BOURKE. ] CHALCHIHUITL. 589 
quency in the old Spanish writings, as we shall presently see, and 
was in all places and by all tribes possessing it revered in much 
the same manner as by the 
Apache. The Apache call it | 
duklij, “blue (or green) stone,” 
these two colors not being differ- 
entiated in their language. A | 
small bead of this mineral affixed } 
toa gun or bow made the weapon ? 
shoot accurately. It had also | 
some relation to the bringing ef 
rain, and could be found by the 
man who would go to the end of a 
rainbow, after a storm, and hunt 
diligently in the damp earth. It | 
was the Apache medicine-man’s 
badge of office, his medical di- 
ploma, so to speak, and without 
it he could not in olden times ex- Uf 
ercise his medical functions. Front view. Rear view. 
In the curious commerce of the Fic. 445.—Tzi-daltai amulet (Apache). 
Indian tribes, some possessed articles of greater worth than those belong- 
ing to their neighbors. In the southwest the red paint sold by the 
tribes living in the Grand Canyon of the Colorado was held in higher 
repute than any other, and the green 
stone to be purchased from the Rio Grande 
Pueblos always was in great demand, as it 
is to this day. Vetancurt! speaks of the 
& Apache, between the years 1630 and 1680, 
* coming to the pueblo of Pecos to trade 
for “chalchihuites.” John de Laet speaks 
of ‘‘petites pierres verdes” worn in the 
lower lip by the Brazilians.” 
Among the Mexicans the chalchihuitl 
seems to have been the distinguishing 
mark or badge of the priesthood. Duran, 
in speaking of the consecration of a sacri- 
ficial stone in Mexico by Montezuma the 
elder, and his assistant or coadjutor, Tla- 
caclel, says: ‘‘Echdéronse 4 las espaldas 
unas olletas [I do not know what this 
word means] hechas de piedras verdes 
muy ricas, donde significaban que no solamente eran Reyes, pero jun- 
tamente Sacerdotes.” ° 
Among the tribes in Central America, a chalchihuitl was placed in 
Fic. 446.—Tzi-daltai amulet (Apache). 
a Teatro Mexicano, vol. 3, p. 323. ?Lib. 14, cap. 4.and lib. 16,cap.16.  * Lib. 1. cap. 23, pp. 251-252. 
