536 ETHNOGEOGRAPHY OF THE TEWA INDIANS [eth. ann. 29 



the Salinas, as they have done for generations. Tiie salt was for- 

 merly free to all, but a few years ago an American, in possession 

 of the best deposit, at a place about 8 miles east of Willard 

 [29:108], began charging for it. 



The Tewa insist that formerly the salt was not considered the 

 property of any one tribe of Indians, but the divine gift of Salt 

 Old-Woman, who gave of herself freely to the Indians who came 

 to seek salt. The Tewa state further that the Puel)lo Indians who 

 used to live near the salt deposits did not own them or interfere 

 with other Indians getting salt, but that the Apache, when on the 

 warpath, would kill people who went to the salt marshes. Yet 

 Bandelier says: "The salt marshes in front of theManzano range 

 [29:104] gave the Tiguas [Tiwa], as well as the Piros of Abo and 

 of Tabira, an influential position, through their control oyer the 

 supply of salt.'" 



Bandelier describes the salt marsh district as follows: 



The basin of the salt lakes is bordered on the west by hills and valleys rising 

 to the densely wooded eastern sloi^esof the Sierra del Manzano [29:104]. The 

 lowest spurs of the chain, as far as the northern base of the Jumanos Mesa, were 

 the country of the Eastern Tiguas [Tiwa] [Names op Tribes and Peoples, pages 

 577-78]. It is a narrow strip with a few unimportant watercourses. [[Foot- 

 note:} Like the arroyos of Chilili and Tajiijue [Chilih Arroyo [29:unlocated] 

 and Tajique Arroyo [29:unloeated]]. None of these watercourses reach the 

 basin of the salt lakes; they sink some distance to the west of it.] The heart 

 of the mountains appears to be without vestiges of human occupation, as are 

 the salt lakes proper and the plains north of them as far as the Galisteo basin 

 [Santa Fe Plain [Large Features]; but see Pueblo luin north of Moriarty 

 [29:unlocated]].2 



"The dismal basin of the Salines."^ Salt ('gny^) was personi- 

 fied by the Tewa as an old woman, known as ^Anj'selcw/'jo 'Salt 

 Old-Woman' ('««./« 'salt'; Icwijo 'old woman'). She has magic 

 power {pinayf) to preserve things from decay and to make peo- 

 ple live long. She gives of her bodj^ which is salt. The San 

 Juan, Santa Clara, and San Ildefonso Tewa have a tradition that 

 Salt Old-Woman formerly lived in the Tewa country. The San 

 Juan and San Ildefonso mj^ths obtained locate her ancient sibode 

 BfAfage [13:3.5], the V-shaped salt meadow at the confluence 

 of the Chama River and the Rio Grande. The San Juan myth 

 obtained is as follows: Salt Old- Woman used to live at ''Afuge 

 [13:35]. At that time the San Juan people used to go to ''Afnge 

 to gather salt. It was white on the ground there. One time at 

 a big festival at Jy-yge Pueblo [13:27] Salt Old- Woman blew 

 mucus all over the food to salt it. Some of the people did not 

 like this and Salt Old- Woman became so angry that she went down 



' Bandelier, Final Report, pt. i, p. 36, 1890. 

 sibid., pt. II, p. 2W, 1892. 

 sibid., p. '267. 



