cloth with a long nap, much finer in appearance than the scarlet
strouding which forms such an important article in the Indian trade of
the North. It was originally brought to the Navajo country from
Mexico, but is now supplied to the trade from our eastern cities. The
Indians ravel it and use the weft. While many handsome blankets are
still made only of the colors and material above described, American
yarn has lately become very popular among the Navajos, and many fine
blankets are now made wholly, or in part, of Germantown wool.

The black dye mentioned above is made of the twigs and leaves of the
aromatic sumac (_Rhus aromatica_), a native yellow ocher, and the gum
of the piñon (_Pinus edulis_). The process of preparing it is as
follows: They put into a pot of water some of the leaves of the sumac,
and as many of the branchlets as can be crowded in without much
breaking or crushing, and the water is allowed to boil for five or six
hours until a strong decoction is made. While the water is boiling
they attend to other parts of the process. The ocher is reduced to a
fine powder between two stones and then slowly roasted over the fire
in an earthen or metal vessel until it assumes a light-brown color; it
is then taken from the fire and combined with about an equal quantity
in size of piñon gum; again the mixture is put on the fire and
constantly stirred. At first the gum melts and the whole mass assumes
a mushy consistency; but as the roasting progresses it gradually
becomes drier and darker until it is at last reduced to a fine black
powder. This is removed from the fire, and when it has cooled
somewhat it is thrown into the decoction of sumac, with which it
instantly forms a rich, blue-black fluid. This dye is essentially an
ink, the tannic acid of the sumac combining with the sesquioxide of
iron in the roasted ocher, the whole enriched by the carbon of the
calcined gum.