Long before I knew Choh had any claims to being one of the artists of the tribe, I had been struck, on several occasions, when closely studying

the peculiar expressions of his face, unknown to him, by certain lights of intelligence that would come into it in spite of its pitiful deformity; these were much enhanced by his overflowing good-humor, for he is a warm

hearted, happy type of an Indian, in spite of his repulsive exterior. It is wonderful to see the affection that Esta-yeshi has for this scarred and half-crippled son of hers. She is never so happy as when he is about; has taught him all that lies within her power to teach; does everything for him, and is pleased to the last degree when he will allow her to decorate his person with all those trappings so impressive in the eyes of the Indian, and in which we see him decked out in the accompanying engraving. The two eagle feathers at the side of his head denote his claim to royal blood.

Fort Wingate, in common with all United States military stations on the frontier, has its building known as the trader's store, though the postoffice and other minor establishments are included under the same roof. This building is a great resort for the idle ones among the Navajos, who, during most of the time on week-days, lounge about on its veranda, incessantly smoking their cigarettes, or if it be cold they practice the same around the stove in the centre of the main room within. Choh forms no exception to this almost general failing, but is, indeed, reckoned among the most inveterate of the regular habitués. When he comes, however, his time is rarely spent in idleness, for, after rapidly puffing through one or two cigarettes, he will saunter over to the distant end of one of the long counters of the salesroom, where he is soon at work on some of the sheets of wrapping-paper there to be found, with his bit of illy sharpened pencil. It is a curious sight to see this Indian at his drawing. He is obliged to bring his face almost down in contact with the paper, on account of his eyes, which were permanently injured by the burn I have already alluded to above. In this position the great mat of coarse hair which covers his head tumbles all over, so as almost to hide the subject which engages him, from the observer at his side.

The first time I overlooked Choh to see what he was about he was laboring away at a gaudily dressed chief riding at full tilt upon his Indian steed. His work was rather above that of the average Indian artist; but as I had seen many of their productions before, and watched many of them while they executed them, I paid no special attention to this additional example of an old story. Choh has been presented at various times with one of those red and blue pencils, when the results of his handiwork exhibit a striking appearance indeed. Flaming red frogs with blue stripes adown their backs and sides, with still more pretentious birds, will be found on every piece of paper that comes beneath the hand of this untutored artist.

His figures of Indian men and women are particularly worthy of notice,

and one, in watching him carefully, can gain some idea of the relative importance that he attaches to the various parts of their war and ordinary trappings, through the emphasis with which he depicts some of them. But Choh is not much of a naturalist, as his woful delineations of birds and

animals will testify; and it was not until a week or more ago that I accidentally discovered the true channel in which his talents lay. I was passing through the salesroom with my budget of mail when I noticed this Indian, as usual, bent over his paper, and more than ordinarily absorbed in

the design he was engaged upon, beneath the great disheveled mat of a winter's growth of the blackest of hair that hung down from every part of his head.

The glance I was enabled to get at his paper satisfied me in an instant as to the cause of his increased interest. He was at work upon a locomotive, with its tender and a couple of baggage-cars, and was just then giving the finishing touches to his design. The effort attracted my attention at once, because an Indian's idea of a locomotive, drawn by himself, without the object before him, was to me something certainly worthy of examination. The drawing of birds and frogs and lizards, in their crude way, is a thing we somehow naturally look for; and as it has been a fact for so long a time before us, perhaps we take it, too, as a matter of course that such people would make endeavor to depict objects which were constantly before their eyes in their common environment. A moment's consideration would also convince us that among these very Indians, as it is with more highly civilized races, there would be different degrees of merit exhibited, even among those who laid claim to being proficient in the same branch. I saw this well exemplified nearly a year ago, among the Zuñi women, as they fashioned and painted their pottery at the Pueblo, and no doubt it holds good everywhere and in all paths of human activity. It was very prettily brought before my mind in the case of the Zuñi women, for one of the group that I was watching on the occasion referred to was painting a jar for me, when I got her to understand that it was my wish that she should incorporate an animal and a few birds in her design. At this she despondingly shook her head, and pointed, with rather an envious gesture, I thought, to one of her companions who sat opposite, as the one who was skilled in that part of the work.

Another thing I have noticed is that the majority of these Indian artists are great mimics, and there is much to lead us to believe that many of their designs, both in pottery and in art, have become quite stereotyped. Not long ago I pointed out this fact in an article which I contributed to Science, wherein I showed how the Zuñis had clung, perhaps for ages, to a common model for the owl.

But to draw a locomotive at all well is a vastly different thing, and particularly so when it is done from memory alone. This is a great, complicated thing, crowded with detail, and an object which the majority of the Navajos have only had the opportunity of seeing for a few years. The question possesses no little interest from an educational point of view; for if one full-blooded Navajo Indian can, of his own volition, thus step out of the archaic aboriginal rut and make a passable picture of a steam

engine, are there not hidden sparks and abilities in other directions, and how would this one thrive if it were properly guided and nourished?

Choh presented me with his drawing, and during the course of the day made me two others, upon some rather common drawing-paper which I gave him for the purpose. The last two efforts were even better than the one he had made for his own amusement, and each possesses points of interest that they do not have in common. I selected the one I considered the best of all, and present it here as one of the illustrations of this paper, it having been reduced rather more than one-third for the purpose.

In one of the others he drew the telegraph poles and wires alongside the track, and placed a bird on top of each pole-a very common sight in this prairie country; but the birds are entirely out of proportion with the rest of the picture, being fully ten times too large. In the third he has attempted to represent the rays of light as they issue from the headlight, and the steam in this one is blowing off. His powers of observation have served him well here, for he has drawn the white steam simply in outline, and has tried to show how it cuts through the smoke, which is drawn black as it comes from the stack.

One of the most interesting things to me was to observe the great care he took to show the "bright line" on the smoke-stack. Not only that, but he was familiar with the fact that it did not show on the under side of the upper enlarged portion of this part of the engine. He has likewise represented it upon the brass steam-chest and elsewhere, and there is an evident attempt to properly shade the body of the engine itself, or boiler. Now, surely this is good work for an untaught Indian, and I can attest it is far above anything that I have ever seen one of them attempt before, much less accomplish.

Again, the detail about the engine is by no means bad, and, moreover, each of these locomotives is upon a somewhat different model, as in one he has the bell in a frame in front of the sand-box; in another it is belted