The San Francisco call., 1898-03-18

now, neither better nor worse. Thk wild animals on the desert are so few that they could not possibly sustain any considerable population of, say even a few hundred Indians. The least
 rare animals are the chuckawalla, large edible lizard; the desert turtle, the cottontail rabbit and the jack rabbit AS the water is everywhere so scarce that no corn could be raised in the vicinity of the mines. the laborerS must have procured food from more distant places. The legend in a man. ner confirms this and makes it proba-
 be that the turquoise stones were not dug for use as ornaments by the work CTS themselves, but were used as Ob- jects of trade with different nations. G
 The following legend Xas told us by an Indian, known as Indian Johnny, son of Tecopah, the chief of the Flutes. His father, the chief, who died at an advanced age last year, told the legend
 to his son just as he had got it from
 his father. The legend bears much evidence of being based on facts. Thousands of years ago, says Indian Johnny, these plains and hills were the dwelling grounds of the desert Mo- hayes, of which now only a few are l left. At that time there came suddenly a tribe of Indians from the West or South in search of precious stones.
 They fell in with the desert Mohaves and made friends with them. They found out about these mines, and they worked them and took out af great quantity of stones These Indians from the South were different from the Mo- hayes and from any other Indians liv- ing In this country. They were much fairer, their skin as well as their hair was lighter They were also much more civilized and knew of great many things which no other Indians kne. then nor now. They knew how to wdsI
 mines, and they also knew how to write.S They made the writing in these rocks, and they soon teached the MohaYes how to do as they did. These foreign Indians were no fighters, and they lived in peace with the desert MohaVes.
 But the Flutes. to which tribe belong. did not like the Mohaves to learn new things. When the Flutes saw that the Mohaves began to cut signs in the rochs
 and work mines, they said that they
 were crazy, and decioed to make war
 on them This they did, and the IoI
 eign Indians and the greater part or
 the Mohaves were exterminated. since
 that time, which must have been 1ooo
 years ago, these mines have not been
 worked by any one. This is the tale or
 Chief Tecopah and his son, Indian
 Johnny.
 The Plausibility of the Legend
 It must be confessed that this legend
 
 as we'll as the Casa Grande Indians pos sessed many turquoise ornaments. we also know that the Aztecs during thelr highest power sent out expeditions III order to get gold, and my esteemed
 Mexican friend, Don Benigno Garcla' has repeatedly told me that there was very good reason to believe that those Aztec expeditions for gold were princi- pally directed to the Altar district m Sonora, on the Gulf of California we also know that there was and IS yet race of comparatively fair and req haired Indians in Southern Sonora and Northern Sinaloa. These Indians are tEe Mayos (not Mayas, which latter are different race in Yucatan), the only fair Indians of which we know anyl thing definite. It is therefore most plausible and probable that in prehls- toric times tribe of Mayo Indians may have crossed the Gulf of California and wandered toward the north searching for turquoise mines, the existence or which was perhaps known to them. They fell in with the Mohaves, found the mines, worked them and established trade in turQuo,se stones with the Southern Indians in Mexico, Arizona and Colorado. Such trade exchange alone would enable these Indians to live and subsist for any length of time in such an inhospitable country as the desert where the mines are. That this trade must have been principally, if not exclusively, with the Mexican races may be concluded from the fact that so far no turquoise mines have been found in old Mexico. Of course, the Aztecs procured also some of their tur- quoses from some New Mexican mines, and possibly also from some in Ari- zona. In old Mexico the Aztecs valued the turquoise more than gold, and some large fine stones were said to be worth more than a load of gold each The turquoise was also the emblem Of Mon tezuma, and so sacred was it considered that after the death of Montezuma no stones were allowed to be taken from a mine which was known to have fur nished stones to him.