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an Indian within ten miles of him. When the Navahoes were held in captivity at Fort Sumner, New Mexico, from 1863 to 1867, they depended for subsistence mostly on rations supplied by the United States, and then these captives, at least, could be accurately counted. There were in 1867 7,300 in captivity.298 Owing to desertions on the one hand, and additional surrenders on the other, the numbers varied from time to time.

11. But while the majority of the tribe were prisoners of war, it is well known that all were not captured during General Carson's invasion in 1863, but that many still roamed at large while their brethren were prisoners. The count of the prisoners, therefore, does not show the strength of the tribe.