24 
Coatepeque, for example, imports approximately 8 
tons a month. Maize goes up into the mountains 
between August and October (harvest of primero), 
even as late as December upon occasions, and again 
to some extent, after the harvest of the segundo (Feb- 
ruary), probably mostly in March, for the month of 
plenty in the Highlands is January, continuing into 
February. It is for this reason that the sequido goes 
less into the mountains than the prinero.?6 
There appear to be numerous instances of High- 
land Indians who rent milpa land in the Lowlands (or 
have coastal colonies) and thereby supplement their 
maize supply. This was particularly in evidence in 
the small northwest Lake Atitlan municipios. It 
was well illustrated at Tzununa (aldea of Santa 
Cruz) on Christmas Day, 1935, when a man arrived 
from the Lowlands with a cacaste load of large- 
grained yellow flint, most of it badly perforated by 
weevils, from his August harvest, on rented land at 
Finca Mercedes (on the railroad, near Nahualate). 
He had planted about an acre (4 cuerdas of 40 varas 
square) ; there are perhaps 10 men at Tzununa who 
do this. They plant both primero and segundo, har- 
vesting the grain all at once and storing it in Low- 
land cribs, going for it as it is needed. Supplemen- 
tary maize has doubtless been an important incentive 
for migration to and colonization in the Lowlands 
since pre-Columbian times. 
Such procedure seems to throw new light upon 
certain migratory agricultural practices in Central 
America which have been explained by other pre- 
sumed conditions, such as soil exhaustion, whereas 
climatic conditions may well account for them. 
Cook, for example, calls attention (1921, p. 315) 
to the custom of Indians from San Pedro Carcha 
near Coban, who “may plant milpas in the district 
from Senahti and Cajabén and carry maize home 
on their backs 50 or 60 miles” (80-97 km.). Sapper’s 
climatic map (which is apparently most accurate 
for Vera Paz) shows that the Coban area has con- 
stantly humid (Cf) climate; Senaht tropical mon- 
soon (Amw), with a distinct, though short, dry 
period in winter (Sapper, 1932, vol. 2, pt. H, p. 59, 
fig. 13). (For Képpen climatic symbols, see map 6 
and Appendix 1, p. 131.) Cook, in an earlier para- 
graph, writes of the detrimental effects of the ex- 
cessive and prolonged rainfall of the Coban area, but 
makes no comment upon the possibility of this affect- 
ing migrations. 
* These data are sketchy and the dates of maize movement have not 
been widely checked. 
INSTITUTE OF SOCIAL ANTHROPOLOGY—PUBLICATION NO. 4 
Not to lose a possible chance that dry weather may 
come late in the season the Indians plant their milpas and 
burn them afterward, if possible. In moist ground the seeds 
or young seedling are not killed by the fire sweeping over 
them, but usually only a partial crop is secured. . . . In 
wet years the coffee planters find it necessary to import maize 
from New Orleans to feed the native population... . [Cook, 
1921, p. 313.] 
That Lowland planting in the monsoon area was 
an expedient for offsetting climatic difficulties, and 
that such planting was ancient practice in the Vera 
Paz area is brought out in the Relacién of 1574 
(Anon., Ms. 1574 b). The two Lowland harvests 
described in that manuscript correspond roughly with 
those of the Pacific Lowlands today ; the dates in Vera 
Paz being as follows: April planting—October, major 
harvest; November planting—May, minor harvest. 
For the April planting, the difficulty of the burning 
process is evident from the statement that it must be 
done during the “20 dry days” (Anon., Ms. 1574 b, 
p. 7, £. 94). Though Lowland maize was secondary, 
it must have served at times an essential supple- 
mentary role (as maize from New Orleans and else- 
where does today) during wet or otherwise unfavor- 
able years in higher regions. The 1574 manuscript 
states also that “they go to plant in the Lowlands two 
or three days’ walk distant” (ibid., p. 8), specifically 
referring to chile (aji) but implying maize planting 
as well. 
Harvest methods to offset difficulties attendant 
upon excessive humidity in Vera Paz included smok- 
ing and storage in underground vaults: 
. .. the maize is fumigated to preserve it; it is put in 
pits with fire under it for 10 or 15 days and that which 
is not smoked is bad for bread; and also it will be attacked 
by weevils within two or three months. To preserve maize 
all year, it is put below ground in vaults or silos, where it 
may be kept not over four months in the Lowlands or a 
year in the Highlands [ibid.]. 
Other plants in Lowland milpas.—Several vari- 
eties of beans (especially the small, black kidney; 
p. 136, table 6) and squashes are planted in the Low- 
land milpa, usually at the same time as maize.27_ The 
commonest squash is apparently ayote blanco (tama- 
layote), which it was said at Santo Domingo was 
planted in amounts not exceeding four or five vines 
per cuerda (about 25 to the acre). It appears that in 
the Lowlands, however, Indians usually plant separate 
gardens for crops other than maize, rather than mix- 
ing them in with the milpa; this is a more common — 
27 Since my work in the Lowlands was confined to the dry season, — 
first-hand details of planting methods are lacking for this region. 
