The principal source of the money supply was the United States
Government, which maintained many forts and army posts in the
Territories as a safeguard against the Apache and Navajo Indians.
During the Civil War, the Navajo Indians broke out and raided the
Mexican settlements along the Rio Grande and committed many outrages
and thefts. The Government gave these Indians the surprise of their
lives. An army detachment of United States California volunteers
swooped suddenly down on the Navajos and surprised and conquered them
in the strongholds of their own country. The whole tribe was forced
to surrender, was disarmed, and transported to Fort Stanton by the
Government.

This military reservation lies on the eastern boundary of New Mexico,
on the edge of the staked plains of Texas. Here the Navajos were kept
in mortal terror of their hereditary enemies, the Comanche Indians,
for several years, and they were so thoroughly cowed and subdued by
this stratagem that they were good and peacable ever after. The
Government allowed them to reoccupy their native haunts and granted
them a reservation of seventy-five miles square. These Indians are
blood relatives to the savage Apaches. They speak the same language,
as they are also of Mongolian origin. They came originally from Asia
in an unexplained manner and over an unknown route. They have always
been the enemies of the Pueblo Indians, who are descendants of the
Toltec and Aztec races. Unlike the Pueblo Indians, who live in
villages and maintain themselves with agricultural pursuits, the
Navajos are nomads and born herdsmen.

The Navajo tribe is quite wealthy now, as they possess many thousands
of sheep and goats, and they are famed for their quaint and beautiful
blankets and homespun, which they weave on their hand looms from the