Aboriginal life among the Navajoe Indians, near old Fort Defiance, N.M. - 02e70ca76cdcc024fde00296004acd30 (page 1)

; On item: War Department, Corps of Engineers, U.S. Army. Geographical Explorations and Surveys. West of the 100th Meridian. Expedition of 1873. Under Command of Lieut. Geo. M. Wheeler, Corps of Engrs.; Plate number: No. 10; Descriptive legend of view no. 10: The Navajoes at home, near old Fort Defiance, an abandoned military post, where their agency is now situated. They are an intelligent and fierce people by nature, and were a warlike and predatory nation until subdued by the United States troops in 1859-60. They are celebrated for their wealth in the varieties of stock, and are said to possess greater numbers than all of the other wild tribes of New Mexico combined. Since their subjugation they have made good progress toward civilization, and are now cultivating the soil, and raising enough of grain and vegetables to satisfy their own needs. In the pictures will be seen, as a specimen of their husbandry, ears of corn suspended from the tree upon the right. The frame-work suspended by raw-hide thongs is their native loom, at which the squaw with the necklace of beads is working upon the unfinished blanked. The Navajo blankets, woven by the women of the tribe, are famous the world over for their excellent quality and close texture, which makes them impervious to water. One of them, with black and white stripes, may be seen upon the person of the "brave" who sits on the right of the group.