One
of the best of these Indian ring-makers is Koch-Ne-Bi-Ki Bitsilly,
called Charley for short. He finds regular employment in the Grand
Canyon shop at Albuquerque, Ν. Μ., for several months in each year,
devoting the remainder of his time to the care of his sheep and other
property. He is pronounced to be above the average in intelligence,
energy and initiative. Other silversmiths are: Asidi Yashe, Charlie
Hogan, Charlie Largo, Malapai, Bigay and Hastin Nez.
Of
the stones used for ring-settings, garnets are never employed except at
the special request of a trader; rarely, roughly-cut peridots are set
in rings. Turquoise from New Mexico, is the favorite stone, although a
little Persian turquoise is occasionally brought in by the traders and
set in Navajo rings. In early times the turquoise supply came from the
deposits near Cerrillos, now known as the Tiffany Mine,40a
which furnished the material for all the turquoise ornaments in the
ruins at Chaco Canyon and elsewhere. In the manufacture of rings these
silversmiths frequently make a number at the same time, first
fashioning all the hoops, and then adding the design to the hoops,
after which the cups for the settings are added to the series. An
industrious worker will be able to finish up as many as a dozen rings on this
plan in three days, whereas, when special care is to be exercised in
making a single ring, a whole day's work will be required. From four to
five thousand rings are made annually in New Mexico and Arizona.
As
metal working was unknown to the Navajos, as well as to the other
Indians of the Southwest before the advent of the white man, it seems
most probable that silver jewellery was not made by these Indians until
