Among the Navaho Indians

Extract from a letter :

We have been in these new parts since last November, among the Navahoes. Shiprock is our P. O., sixty miles away in the N. W. corner of New Mexico. About halfway between is a Presbyterian Mission. We have calls chiefly from the men and older boys ; but to reach the women largely it must be in their dwellings, and one must know their language. They are quite open, however, and very hospitable. We have portions of Scripture in Navaho, and about fifty hymns which my daughter helped to fit to Indian tunes, so as to sing the truth, of which they are fond, as well as read to them. In the summer their flocks of sheep and goats are driven where pasture may be found, and they live in hogans (huts) of which I sent you some pictures. See April issue of S. S. Visitor.

We have lived on the frontier of these mission fields with the assurance that this is God's place for us, and are very happy in the work. Desert life and its accompaniments are a sort of second nature to us, and we take things as they are. I already was an old man when I came on the Reservation twelve years ago. Our daughter Clara speaks and sings and reads the Navaho. She has never used an interpreter, as she was much in the camps of the Navahoes and learned the language from them. Our youngest, Marie, a child of our old age, whose playmates were little Indian girls who came to see her, also learned their language, in part, and she loved these children. We helped her to study at home until she was ready for high-school, then she went to Oakland, California, for two years ; then for a time worked in a medical laboratory ; then in a large dispensary. It was war-time then, and teachers' salaries high. She left the dispensary to take a school, and went to Prescott, Arizona, to take her examination to teach in this State. She had never taught, and the Superintendent said it was no use for her to try. Out of 153 only 31 passed, but she was one" of these. She then taught as an assistant in a Government school ; this year she is Principal ; and now she writes that she will be here in June to take up mission work with us ! Our cup runneth over.

Pardon me for telling you all this. Of course we were much pleased with all her success, but with none so much as this.

My wife, who is in poor health, spent the winter with our son, 300 miles south of here, and Marie is to come with her in June. We now hope to have a home again out here on the desert-a thing we had well nigh despaired of.

You ask about our living. We have always lived simply. The Navahoes keep flocks, and meat is cheap and good. We get a few vegetables, squash and melons from the Indians. Other things we get from a trader twenty-five miles away. Of course, these are more expensive, but social demands are nil; so we can live here as cheaply as almost any place. Carl Armerding has once visited us, and Mr. Ironside also.

There are things in this desert life which some count privations and hardships more than they could bear ; so when anyone writes about coming out, I have a fear lest they have not counted the cost.
We have translated into Navaho, Genesis, Jonah, part of Isaiah, some Psalms, Matthew, Mark and John, and some parts of the Epistles. Last year we were in Chin-Lee, and Clara, with a native woman, translated 20 English hymns into Navaho; so we have now about 50 hymns.

The Reservation is nearly the size of Pennsylvania, with 30 or 40 thousand Navahoes in camps of 2 or 3 families each.

Not one in ten of the Navahoes has ever been at school or speaks English, though 60 years ago the U. S. Government promised one school for every 40 Indian children.

Pray for us, that the Lord may open hearts to the Saviour for their eternal salvation. Our address is, H. A. Holcomb, Immanuel Mission, Shiprock, New Mexico.