Page:Memoirs of the American Folk-Lore Society V.djvu/172

142 outer, the other at the inner end,—made usually of woven cedar bark. In winter they brought in plenty of wood at night, closed both curtains, and made the house warm before they went to sleep. Their bows were of plain wood then; the Navahoes had not yet learned to put animal fibre on the backs of the bows.178 Their arrows were mostly of reeds tipped with wood; but some made wooden arrows.180 The bottom-land which they farmed was surrounded by high bluffs, and hemmed in up-stream and down-stream by jutting bluffs which came close to the river. After a time the tribe became too numerous for all to dwell and farm on this spot, so some went up in the bluffs to live and built stone storehouses in the cliffs,179 while others—the Tsĭnadzĭ'ni—went below the lower promontory to make gardens. Later yet, some moved across the San Juan and raised crops on the other side of the stream.180

392. Eight years after the coming of the Tsĭnadzĭ'ni, some fires were observed at night on a distant eminence north of the river, and spies were sent out to see who made them. The spies brought back word that they had found a party of strangers encamped at a place called Tha'nĕzá', Among the Scattered (Hills). Soon after, this party came in and joined the Navahoes, making a new gens, which was called Tha'nĕzá'ni. The strangers said they were descended from the Hadáhonigedĭne', or Mirage People. The remains of their old huts are still to be seen at Tha'nezá'.

393. Five years after the Tha'nĕzá'ni were added, another people joined the tribe; but what gods sent them none could tell. They came from a place called Dsĭltla' (Base of Mountain), and were given the name of Dsĭltla'ni. As they had headdresses, bows, arrows, and arrow-holders similar to those of the Tha'nĕzá'ni they concluded they must be related to the latter. Ever since, these two gentes have been very close friends,—so close that a member of one cannot marry a member of the other. The Dsĭltlá'ni knew how to make wicker water-bottles, carrying-baskets, and earthen pots, and they taught their arts to the rest of the people.

394. Five years later, they were joined on the San Juan by a numerous band who came originally from a place called Thá'pahahalkaí, White Valley among the Waters, which is near where the city of Santa Fé now stands. These people had long viewed in the western distance the mountains where the Navahoes dwelt, wondering if any one lived there, and at length decided to go thither. They journeyed westward twelve days till they reached the mountains, and they spent eight days travelling among them before they encountered the Navahoes. Then they settled at To'ĭndotsos and lived there twelve years, subsisting on ducks and fish,169 but making no farms. All this time they were friendly to the Navahoes and