created. 
 
 2. That portion of the legend which gives an account of the origin 
 and accession of each gens, and the origin of its name, fills fifty 
 closely written folio manuscript pages. To repeat it in its entirety 
 would make this paper too long, and would convey much information 
 that is foreign to the matter now under consideration ; therefore it 
 is thought best to give only an abridgment of the story in this con 
 nection, reserving the unabridged tale for future publication. 
 
 3. When the goddess Estsanatlehi went, at the bidding of the 
 sun, to live in the western ocean, and the divine brothers, the war- 
 gods, went to Thoyetli in the San Juan valley to dwell, Yolkai 
 Estsan, the White Shell Woman, went alone into the San Juan 
 mountains, and there she wandered around sadly for four days and 
 four nights, constantly mourning her lonely condition, and thinking 
 how people might be created to keep her company. On the morn 
 ing of the fifth day the god Qastecyalgi came to see her, and having 
 heard her plaint, promised to return in four days more. When he 
 came back he brought with him several other gods, whose long 
 names need not be mentioned here, and all these powers, with their 
 combined efforts, and by means of many ceremonies, created a hu- 
 
 1*1 2. 8 
 
QO Journal of A merican Folk-Lore. 
 
 man pair out of two ears of corn, a yellow ear for the female and 
 a white ear for the male. The wind-god gave to these the breath of 
 life ; the god of the white rock crystal gave them their minds ; and 
 the goddess 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 to intermarry with them, and from these 
 are descended the gens of Tse'jinkini, which signifies Dark Cliff 
 House, or House of the Dark Cliffs. They are so called because 
 the gods brought from the houses in the cliffs 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 number of counters 
 used in the game of kesitct. Others have said that it is " threescore 
 years and ten," which they say is the ordinary life of 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 were accepted, 
 it would give for the existence of the nuclear gens of the present 
 composite 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 place called 
 Tse'lakaiia, 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 the next day 
 went to look for it, but sought in vain. The next night they once 
 more saw the gleam, and the next 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 been deceived, that the fire they 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 the wil 
 derness, and they embraced one another in joy. The strangers said 
 that they had lived in that canon only a few days, and that they had 
 come thither from a distant and miserable land where they had lived 
 on ducks and snakes. They were given the name of Tse'tlani, which 
 signifies Turn-in-a-Canon People, from the place in which they were 
 
The Gentile System of the Navajo Indians. 91 
 
 found. As they did not claim for themselves a special creation, they 
 were supposed to have escaped the fury of the destroyers (anaye) by 
 virtue of some divine quality. Hence they were called 0ine 0igini, 
 holy or sacred people, as were other gentes who joined afterwards. 
 
 5. From the place where they met, this combined people moved to 
 o'0oko n ji, or Bitter Water, where they remained only a few days. 
 Then they went to Tca'olgaqasdji, where they lived long and culti 
 vated corn. When they -had been here fourteen years, another small 
 group of people came into their neighborhood : these were also con 
 sidered 0ine 0igini, as they had escaped from the alien gods. They 
 said they came from the mountain of Dsilnaogil, and they were there 
 fore given the name of Dsilnaocilni, or Dsilnaoc.i'10ine. 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 they finally came and lived beside the older gentes, and have 
 ever since been close friends with them (i. e., became members of 
 the same phratry). The new arrivals dug in the old pueblo ruins 
 and found pots and stone axes ; with 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 following the 
 Dsilnaogilni all over the land for many years. Sometimes they 
 would discover the dead bushes that remained from their old camps ; 
 sometimes they would find the bushes still partly green ; occasionally 
 they would find old and nearly defaced footprints ; but again they 
 would lose all traces of them. Now they rejoiced that they had at 
 last found those whom they had so long and wearily pursued. The 
 new-comers were observed to have arrow-cases (unlike the modern 
 Indian quivers) similar to those carried by the Dsilnaocilni ; for this 
 reason they were regarded as related to the latter, and therefore 
 these two gentes became very close friends (i. e., formed one phratry). 
 The strangers said they came from a land where there was much 
 yucca, and which they called for this reason Qacka n qatso. They said 
 they were the Qacka n 0ine or Yucca People ; but the older gentes 
 called them from their former home, Qacka n qatso, or Qacka n qats6- 
 0ine. 
 
 7. Fourteen years after the advent of the fourth or Yucca gens, 
 all these Indians (let us now call them Navajos) moved to the neigh 
 borhood of Kintyeli, a ruin in the Chaco Canon, which was even 
 then in ruins. They were now a good-sized party, and their scattered 
 campfires at night were so numerous that some strangers dwelling 
 on a far-distant mountain, observing the lights, came down to see to 
 whom all these fires could belong. These strangers camped with 
 the Qacka n qatso and Dsilnaogilni. They came from a place scuth 
 
9 2 Journal of A merican Folk-L ore. 
 
 of where is now Zuni, near the salt lake called Naqopa', which means 
 a horizontal brown streak on the ground, and for this reason they 
 were called Naqopa'-jzine or Naqopani. 
 
 8. After this occurrence the Navajos moved to a place on the 
 banks of the San Juan called Tsingobetlo, or Tree Sweeping the 
 Water (probably a birch). It was now autumn, and concluding to 
 remain here all winter or longer, they built warm qogans (huts) and 
 cleared land to be planted with corn in the spring. Six years after 
 they had settled in the San Juan, a sixth band came from a place 
 called Tsinajini or Black Horizontal Forest, and it bore this name 
 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 ; they made their clothes mostly of cedar-bark and 
 other vegetable fibres, and built stone store-houses among the cliffs. 
 
 9. Eight years after the Tsinajini joined the tribe, some strange 
 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 were 
 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 Tsin^o- 
 betlo. These people came, they said, from a place called Dsiltia', or 
 Base of Mountain, where an arroyo runs out from the mountain into 
 the plain, and they were therefore called Dsiltla'ni. As they were 
 seen to have similar head-dresses, bows, arrows, and arrow-cases to 
 those of the qa'nesa/ni, they were considered kindred of the latter, 
 with whom they are now closely related and cannot intermarry. 
 They introduced the art of making wicker bottles and pottery. 
 
 11. Five years later they had a very important accession to their 
 ranks in a numerous tribe from qa'paha-qalkai (White Valley among 
 the Waters), near the present city of Santa Fe. These had long 
 viewed in the western distance the mountains where the Navajos 
 dwelt, and wondered if any one lived there. After a time they de 
 cided to go to the mountains. They journeyed westward twelve 
 days .until they reached the mountains, and they spent eighteen 
 days travelling among them before they encountered the Navajos. 
 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, however, intermarriages had taken place, and the feelings 
 of friendship grew until at length the qa'paha'-0ine were adopted 
 by the Navajos as a new gens. 
 
 12. The qa'paha settled, near the rest of the tribe, at a point in 
 
The Gentile System of the Navajo Indians. 93 
 
 the San Juan valley named Hyiegin (Trails Leading Upwards). Up 
 to this time all the old gentes spoke one common tongue, the old 
 Navajo ; but the speech of the (^qa'paha was different. In order to 
 reconcile the differences, the chief of the Tsinajmi and the chief of 
 the qa'paha, whose name was G6 n tso, or Big Knee, met night after 
 night for many years to talk about the two languages, and to pick 
 out the words of each which were the best. But the words of the 
 qa'paha were usually the plainest and best, so the present Navajo 
 language resembles more the old qa'paha than the old Navajo. [It 
 is well to relate that this compliment to the qa'paha tongue was 
 uttered by one who was himself of this gens.] 
 
 13. Some years after the removal to Hyiegin, a party of Utes 
 visited the Navajos, and stayed all summer. In the autumn all de 
 parted, except one family, which remained behind with 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'yiskfe, or Sage-brush Hill, who 
 married a Navajo and became the mother of a large family. Her de 
 scendants are now the gens of Tsa'yiskfeni, 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 
 were joined by more people ; as these came from qa'paha-qalkai, 
 and 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'paha0ine. 
 
 15. About this time, or a little later, a large band of Apaches 
 came from the south to the settlement on the San Juan. "We 
 come not to visit you, but to join you," they said. "We have left 
 the Apaches forever." They were all members of one gens among 
 the Apaches, that of Tsejiniai, or Black Standing Rocks (i. e., a 
 trap dyke), under which name the Navajos adopted them as a gens. 
 They are now affiliated with the qa'paha, with whom they cannot 
 intermarry. Another (small) party of Apaches came later from the 
 same place as the last, and were added to the same gens. 
 
 16. In those days, there being famine in Zufii, some persons, in 
 cluding women, came over from that pueblo to the valley of the San 
 Juan to dwell with the Navajos. They came first to the qa'paha, 
 and were adopted directly into this gens. The gens of Zuni (Nanac- 
 geji n ) was formed later. 
 
 17. About the same time that the famine occurred at Zuni, it 
 prevailed also at Klogi, an old pueblo now in ruins, somewhere in 
 Rio Grande valley, not far from the present pueblo of Jemez. Fugi 
 tives from this place formed the gens of Klogi, which affiliated with 
 qa'paha. 
 
94 Journal of American Folk-Lore. 
 
 1 8. The next accession was a family of seven adults from a place 
 called 6<qani, or Near the Water ; under this name, as a gens, its 
 members affiliated with Dsiltla'ni, the people among whom they first 
 came to dwell. 
 
 19. The people who next joined the Navajos came from some 
 place west of the San Juan settlement. They were not a newly 
 created people ; they had escaped in some way from the alien gods, 
 and were therefore regarded as jzfine 0igini. They represented two 
 different gentes, (^qa'tcini and Kai-0ine, or Willow-people, and for a 
 while they formed two gentes in the tribe ; but in these days all 
 traces of this division has been lost, and they are all now called 
 without distinction qa'tcini or Kai. 
 
 20. Previous to this time the Navajos had been a peaceable tribe; 
 but now they found themselves becoming a numerous people, and 
 some began to talk of war. Of late years they had heard much of 
 the great pueblos along the Rio Grande ; but how their people had 
 saved themselves from the anaye, or alien gods, was not known. A 
 man named Napail-in9a got up a war party and made a raid on a 
 pueblo named Kinlitci, or Red House, and returned with some cap 
 tive women, from whom the gens of Kinlitci or Kinlitcini, is de 
 scended. 
 
 21. Next came a band of Apaches from the south, representing 
 two gentes, 0estcini (Red Streak) and Tlastcini (Red Flat Ground). 
 These were adopted as two separate gentes by the Navajos, and be 
 came affiliated with the Tsinajini (i. e., entered the same phratry). 
 
 22. Not long after the arrival of these Apache bands, some Utes 
 came into the neighborhood of the Navajos, camping at a place 
 called Tse'gi'yikani (a ridge or promontory projecting into the river), 
 not far from Hyiegin. They had good arms of all kinds and two 
 varieties of shields, one with a crescentic indentation at the top. 
 They 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 Navajos, forming the gens of Noga or Noga0ine (Ute people). 
 
 23. About the time they were incorporated by the Navajos, or 
 soon after, a party of these Utes made a raid on the Mexican settle 
 ments somewhere in the neighborhood of Socorro, and captured a 
 Spanish woman. She was their slave ; but her descendants became 
 free among the Navajos, and formed the Nakai-#ine (People of the 
 White Stranger), or Mexican gens, who are affiliated with the Noga- 
 0ine. 
 
 24. At the period of Navajo history which we have now reached 
 [evidently after the advent of the Spaniards], Big Knee, the chief of 
 the qa'paha, was still alive, but he was a very old and feeble man. 
 In those days they had a healing dance called natci0, which lasted 
 
The Gentile System of the Navajo Indians. 95 
 
 all winter ; but it has long ago fallen into disuse, and its rites are 
 forgotten. During one eventful winter, this dance was held for the 
 benefit of Big Knee at the sacred place called o'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'yetlini, and became affiliated 
 with the gentes of Noga0ine and Nakaijzfine. 
 
 25. On another occasion, during the same winter, some Apaches 
 came from their country to witness the dance of natci. Among the 
 women of the qa'paha was a wanton who became attached to a 
 young Apache, and secretly absconded with him when he left. For 
 a long time her people did not know what had become of her ; but 
 after many years, learning where 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 unusually fair skins, and 
 were much admired. They became the mothers of a new gens, 
 named Qaltso, or Yellow Bodies. 1 
 
 26. On another night of the same winter, while 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 who had left the shores of the great waters in the 
 west to join the Navajos. And now we shall hear the story of the 
 people who came from the western sea. 
 
 27. As before related (paragraph 3) Estsanatlehi, the goddess of 
 the west (who was created in the Navajo land and became the wife 
 'of the sun), went at the bidding of the sun to dwell in the western 
 ocean. After she had lived there some time on a floating home in 
 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 the arm, she made four persons 
 (two men and two women), who became the progenitors of the gens 
 of Qonaga'ni ; from the epidermis of her right side, under the arm, 
 she made four persons, from whom came the gens of Ki n aa'ni. In 
 like manner, from her left breast she made the four ancestors of the 
 gens of o'0itcini f rom the right breast the ancestors of Biga'ni ; 
 from the middle of her chest the ancestors of Qacklijni, and from 
 the middle of her back, between the shoulders, the ancestors of 
 Bic,ani. 2 These groups did not at first bear the names by which they 
 are now known. They were always recognized as distinct from one 
 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 coast of the mainland, and here they lived 
 
 1 Some explain this name as meaning Yellow Valley, and give it a local origin. 
 
 2 This gens is not mentioned again in the myth. 
 
96 Journal of American Folk-Lore. 
 
 thirty-four years and had many children. At the end of that time 
 certain mythic personages, called the twelve brothers, visited them, 
 and told them that there was a numerous and prosperous nation like 
 themselves dwelling far to the east. "We do not visit them," said 
 the twelve brothers, " but we stand on the mountains and view them 
 from afar." This news produced a great commotion among the 
 western people ; they discussed the matter for many days, and 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 dangerous journey that you are about to un 
 dertake, and it is well you should be protected on the way. I will 
 give you five of my pets for guardians ; " so she gave them a bear, 
 a great serpent, a deer, a puma, and a porcupine. She gave them, 
 too, five mystic wands : to those who became Qonaga'ni she gave a 
 wand of turquoise ; to those who became Ki n aa'ni, a wand of white 
 shell ; to those who became o'0itcini, a wand of red shell ; to those 
 who became Bica'ni, a wand of black stone ; and to those who be 
 came Qaclijni, a wand of red stone. Four days after this council 
 with Estsanatlehi 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 suffer 
 ings of the children. At the noon 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 different gens to that of the 
 turquoise wand-bearer stooped down, tasted the water, and exclaimed, 
 " It is bitter water." At once the people named her o'0itcini, or 
 " Bitter Water," and her gens has borne the same name ever since. 
 
 3 1. 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 were living. The people of 
 the spring, who greeted the wanderers pleasantly, and made them 
 welcome, said that they had been created at the spring, and had al 
 ways dwelt there ; that the place was called Maico' or Coyote Spring, 
 and that they were the Marine or Coyote People. The wanderers 
 stayed four days at the spring, during which time they used every 
 persuasion to make the Coyote People accompany them. 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 on the fifth 
 clay from the arrival of the wanderers Coyote Spring was deserted. 
 To-day among the Navajos this people are more often called Maico'- 
 
The Gentile System of the Navajo Indians. 97 
 
 0ine, from the locality where they were first found, than Marine, 
 which was their original name. 
 
 32. After leaving Coyote Spring they travelled all day, but found 
 no water. The next day the bearer of the white shell wand stuck 
 his wand into the sand and manipulated it, as the bearer of the tur 
 quoise wand had done on a previous occasion, and, as before, water 
 came forth from the hole he made. A woman, not of the wand- 
 bearer's gens, stooped to drink. " It is muddy," she cried. "Then 
 your name shall be Qacli'j " (Mud), said those who heard her, and her 
 gens has borne the name of Qaclijni, or Mud-people, ever since. 
 
 33. They journeyed on (resting at night) until the following noon 
 without water ; when then they halted, the red shell wand was thrust 
 into the ground, water came forth, and one of the Maigo' women 
 knelt down to drink. She declared the water to be saline, or alkaline 
 (0oko n j), so to her and to her descendants was given the name of 
 o'0oko n ji, or Saline Water. (See paragraph 60.) 
 
 34. They travelled until night, and again until noon of the next 
 day without finding water ; then they rested, and the bearers of the 
 black wand tried their power. As usual water rose, but this time it 
 was sweet and clear. All drank heartily and filled their vessels, 
 except one boy and one girl, who stood by and gazed at the water. 
 " Why do you not come and drink before the water is all gone ?" some 
 one said ; but they only stood still and looked. As the girl had her 
 arms folded under her dress (the Navajo woman's dress is open at 
 the axillae, so that the arms may be folded under it in cold weather), 
 the people turned to her and called her Biga'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 was 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, which still stands. 
 Here the puma killed a deer. The bear sometimes killed rabbits. 
 The deer ran along with the crowd, doing neither good nor harm. 
 The snake and the porcupine were not only of no use, but they were 
 an annoyance, for they had to be carried along ; so the people deter 
 mined to part with them. When they reached Natsisan (now called 
 Navajo Mountain) they turned their porcupine pet loose, and this is 
 the reason there are so many porcupines there now. At a place 
 called Tse'jintcicilya, in the land of the Oraibes, they released the 
 
98 Journal of American Folk- Lore. 
 
 snake among the lava rocks, and this is why snakes are so abundant 
 there. 
 
 37. It was late in the autumn when they arrived at a place called 
 Yotso, or Big Bead, and saw some human footprints which were not 
 very recent. This discovery occasioned great excitement, for the 
 tracks it was thought might have been made by the people whom 
 they wished to find. The majority of the wanderers determined to 
 sojourn at Yotso all winter, but the remainder, including parts of 
 different gentes, became impatient, hurried on, and were not seen 
 again. The present Jicarilla Apaches are supposed to be descended 
 from a portion of these rash seceders. Those who remained at 
 Yotso sent, at different times, 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 winter. 
 
 38. When spring came, the wanderers set out again on their jour 
 ney. They had not travelled many days until they reached a place 
 marked by one great lone tree, and here some of the o'0itcini said, 
 " Our children are weary and feeble ; their knees are swollen ; their 
 feet are blistered ; we will go no farther. In the course of time the 
 people will come here and find us." So they remained, and became 
 the gens of the Tsinsaka^ni, or People of the (Lone) Tree, and they 
 are now affiliated with the o'0itcini, from whom they separated. 
 
 39. Soon after this event the wanderers reached a place called 
 Pi n bigo', or Deer Spring, and here another party left the o'0itcini, 
 giving excuses similar to those of the former deserters. They be 
 came the gens of Pi n bico', or P^bigo'jzfine (Deer Spring People), and 
 they are now affiliated with the o'0itcini. At P^bigo' the wanderers 
 desired their pet deer to go ; but he refused to depart, and he re 
 mained with the gens of Pi n big6'0ine. What finally became of him 
 is not known. 
 
 40. In the course of time, all that was left of the western wander 
 ers, after these various desertions, arrived at Hyiegin. Big Knee 
 still lived, but he was feeble and in his dotage, and he was not re 
 spected and obeyed as of old. Some of his gens, the qa/paha, fan 
 cied they detected a relationship between themselves and the newly 
 arrived Qaclijni, because their names had a somewhat similar mean 
 ing, and their head-dresses and accoutrements were fashioned alike ; 
 therefore they invited the Qaclijni to dwell with them. These two 
 gentes have ever since been close friends, yet f qa'paha may marry 
 with Qaclijni. 
 
 41. The bear was the last pet which the wanderers retained. When 
 their journey was done they said to him, " Our pet, you have served 
 
The Gentile System of the Navajo Indians. 99 
 
 us well ; but we are now safe among our friends and need your ser 
 vices no more. If you wish you may leave us. There are many of 
 your kind in Tcuckai (the Chusca 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 western immigrants was still name 
 less the people to whom Estsanatlehi had given the wand of tur 
 quoise. They did not remain long in the San Juan valley, but soon 
 after their arrival set out on a journey toward the south. After 
 some days' travel they encountered, among some high overhanging 
 rocks, a small band of strangers speaking a language like their 
 own, a poor people who lived mostly on wild seeds and small ani 
 mals. They said that they had been created in the place where 
 they were then livirig, only seven years previously and that they 
 called themselves Tse'0ine, or Rock People. The nameless gens, 
 however, gave them the name of Tse'nahapilni, or Overhanging 
 Rock People. 
 
 43. The new-found people told the nameless gens of some Apaches 
 who dwelt farther to the south, but not far away ; and thither both 
 bands repaired. They found the Apaches at a place called Tcohonaa, 
 where they all recognized each other as friends and embraced one 
 another. When the visitors had been three years among the 
 Apaches, the Tse'nahapilni left for the north to join the Navajos ; 
 but the nameless gens stayed longer. At the end of that time, hav 
 ing determined to return to the Navajo camps on the San Juan, they 
 packed up their goods and prepared to leave. As they stood all 
 ready to depart, an old woman 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, and have dwelt 
 seven years without a name among us ; but you shall be nameless 
 no longer ; you are henceforth Qonaga/ni, or Walked-around People " 
 [literally, People of the Walking-place]. 
 
 44. When the Qonaga'ni returned to the Navajos they found that 
 their friends the Tse'nahapilni had arrived before them, and had be 
 come close friends with the Tlastcini, the 0estcini, the Kinlitcini, 
 and the Tsinajini. The Qonaga'ni became in time affiliated with the 
 gentes of 6'qani, Naqopani, Dsiltla'ni, and qa'neza'ni, and these 
 five gentes are now as one people ; no man of one gens can marry a 
 woman of another. 
 
 45. There are two of the original gentes who came from the Pa 
 cific coast, namely, Ki n aa'ni and Bigam, of whom it is not told when 
 they received their names. The former signifies a high-standing 
 stone building or pueblo. The people were not thus named because 
 they had ever built or inhabited such a house, but because they were 
 
i oo Journa I of A merican Folk-L ore. 
 
 for a long time encamped near an old ruined pueblo. [The stone 
 wall mentioned in paragraph 36 probably has relation to their name.] 
 
 46. About the time of the return of the Qonaga/ni, while some of 
 the gens of (^qa'paha were dwelling at Agahala' (Scattered Wool), 
 these sent out at nightfall two of their children to a neighboring 
 spring for water. When the children returned they brought with 
 them two extra water-bottles, and being questioned, they said they 
 had taken them away from two strange children whom they met at 
 the spring. The parents denounced the theft, and went towards the 
 spring to seek the strange children. When the latter were found 
 they said : " We belong to a band of wanderers who have come from 
 a distance and are now encamped on yonder mountain. They sent us 
 two here to look for water." " Then we can give your people a name," 
 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 camp 
 of the strangers with water, and an invitation for the latter to join 
 them. From this it came that f o'bajnaaji is affiliated with qa'paha. 
 
 47. The legend next tells us of two bands 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'0oko n ji, but afterwards 
 joined the qa/paha, among whom their descendants are now called 
 
 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 Nanac^eji 11 . This is the Navajo 
 name for the Zufiis, and is said to mean Black Horizontal Streak. 
 
 49. About the time of the advent of the Zufiis, or a little later, 
 there came from the west a strange people with painted faces, who 
 were named 0ildjehi, and were supposed to have been a part of the 
 nation now called Mojaves in the Colorado Canon. The 0ildjehi 
 
 .first affiliated with the Nanacgeji?, but to-day they are better friends 
 with the qa'tcini than with the Nanacgeji n . 
 
 50. On one occasion a war party containing members of different 
 gentes went from the San Juan settlements to a pueblo called Cai- 
 beqogan, or House of Sand. Here two girls were captured by men 
 of Tse'jinkini and brought home as slaves. There was a salt lake 
 near the House of Sand, and they had in the pueblo a gens of Salt 
 People to which the girls belonged. From these girls have de 
 scended a numerous race, who bear the name Acihi, or Salt People, 
 and who are affiliated with the capturing gens of Tse'jinkmi. 
 
 51. 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 of the Navajo Indians. 101 
 
 pueblo there was a gens of qa'paha, and hearing there was such a 
 gens among the Navajos, they had come to join them ; thus they be 
 came a part of qa'paha, and were not formed into a new gens. 
 
 52. A war party which went to raid around the pueblo of Jemez 
 (called Maijzfecki'j, or Coyote Pass, by the Navajos) brought back 
 with them a girl. She was captured by one of the Tlastcini ; was 
 sold by her captors to one of the Tse'jinkini ; and became the progen 
 itor of the gens of Maijzfeckijni, or Coyote Pass People, who are now 
 affiliated with Tse'jinkini, the gens of the purchaser. 1 
 
 53. At some time, just when it is now forgotten, seven people 
 voluntarily joined the Navajos, coming from a place called Tse'yana- 
 9o'ni, or Horizontal Water under the Cliffs. They came at first for 
 a short visit only ; but, deferring their departure from time to time, 
 they remained as long as they lived. The gens of the Tse'yana^oni 
 is now extinct. 
 
 54. Once, while some of the gens of Biga'ni were encamped at 
 a place called (^6'tso (Big Water, or Big Spring), near the Carrizo 
 Mountains, a man and a woman came out of the water and entered 
 their camp. They formed the gens of 6'tsoni, or Great Water 
 People, who are affiliated with the Biga'ni. 
 
 55. We must now consider to what 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 mate 
 rial of three sorts : The first is unquestionable myth, which, though 
 it may not contain a word of truth, is pregnant with instruction to the 
 discriminating seeker after truth ; the second lies across the dividing 
 line between myth and history, material in which the gaps of im 
 perfect tradition have been filled by the imagination of minds taught 
 in the mythic school; the third is historic, not absolutely veritable 
 history (for where is such history to be found ?), but consisting of 
 oral traditions not sufficiently antiquated to be greatly corrupted. 
 It must be studied throughout inferentially, and with the correcting 
 aid of all pertinent accessories ; with the aid of comparative my 
 thology, of comparative history, of geography and topography, of the 
 philology and sociology of the Navajos and surrounding tribes, with 
 the aid of the traditions of surrounding tribes and of the written 
 history of the Spanish, Mexican, and American occupations of New 
 Mexico. It will be observed that much of the tale relates to events 
 which occurred after the advent of the Spanish, and a very high 
 antiquity is not claimed for the most remote events. With these 
 observations concerning the legend kept in view, we will find it a 
 valuable 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. 
 
IO2 Journal of American Folk-Lore. 
 
 56. As previously intimated, I have collected other versions of 
 this legend from Indians, but none as complete as the one presented. 
 They all agree pretty well as to the main points ; the differences are 
 mostly in the less important particulars, such as the mythic circum 
 stances under which the names originated. Usually the differences 
 are easily reconcilable, or apparent differences vanish on close exam 
 ination. 
 
 57. This story, as I give it, is an epitome of one related by a ven 
 erable shaman named Qagali Nez, or Tall Chanter. It accounts for 
 only thirty-eight gentes ; but this informant named for me on this 
 and other occasions forty-three gentes in all, twa of which, he said, 
 were extinct. Among the various lists in my possession none give 
 a higher number than this ; in some I find names not included in the 
 list of Tall Chanter, but these are offset by the omission of names 
 which he mentions. If each name represents a different organiza 
 tion, we have at least fifty-one gentes in the tribe ; but since we find 
 in the legend instances of one gens having two names (paragraphs 
 19, 31), it is not improbable that some names are duplicates. It is 
 quite possible, however, that gentes derived from captive or en 
 slaved women added to the tribe since it has grown wealthy and 
 powerful, 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 below (paragraph 61) a complete list of these names. 
 The first forty-three are those of Tall Chanter, arranged to the thir 
 ty-eighth in the order in which they are introduced in the legend. 
 Beside lists which I have obtained directly from Indians, I have had 
 opportunities of consulting two others, unpublished, one of which 
 was collected by Captain John G. Bourke, U. S. Army, and the other 
 by Mr. R. L. Packard. Both were procured at Fort Defiance, Arizona, 
 through the same interpreter, Mr. Henry Dodge. The legend, as I 
 have said, accounts for thirty-eight gentes ; it may be only a coinci 
 dence 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, while upon those not so marked all, 
 or nearly all, agree. 
 
 59. In many cases two forms of the name of a gens have been 
 noted, one with and one without a termination (0ine, ni, or i) mean 
 ing " people." When 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 cases, to simplify study, I omit the word " people" from the 
 English equivalents. 
 
 60. Where more than one translation has been given me, I record 
 
6l. LIST OF THE NAVAJO GENTES. 
 
 The Gentile System of the Navajo Indians. 103 
 
 in the list that which I regard with the most favor ; some of the 
 translations are necessarily very liberal. There are names for which 
 no brief English equivalents could be found, and for which, therefore, 
 approximate equivalents had to be given ; names which require expla 
 nation rather than definition or synonymy, and names whose etymo 
 logical definitions do not convey their true meanings. For instance, 
 Tse'jin^iai signifies a long line of black rocks standing up like a 
 wall. This might mean an artificial wall of blackish stones, but as 
 the result of much inquiry I learned that the name refers to a local 
 ity where there exists a formation known in geology as trap-dyke. 
 This is the equivalent which I give for Tse'jin0iai in the following 
 list, and yet I would not venture to put both words in a dictionary 
 as synonyms. In the name o'ok6 n ji the element 0oko n j refers to 
 anything which has a distinct but not repulsive taste ; it has syno 
 nyms in other Indian languages, but not in English ; it applies to 
 sugar and salt, but not to bitter barks. " Sapid " is not an equivalent. 
 I know from explanation only that the water is supposed to have had 
 an agreeable saline taste. 
 
 i. 
 
 2. 
 
 3. 
 
 4. 
 
 5. 
 
 6. 
 
 7. 
 
 8. 
 
 9. 
 10. 
 ii. 
 12. 
 13. 
 14. 
 15. 
 1 6. 
 17. 
 1 8. 
 19. 
 20. 
 21. 
 22. 
 23. 
 24. 
 25. 
 26. 
 27. 
 28. 
 29. 
 
 Tse'jinkfni, 
 
 Tse'tlani, 
 
 Dsilanocjlni, 
 
 Qacka n qatso (Qacka'qatso^ine), 
 
 Naqopani, 
 
 Tsinajini, 
 
 qa'neza' (Qqa'neza'ni), 
 
 Dsiltla'ni, 
 
 Qqa'paha (Qqd'paha^ine), 
 
 Tsa'yisktyni, 
 
 Tse'jin^iai (Tse'jin^iai^ine), 
 
 Klogi (K16giine), 
 
 ^6'qani, 
 
 qa'tcini, 
 
 Kai (Katyine), 
 
 Kinlitci(Kinlitclni), 
 
 ^estcmi, 
 
 Tlastcini, 
 
 Nogk (NoQa^ine), 
 
 Nakai (Nakai^ine), 
 
 go'yetlini, 
 
 Qalto (Qaltso^ine), 
 
 Maigo' (Maigo^ine), 
 Qaclij (Qaclijni), 
 
 Biga'ni, 
 TsinsakaYni, 
 
 House of the Black Cliffs. 
 
 Bend of a Canon. 
 
 Encircled Mountain. 
 
 Much Yucca. 
 
 Brown Streak ; Horizontal on the Ground. 
 
 Black Horizontal Forest. 
 
 Among the Scattered (Hills). 
 
 Base of the Mountain. 
 
 Among the Waters. 
 
 Sage-brush Hill. 
 
 Trap-dyke (see paragraph 60). 
 
 (Name of an old pueblo.) 
 
 Beside the Water. 
 
 Among the Red (Waters or Banks). 
 
 Willows. 
 
 Red House (of Stone). 
 
 R^ed Streak. 
 
 Red Flat. 
 
 Ute. 
 
 White Stranger (Mexican). 
 
 Junction of the Rivers. 
 
 Yellow Bodies (see paragraph 25, note). 
 
 Bitter Water. 
 
 Coyote Spring. 
 
 Mud. 
 
 Saline Water (see paragraph 60). 
 
 Folded Arms. 
 
 Lone Tree. 
 
 Deer Spring. 
 
IO4 
 
 Journal of American Folk-Lore. 
 
 30. Tse'nahapflni, 
 
 31. Qonagd'ni, 
 
 32. Ki n aa'ni, 
 
 33. Co'bajnaaj (Co'bajnaaji), 
 
 34. Nanacge'ji , 
 * 35 . <ildjehi, 
 
 36. Acihi (AcihiYine), 
 
 37. Mai^eckfj (Mai^eckijni), 
 *38. Tse'yanago'ni [extinct], 
 
 39. 6'tsoni, 
 
 40. Bigam or Dsilgani, 
 
 41. Tse'yikehe (Tse'yikehe^ine). 
 *42. Tlizilani, 
 
 *43. Qo'tcalsigaya [extinct], 
 
 *44- Aatsosni, 
 
 *45. Nad'i (Nad'i^ine), 
 
 *46. Yoo, 
 
 *47. Ka'nani, 
 
 *48. Tse'gqani, 
 
 *49. Loka (Loka^ine), 
 
 *5o. Tse'^eckfjni, 
 
 *5i. Qoganlkni, 
 
 Overhanging Rocks. 
 
 Place of Walking. 
 
 High-standing House. 
 
 Two Come for Water. 
 
 Black Horizontal Stripe Aliens (Zufii). 
 
 (Not translated.) 
 
 Salt. 
 
 Coyote Pass (Jemez). 
 
 Horizontal Water under Cliffs. 
 
 Great Water. 
 
 Brow of Mountain. 
 
 Rocks Standing near One Another. 
 
 Many Goats. 
 
 Water under the " Sitting Frog " (?). 
 
 Narrow Gorge. 
 
 Monocline. 
 
 Beads. 
 
 Living Arrows. 
 
 Among the Rocks. 
 
 Reeds (Phragmites). 
 
 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 some 
 cases, where we feel certain of a local origin for the appellation of a 
 gens, the legend presents a different origin, as in the cases of the 
 western immigrants who are said to be named from women who, in 
 turn, were known by words they uttered when they first tasted of 
 the different magic fountains. Where the legend positively states 
 that a gens was named after a locality where it lived, we have little 
 reason to doubt its truth, even though the interpretation of the name 
 may not be above criticism. We are told in the above story not 
 only that many of the gentes originated in localities whose names 
 they bear, that often they had lived so long in these localities that 
 the memory of man ran not to the contrary, that they believed them 
 selves created in these localities, but we are told that after they had 
 become incorporated with the Navajo nation they often continued to 
 live more or less apart down to a very recent day. Even when they 
 lived in close proximity to one another in the valley of the San Juan, 
 they did not mingle houses and farms promiscuously, but members 
 of the same gens held somewhat together. Members of each and 
 every gens may now be found scattered all over the Navajo country, 
 and chiefs seem to exercise only local authority ; yet if you ask a 
 Navajo what people any particular chief controls, he will invariably 
 
The Gentile System of the Navajo Indians. 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, some of them are 
 still more prevalent than others in certain localities. However, 
 leaving all uncertainties aside, we have facts enough to warrant us 
 in concluding that most of these gentes were originally, and until 
 quite recently, local exogamous groups, and not true gentes, accord 
 ing to Morgan's definition. Whenever, as mentioned in the tradi 
 tion, from an alien race a new accession came, it received, as a rule, 
 the name of the tribe or pueblo from which it was derived, as if the 
 whole people thereof was regarded as an exogamous group. In few 
 cases (paragraphs 15, 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 organi 
 zation, by the Rev. J. Owen Dorsey, to whom I am indebted for the 
 information I here impart concerning them. They are now collected 
 on a government reservation, and are divided into a series of exoga 
 mous clans (gentes we may call them), but each clan represents a 
 different village in the Rogue River valley occupied by the Siletz 
 Indians within the memory of men now living, and bears the name 
 of the village from whence it came. As now no man may marry 
 within his own 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 of the Navajo gentes, but only 
 in one instance do I find a close similarity ; this is in the name of the 
 village of Tutuni, which has much the same sound and quite the same 
 meaning as that of the Navajo gens 6'tsoni, or People of the Great 
 Water. Having in view 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 
 difficulty seems to arise when we learn that they have different 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 be 
 longs to that of his father. There are some ethnologists who main 
 tain that the change from mother-right to father-right involves a 
 great advance in civilization or in social organization, and a great 
 lapse of time. There are others who consider the change 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 judge 
 
 VOL. in. NO. 9. 8 
 
io6 Journal of American Folk-Lore. 
 
 from the legend in which, as I will presently point out, descent in 
 both lines seems to be recognized as determining consanguinity. If 
 we have among the Navajos evidence of the existence of both 
 father-right and mother-right, and among the Rogue River Indians 
 evidence of father-right and no evidence to show that some regard 
 is not paid to mother-right, the argument in favor of a former iden 
 tity of laws regulating descent and a similar origin of gentes, among 
 these two tribes, will not appear unreasonable. 
 
 64. Although the names of the Navajo gentes are not now totemic, 
 the legend seems to indicate that some of them once were ; and al 
 though I have not discovered the existence of clan totems among 
 the Navajos to-day, there are passages in the legend, and there are 
 customs now existing among the people, which can be well explained 
 by assuming that such totems once existed. The original gentes of 
 the immigrants from the Pacific shore had, says the legend (para 
 graph 27) no names when the goddess Estsanatlehi sent them forth 
 on their eastward journey ; later they acquired names apparently 
 of local origin, like the older Navajo clan names. But when they 
 set out on their journey each clan was provided with a different pet, 
 a bear, a puma, a deer, snake, and a porcupine (paragraph 29). 
 The Navajo word (li n ), which in this connection I translate as "pet," 
 means a domestic animal of any kind, of late years especially a 
 horse ; it also means an animal fetich or personal animal totem. 
 In the myth of the Mountain Chant, a Navajo youth is made to ad 
 dress his deer mask as " cili n ," my pet. 1 I might, then, have given 
 the translation of this word as totem, and thus have avoided all argu 
 ment at the expense of the reader's enlightenment. Again, when 
 these clans had received local names, the pets were set free. These 
 passages, and others in the legend, allude in all likelihood, to the 
 former use of totemic clan-symbols, probably to the existence of 
 totemic clan-names, and possibly to a custom, not now practised by 
 the Navajos, of keeping in captivity live totemic animals, a cus 
 tom common to the ancient Mexicans 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 (o'0itcini), 
 becoming weary of travel, remained at a place called Deer Spring, 
 where they became afterwards known as the Pi n bi$6'ine, or Deer 
 Spring People ; that here the deer was desired to depart, but refused 
 to do so, and remained with the people who stopped behind at the 
 spring, and that what finally became of him is not known. Assum 
 ing that the immigrants from the west had once totemic names, we 
 
 1 The Mountain Chant: A Navajo Ceremony. Fifth Annual Report of the 
 Bureau of Ethnology, Washington, 1888, pp. 395, 466. 
 
The Gentile System of the Navajo Indians. 107 
 
 explain this part of the tale by saying that it was people of the deer 
 gens who stayed behind, and naturally gave their name to the spring 
 where they remained, that in the course of time they became as the 
 People of the Deer Spring, and that, as they still retain their old 
 totemic name in a changed form, the story-teller is constrained to 
 say that the fate of the deer is not known. On the same assump 
 tion, an explanation similar in part to the above may be given for the 
 origin of the names of some gentes not derived from the western 
 immigrants, such as the Maig6'0ine, or Coyote People, who were 
 picked up by immigrants en route. These called themselves Mai0ine, 
 or Coyote People ; but they are called now by the Navajos after the 
 spring (Maic^o') where they lived, the spring probably being named 
 from the people who dwelt there. The gens of Qacka n qats60ine, or 
 Much Yucca People, we are told (paragraph 6), was originally called 
 Qacka n 0ine, or Yucca People, and the land where it dwelt Oacka n qatso, 
 " because many yuccas grew there," say my informants. May we not 
 say instead, "because many people of the Yucca clan lived there " ? 
 Another circumstance which may be regarded as pointing to a for 
 mer 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 before they joined the Navajos the Tse'tlani lived 
 on duck and snakes (paragraph 4), we need not suppose that this is 
 said with a view to commiserate them on the inferiority of their diet, 
 but merely, perhaps, to show that they had not the same taboo as the 
 original gentes, and that, whatever other things they may have had in 
 common with the latter, they differed in this particular. 
 
 65. As we follow the tale, we observe that different gentes are 
 received into the tribe with different degrees of willingness on both 
 sides. In some cases two parties, meeting for the first time, throw 
 themselves at once into each other's arms. Clans dwelling on 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, arriving 
 among the Navajos, are received at once and without question. On 
 the other hand, we hear of clans who remain for a long time neigh 
 bors of the Navajos before they enter into tribal relations with them ; 
 of other clans descended from captives taken from 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 conjec 
 ture what social element produced this difference. I have little 
 doubt that this element was language. We observe that all gentes 
 derived from the Apaches, a tribe allied in language to the Navajos, 
 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 
 
io8 Journal of American Folk-Lore. 
 
 the reluctant. Reasoning then from the known to the unknown, we 
 can, if we accept the legend, without much difficulty distinguish the 
 gentes of Tinneh or Athabascan origin from those of alien origin in 
 the present highly complex tribe known as the Navajos. What lan 
 guage the qa'paha spoke we do not know, but the legend tells us 
 that it was different to the Navajo. I have procured a short list of 
 ancient Navajo words (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 all the languages 
 of the Southwest have been thoroughly studied that we can even 
 approximately determine all the elements of the Navajo tongue, a 
 tongue which will no doubt reveal an interesting array of loan-words 
 to the future philologist. 
 
 66. It may be noted that in the legend frequent allusions are 
 made to gentes forming with other gentes special friendships and 
 affiliations, which were often of such a nature as to preclude marriage 
 between members of different gentes. This system of affiliation 
 divides the Navajo gentes into a number of groups which have no 
 special names, and which in other respects differ somewhat from the 
 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 has adopted for us from the 
 Greeks. 
 
 67. Different informants divide the tribe into somewhat different 
 phratral groups. Tall Chanter made but nine phratries. Captain 
 Bourke's informant made eleven, with three independent gentes. 
 The numbers made by others range from eight to twelve. The ar 
 rangement of gentes into phratries are somewhat different. The ma 
 jority of these discrepancies may be accounted for otherwise than , 
 by supposing ignorance on the part of the informants, or error on 
 the part of the recorders. It is to be observed that in the legend 
 mention is made of cases in which gentes have in the course of 
 time changed their phratral affiliations, and there is one case given 
 where one gens belongs to two phratries (paragraphs 40, 68). In 
 quiry on this point 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 affiliated gentes. In short, the 
 Navajo phratry is not always a homogeneous organization, and infor 
 mants may differ without invalidating each other's testimony. It 
 would have been well had I found an intelligent man for each gens 
 to give me his own phratral affiliations ; but this plan did not occur 
 to me until quite recently, when the opportunity to pursue it was 
 lacking, and when I had advanced far in the study and comparison 
 of my records. 
 
The Gentile System of the Navajo Indians. 109 
 
 68. The nine phratries, as given by Tall Chanter, are as follows : 
 
 I. i, gqd'paha ; 2, Tsa'yisktyni ; 3, Tse'jin^iai ; 4, Klogi ; 5, Qaltso ; 6, go'baj- 
 naaj. 
 
 II. I, Tsinajini; 2, Kinlitci; 3, <estcmi ; 4, Tlastcini ; 5, Tse'nahapilni ; 6, 
 Tlizilani. 
 
 III. i, Tse'jinkfni ; 2, Acihi ; 3, Mai^eckij ; 4, Dsilnaocjlni ; 5, Qacka n qats& ; 6, 
 Tse'tlani. 
 
 IV. i, gqa'tcini ; 2, Kai ; 3, Nanacc.e'ji 11 ; 4, Tse'yikehe ; 5, <ildjehi. 
 
 V. i, go'yetlini; 2, Noga; 3, Nakai. 
 
 VI. I, go'tsoni ; 2, Bic.'ni ; 3, Qaclfj ; 4, Bigani ; 5, Ki n a<i'ni. 
 
 VII. I, goYitcini; 2, Pi n bigo'; 3, Tsinsaka^ni. 
 
 VIII. i, go'qani; 2, Dsiltli'ni ; 3, Naqopani; 4, Qqa'nezd' ; 5. Qonagd'ni. 
 
 IX. I, Maigo' ; 2, go^oko n ji. 
 Tse'yanago'ni and Qo'tcalsigaya are extinct. 
 
 69. The following are the eleven phratries recorded by Captain 
 Bourke : 
 
 I. i, go'tsoni ; 2, Bigani ; 3, Qaclfj ; 4, Tse^eckfjni. 
 
 II. I, Qonaga'ni; 2, Dsiltld'ni ; 3, go'qani ; 4, gqa'nezd' ; 5, Naqopkni. 
 
 III. I, Acihi; 2, Tse'jinkini ; 3, Mai^eckij. 
 
 IV. I, gqd'paha; 2, Qdltso ; 3, Tsa'yiskiYni ; 4, go'bajnaaj. 
 
 V. I, goYitcini; 2, Tsinsaka^ni ; 3, P^bigo' ; 4, Ac,o'ts6sni. 
 
 VI. i, go^ok6 D ji; 2, Tse'jin^iai; 3, Klogi. 
 
 VII. i, Nanac^dji" ; 2, gqa'tcini. 
 
 VIII. I, Dsilnaogflni ; 2, Yoo ; 3, Tse'yikehe; 4, Tse'nahapilni. 
 
 IX. i, Tlastcini; 2, Kinlitci; 3, Tsinajini; 4, ^estcini ; 5, Ka'nani; 6, L6ka. 
 
 X. i, Nakai ; 2, go'yetlini. 
 
 XL i, Ki n aa ; ni ; 2, Bigd'ni ; 3, Dsilgkni. 
 
 Qacka n qatso, Qoganlkni, and Kai are unaffiliated gentes. 
 
 70. At the first glance the above lists would seem to be widely 
 different ; but on examination this apparent difference is found to 
 depend largely on difference 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 
 man : 
 
 1. (IV.) gqa'paha, Tsa'yiski^ni, Qaltso, go'bajnaaj. 
 
 2. (IX.) Tsinajini, Kinlitci. (^estcini, Tlastcini. 
 
 3. (III.) Tse'jinkini, Acihi, Mai^eckij. 
 
 4. (VII.) gqd'tcini, Nanacc.e'ji". 
 
 5. (X.) go'yetlini, Nakai. 
 
 6. (I.) gotsoni, Qaclfj, Bi ? ani ; (XI.) Biga'ni, Ki'aa'ni. 
 
 7. (V.) go'^itcini, Pi n bic,6', Tsinsakd^ni. 
 
 8. (II.) go'qani, Dsiltld'ni, Naqopani, gqa'nez'. 
 
 9. (VI.) go'-oko n ji. 
 
 Among all phratry lists in my possession I find an equal or greater 
 agreement than the above concerning the well-authenticated gentes; 
 it is in giving the affinities of the ill-authenticated that the diversities 
 mostly occur. 
 
no Journal of A merican Folk-Lore. 
 
 71. The reasons assigned in the legend for the incorporation of 
 gentes into phratries are various. Sometimes two or more gentes 
 live as near neighbors for a long time and gradually become affil 
 iated (paragraphs 5, 7, 13, et al.) ; on other occasions two gentes dis 
 cover that their names are synonymous (paragraph 40), or that their 
 dress and accoutrements are alike (paragraphs 6, 10), and hence con 
 clude that some old relationship must exist between them ; but 
 when we come to recent and historic days, we find reasons of a dif 
 ferent character given. A man of the Noga or Ute gens captures a 
 Mexican woman ; her children take the name of Nakai, or Mexican, 
 as a gens, but they belong to the phratry of her captor (paragraph 
 23). Why ? Is it not because her captor became the father of her 
 children ? Again, men of Tse'jinkfni capture a woman of the Salt 
 gens of Caibehogan ; her children form the gens of Acihi or Salt, 
 and belong to the phratry of Tse'jinkini (paragraph 50). A man of 
 Tlastcini takes captive a woman of Jemez, but sells her to a man of 
 Tse'jinkini ; in this case the descendants belong to the gens of 
 Jemez, or Maijzfeckjmi, and to the phratry of Tse'jinkini; that is, 
 not to the phratry of the captor, but to that of the purchaser, who 
 is also no doubt the father of her children. We have some evidence, 
 then, that as the gens transmits mother-right, so the phratry trans 
 mits father-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 modern gentes are but 
 divisions of parent gentes which are now represented by the phra 
 tries ; in other words, that gentes have arisen by a process of seg 
 mentation. According to the legend, some such segmentation has 
 taken place to a limited extent among the Navajos (paragraphs 33, 38, 
 39), but in the majority of instances phratries are formed by the ag 
 gregation of gentes, a process exactly opposite to that described by 
 Morgan. We do not rely on the legend alone for evidence of this ; 
 it requires no argument to show that at least the gentes derived from 
 alien tribes must be additions to the phratry from without. Morgan 
 finds that among the tribes which he has studied the phratry bears 
 the name of one of its gentes, the gens which is supposed to 
 have suffered division. The Navajos give no formal name to their 
 phratries ; yet I find a tendency among them, when speaking of 
 their phratral affiliations, to refer more frequently to some one 
 gens usually the most ancient or most numerous than to any 
 other in the phratry. Thus a man of the gens of Tsa'yiskfeini in 
 the first phratry (paragraph 68) is more likely to say he belongs to 
 the phratry of ^qa'paha than to that of Qaltso. It is easy to be 
 lieve that this tendency might in time culminate in the permanent 
 selection of a name for a phratry. 
 
 Washington Matthews.