HOLMES] ABORIGINAL AMERICAN ANTIQUITIES PART I 273 



rude tools and witliout iron and steel, using fire in place of explosives, those 

 patient old workers managed to break down and remove the incredible masses 

 of these tufaceous rocks which form the mounds already described.^ 



No satisfactory description of the work in tlie other (quarries has 

 been published, but the stone sledges obtained from them tell iden- 

 tical stories of the laborious extraction of the bits of stone from the 

 compact matrix, and nothing short of a most profound and persistent 

 motive could bring about the results observed. The love of ornament 

 and the fancy for this particular gem doubtless phi3'ed their part, but 

 superstition was unquestionabl}^ the dominant influence. This motive 

 is known to be present among the Pueblo tribes of to-day, and the 

 abundance of the particular stone among ancient remains nudvc clear 

 its use not only for ornament but as a gem to which was attached 

 supernatural attributes of deep significance. 



Examples of mining sledges preserved in the National Museum col- 

 lections purport to have been derived from ancient turquoise mines 

 in California. One locality mentioned is the Himalaya Turcjuoise 

 Mine, 12 miles east of Silver Lake. 



The extensive use of turquoise in Middle America is attested by 

 its historical employment and more especially by its occurrence 

 among the remains of antiquity. The ancient Mexicans employed it 

 in incrusting various works of art, masks, shields, personal orna- 

 ments, and the like, and even, in cases, in mural embellishment. It 

 is a remarkable fact that although turquoise was in general use over 

 Mexico and Central and South America, nothing definite has so far 

 been learned regarding the sources of supply. 



1 yilliuiau, Turtjuoise of New Mexico, p. 109. 



