Navajo Silversmiths - Second Annual Report of the Bureau of Ethnology to the - Secretary of the Smithsonian Institution, 1880-1881, - Government Printing Office, Washington, 1883, pages 167-178
Matthews, Washington, 1843-1905
English
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Below is a summary of Navajo Silversmiths - Second Annual Report of the Bureau of Ethnology to the - Secretary of the Smithsonian Institution, 1880-1881, - Government Printing Office, Washington, 1883, pages 167-178
[Pg 167]
SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION—BUREAU OF ETHNOLOGY.
NAVAJO SILVERSMITHS.
BY
Dr. WASHINGTON MATTHEWS, U.S.A.
[Pg 169]ILLUSTRATIONS.
[Pg 171]NAVAJO SILVERSMITHS.
BY WASHINGTON MATTHEWS.
Among the Navajo Indians there are many smiths, who sometimes forge ironand brass, but who work chiefly in silver. When and how the art ofworking metals was introduced among them I have not been able todetermine; but there are many reasons for supposing that they have longpossessed it; many believe that they are not indebted to the Europeansfor it. Doubtless the tools obtained from American and Mexican tradershave influenced their art. Old white residents of the Navajo countrytell me that the art has improved greatly within their recollection;that the ornaments made fifteen years ago do not compare favorably withthose made at the present time; and they attribute this change largelyto the recent introduction of fine files and emery-paper. At the time ofthe Conquest the so-called civilized tribes of Mexico had attainedconsiderable skill in the working of metal, and it has been inferredthat in the same period the sedentary tribes of New Mexico also wrought
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