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The Navajo Indians, an industrious people, once gathered wild vegetables, farmed corn and beans and hunted deer, elk and antelope.
In the early 17th. Century, sheep, introduced by the Spanish took hold. They soon superseded farming and the Navajos became a pastoral people.
Restricted to reservation life in 1868, over grazing by their growing flocks eroded the grasslands of their reservation. By the 1930's the Federal Government deemed it necessary to reduce their sheep, horses and cattle by 50%. Left without a means of support the government then introduced irrigation projects, enabling them to return to farming.
However, their flocks, though smaller, have remained an integral part of their lives. Children too take their pastoral duties seriously. This young girl, tuckered out from retrieving two wayward lambs, but afraid to let go, struggles to tuck them under her arms as she sits down to rest. |
