HAKniNGTOx] PLACE-NAMES 493 



turquoise, valued so highly by the Pueblo Indians, is found. The 

 turquoise deposits are said to have belonged formerly to the Tano 

 Tewa and adjacent Keresans, especially to the inhabitants of San 

 Marcos Pueblo [Ki/fifsr' o tjivilvj i |29:un]ocated]]. Strings of tur- 

 quoise beads still form a standard of value for trading. Although 

 deprived of the turquoise deposits by the whites, Indians, especially 

 from Santo Domingo [28:109], are said to sneak to the locality of 

 the mines at night and try to steal turquoise from the dumps. The 

 mines are 3 miles north of Cerrillos [29:53]. They are said to be 

 the property of the American Turquoise Companv. Some of the 

 best known of the mines are the Tiii'any, Cash Entry, and Bluebell. 

 Bandelier says of the turquoise deposits and mines: 



The inferior kalaite, met with in New Mexico, was liked as well [by the 

 Indians] as the bluest turquoise from Asia Minor would have been.' 



The Tanos held the veins of turquoise, or kalaite, at the Cerrillos [[29:5:5] 

 or [29;5-t]], about 20 miles southwest of the present Santa Fe [29:5].- 



NearSan Marcos [Kunj'x'gywik-eji [29:unlocated]] lies the celebrateil local- 

 ity of Callaite, called popularly the 'turquoise mines'. The turquoises are 

 imbedded in a white porphyritic rock, and a high authority on gems, Mr. 

 George F. Kunz, has informed me that the New Jlexican turquoise bears 

 greater resemblance to the Egyptian than to the Persian specimens of that 

 mineral. Beautiful stones have been found occasionally;^ also very large 

 masses of an inferior quality. The Tanos of Santo Domingo regard them- 

 selves as the owners of the site, and visit it frequently to procure the stones 

 that are so much esteemed by them. As to the popular belief in ancient 

 mining of turquoises, it is, like many others of the kind, a myth. The 

 Tanos obtained the mineral by knocking it out of the rock with stone mauls, 

 axes, and hammers, many of which have been found in this locality. They also 

 dug and burrowed, but their excavations were made at random, and went but 

 little beneath the surface. Still less did the Spaniards compel the Indians 

 to 'mine' the turquoise for them. Very little attention was paid by the 

 whites to the green and blue stones, tlie latter of which are comparatively rare; 

 since 'they regarded the New Mexican callaite as of a base quality, and 

 therefore as of no commercial value.* Nevertheless, the turquoises of the 



1 Bandelier, Final Roport, pt. i, p. IJ, 1N90. 



sUjid.. p. 1C.3. 



3 "Some exceptionally handsome ones are in possession of my friend, Abraliam Spiegelberjj, in 

 Santa Ftf."— Ibid., note. 



^"This wa^already noticedby ttie members of Coronado*s expedition. (Rdacion drl ^nccm dc la 

 Jornada, p. 320.) It ia strange that none of the chroniclers of that journey mention the turquoise 

 locality at Cerillos. Neither does Espejo, who visited the Tanos. Castiino {Mcmoria, p. 248) speaks 

 of the mineral (ores) found there by some of his men: 'Truxo metales mui buenos, al pareoer.' 

 Onate also is silent, or at least makes no account of the green stones. In the documents of 1C36, con- 

 cerning tTie violent .strife then going on between Governor Martinez de Baeza and tlic Franciscan 

 priests in New Mexico, the latter accuse him of collecting tribute in an abusive manner; but they 

 mention only pinon nuts, hides, and cotton mantles. Fray Pedro Zambrano, Carta al Ylrnj, MS. 

 Fray Antonio de Ybargaray, Carta al Vircy, MS.: ' Porque desde que entro en el gouiemo solamte a 

 atendido & su aprouechamiento, yeste con gran exeeso y daiio de todas eslas prouinas en el trabajo 

 excesivo que a dado & estos pobres resien combertidos en mucha cantidad de mantes, y paramentos 

 que a mandado hazer y pintar, y assimismo cantidad de cami^as que les a echo buscar y resgatar, y 

 cantidad de Pinones que les a echo a carrear.' Carta al Vireij, drl Cuslndio y de los Dcfinidorcs del 

 NurA'o Mcrico, MS. Fray Andres Suarez, Oiria d su ilafjrslad, Nambe, October 23'', 1647, MS. In none 

 of these severe accusations against the go^-ernors is the mining of turquoises or of any other mineral 

 menfioned; neither do the Indians themselves .speak of it in their depositions of the years 1680, and 



