They had always been known as a pastoral race, raising flocks and
herds, and tilling the soil. They owned, at the time we began war upon
them, sheep and ponies by the thousand, and raised large quantities of
corn, wheat, beans, and other products.
They numbered between twelve and fifteen thousand, and could put three
thousand mounted warriors in the field. They were industrious, the men
doing all the hard work instead of putting it upon the women, as do
the Indians of the plains and all of the marauding tribes. They
manufactured their wearing apparel, and made their own weapons, such
as bows, arrows, and lances. They wove beautiful blankets, often very
costly, and knit woollen stockings, and dressed in greater comfort
than did most other tribes. In addition to a somewhat brilliant
costume, they wore numerous strings of fine coral, shells, and many
ornaments of silver, and usually appeared in cool weather with a
handsome blanket thrown over the shoulders.
The Navajos and the New Mexicans were almost continually at war.
Expeditions were frequently fitted out in the border towns by the
class of New Mexicans who possessed no land or stock, for the sole
purpose of capturing the flocks and herds of the Navajos.
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