gather and prepare is sold to Zapotec carriers who take 
it to such large Zapotec centers as San Ildefonso Villa 
Alta, Yalalag, and Oaxaca City. In these centers the 
tibre is worked into hammocks, ropes, nets and many 
other articles. Some of the Chinantee pita fibre finds its 
way to Vera Cruz through the village of Monte Negro 
de Lalana and by way of the Rio Monte Negro. In the 
Collection of Economic Plants of the Botanical Museum 
of Harvard University there is a large hank of fibre of 
Aechmea magdalenae which was purchased in San Ilde- 
fonso Villa Alta and which, according to the natives, had 
been traded in from the mountain village of San Pedro 
‘Tepinapa. In the Economic Herbarium of Oakes Ames 
there is a sheet (No. 8822) of this plant from the same 
region. 
Pita fibre is also extensively used by the Zapotec 
Indians of the Isthmus of Tehuantepec, the southeast- 
ernmost part of Oaxaca, immediately adjacent to the 
Chinantla. On the Isthmus, Aechmea magdalenae is 
often referred to as iwvtle (Llewelyn Williams ‘‘Arboles 
y arbustos del Istmo de Tehuantepec” in Lilloa 4 (1989) 
162). This term, in its usual and general sense, is applied 
to desert species of fibre-plants which, because of the 
dense covering of wet tropical forest, do not occur on 
the Isthmus. 
An early and detailed account of the industry is that 
given by J.J. Williams in J.G. Barnard ‘“The Isthmus 
of Tehuantepec’ published in 1852. Barnard’s work, 
which includes a very complete account of the vegetable 
products of Tehuantepec, has unfortunately in the past 
been neglected or overlooked. Due to this fact, Williams’ 
discussion of pita (p. 184-5) will be quoted in part: 
‘‘Among the spontaneous products is the bromelia 
pita, or ixtle of the Isthmus... . Of this prolific plant 
there are numerous varieties, all yielding fibres which 
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