590 MEDICINE-MEN OF THE APACHE. 



the mouths of the dying to receive their souls: &quot;que era para que 

 recibiese su anima.&quot; 1 



One of the Mexican myths of the birth of Quetzalcoatl narrates that 

 his mother, Chimalma, while sweeping, found a chalchihuitl, swallowed 

 it, and became pregnant: &quot;Andando barriendo la dicha Chimalma 

 hallo uu chalchihuitl, (que es uua pedrezuela verde) y que la trag6 y 

 de esto se emprefio, y que asi parioal dicho Quetzalcoatl. 2 The same 

 author tells us that the chalchihuitl (which he calls &quot; pedrezuela 

 vcrde&quot;) are mentioned in the earliest myths of the Mexicans. 3 



In South America the emerald seems to have taken the place of the 

 chalchihuitl. Bollaert 4 makes frequent mention of the use of the emerald 

 by the natives of Ecuador and Peru, &quot; a drilled emerald, such as the 

 Incas wore;&quot; &quot;large emeralds, emblematic of their [the Incas j sov 

 ereignty.&quot; 



From Torquemada we learn that the Mexicans adorned their idols 

 with the chalchihuitl, and also that they buried a chalchihuitl with their 

 dead, saying that it was the dead man s heart. 5 



&quot;Whenever rain comes the Indians [Piinaand Maricopa] resort to 

 these old houses [ruins] to look for trinkets of shells, and a peculiar 

 green stone.&quot; 6 The idols which the people of Yucatan gave to Juan de 

 Grijalva in 1518 were covered with these stones, &quot;cubierta de pedre- 

 cicas.&quot; 7 Among the first presents made to Cortes in Tahiisco were 

 &quot;unas turquesas de poco valor.&quot; 8 The fact that the Mexicans buried a 

 &quot;gem&quot; with the bodies of their dead is mentioned by 

 says it was when the body was cremated. 9 



The people of Cibola are said to have ottered iu sacrifice to their 

 fountains &quot;algunas turquesas que las tienen, annque mines.&quot; 10 



&quot; Turquesas &quot; were given to the Spaniards under Coronado by the 

 people of the pueblo of Acoma. 11 



&quot; The Mexicans were accustomed to say that at one time all men have 

 been stones, and that at last they would all return to stones; and, act 

 ing literally on this conviction, they interred with the bones of the dead 

 a small green stone, which was called the principle of life.&quot; 12 



The great value set upon the chalchihuitl by the Aztecs is alluded 

 to by Uernal Diaz, who was with the expedition of Grijalva to Yucatan 



1 Ximencz, Hist. Orig. Indira, ]i. 211. 



2 Mendieta, p. 83. 



s ll&amp;gt;id., p. 78. 



4 Researches iu South America, p. 83. 



6 Monarchia Indiana, vol. 2, lib. 13, cap. 45, and elsewhere. 



6 Emory, Reconnoissance, p. 88. 



7 Gomara, Historia de la Couquista de Mejico, Veytia s tMlitinn, p. 29!). 

 Ibid., p. 310. 



Smithsonian Contributions, &quot;Ancient monuments of New York,&quot; vol. 2. 



&quot;Buckingham Smith, Relaeion do la Jornada de Corouado a Cibola, Coleccioii dn Docuincutos para la 

 Historia de Florida, London, 1857, vol. 1, p. 148. 

 11 Ibid., vol. 1, p. 150. 

 11 Brinton, Myths of the New World, p. 253. 



