This reprint of a 1909 volume portrays the life and history of the Navajo people, based on the personal experiences of an unusually enlightened white observer. The first three chapters cover the Navajo's early history, discovery by Spanish explorers, evidence of a prehistoric and possibly ancestral race, and the beauties of the Navajo's rugged desert homeland. A chapter on wars and treaties discusses the causes of the Indian Wars, hostilities between Navajos and whites from 1849 to 1864, the Navajo's defeat by Kit Carson, their enforced settlement at Bosque Redondo, and the return to their reservation. Other sections cover: (1) manners and customs (pastoral life, the hogan, domestic life, marriage, slavery, discipline, games and sports, burial and the medicine man); (2) religion and morals (pantheism, superstition, general abstinence from alcohol, and low crime rate); (3) mythology; (4) ceremonies (the role of the chanter, the Mountain Chant, the fire play, dances, and sandpaintings); (5) arts and crafts, especially weaving and the work of silversmiths; and (6) civilization (the white man's view of the Navajo's future). An appendix contains official letters and affidavits of civil and military government officials, pertaining to the Navajos and their country, the causes leading to the Navajo war of 1861, and the practice of whites, particularly Mexicans, capturing and holding Navajos in slavery. This book contains many photographs. (SV)