The blankets manufactured by these Indians are superior in beauty of color, texture and durability to the fabrics of their Spanish neighbors. Their government is in strict accordance with the welfare of the whole community. Dishonesty is held in check by suitable regulations, industry is encouraged by general consent, and hospitality by common practice. As warriors they are brave and daring, making frequent and bold excursions into the Spanish settlements, driving off herds of cattle, horses and sheep, and spreading terror and dismay on every side. As diplomatists, in imitation of their neighbors, they make and break treaties whenever interest and inclination prompts them.[11] The Navijo country is shut in by high mountains, inaccessible from without, except by limited passes through narrow defiles, well situated for defence on the approach of an invading foe. Availing themselves of these natural advantages, they have continued to maintain their ground against fearful odds, nor have they suffered the Spaniards to set foot within their territory as conquerors. The relations above given of the Mawkeys and Navijos (pronounced _Navihoes_, and sometimes so written), correspond with the accounts that from time to time have been brought to us, by hunters and trappers who have occasionally visited them. A few years since there appeared in the newspapers an account of both these tribes, by a trapper. He stated that the Mawkeys had "light, flaxen hair, blue eyes and skins of the most delicate whiteness."[12] I have two other accounts wherein both are described much as before stated. Their manufactures are particularly dwelt upon. Some of them wore shoes, stockings and other garments of their own make. Their stone houses are noticed as well as their large herds of cattle,--also their cultivation of fruits and vegetables. They raise cotton, which they manufacture into cloth, as well as wool. Fire arms are unknown to them. "Their dress is different from that of other Indians, and from their Spanish neighbors. Their shirts, coats and waistcoats are made of wool, and their small clothes and gaiters of deer skin." These accounts might be considered fanciful, had we not high authority which fully corroborates them. Humboldt says, "The Indians between the rivers Gila and Colorado, form a contrast with the wandering and distrustful Indians of the savannas to the east of New Mexico. Father Garces visited the country of the Moqui, and was astonished to find there an Indian town with two great squares, houses of several stories, and streets well laid out, and parallel to one another. The construction of the edifices of the Moqui is the same with that of the _Casas grandes_ on the banks of the Gila."[13]