36 INSTITUTE OF SOCIAL ANTHROPOLOGY—PUBLICATION NO. 4 
plantations on the east coast of Guatemala and spread 
the Panama disease (banana wilt) there, export 
production of the fruit on the Guatemala west coast 
attained considerable importance (pl. 5, ¢, f). From 
this reemphasis upon bananas along the west coast, 
it is not to be assumed that bananas are recent on 
the Pacific side. Bananas are mentioned in the 
Cakchiquel Annals (Brinton, 1885, p. 107), and 
some varieties seem to have grown in America prior 
to the Conquest. They were characterized in 1579 
as “trees of great utility . . . for the fruit called 
‘platanos’ [bananas] and they bear at all seasons 
to the benefit of the poor as well as the rich” (Anon., 
Ms. 1579, p. 17, f. 113) ; and Ponce was feted with 
bananas and honey along the Pacific piedmont of 
Guatemala during his journey of 1586 (Ponce, 1873, 
pp. 429, 431, and others). Fuentes y Guzman 
mentions the importance of bananas here in about 
1690, relating that the leaves are used for many 
medicinal purposes, especially for fevers, and that, 
according to Acosta, the fruit supplemented maize as 
a food, being used also to make a fine wine (Fuentes 
y Guzman, 1932-33, vol. 2, p. 67). 
Oviedo (1851-55, vol. 1, pp. 291-292) places the 
American introduction of the Old World banana 
(said by traders of that period to be a native of 
India) in 1516, from Grand Canary, brought by a 
friar, and first planted in the New World at Santo 
Domingo. Fuentes y Guzman wrote of platanos 
dominicos that they were “so called from being of 
the same species as those from Hispaniola.” 
“Guineos” he referred to as “those from Guinea.” 
“Guineo” today in Southwest Guatemala usually 
means banana, edible raw, while platano means 
plantain, which must be cooked. Apparently, then, 
some bananas were pre-Columbian in America, 
while others, probably the most desirable varieties, 
were introduced from the Old World. 
Many finqueros who had_ previously planted 
bananas as preliminary coffee shade (and who had 
allowed their mozos to help themselves, even to sell 
the fruit in the market; p. 84) began trucking 
out the fruit to the railroad, where it was loaded 
onto trains and shipped to the Atlantic port of 
Barrios (pl. 5, f). Indian laborers employed in the 
handling of bananas sometimes used the tumpline 
(mecapal) in carrying the “stems” (bunches) to the 
railroad. This is a trait seldom seen on the Atlantic 
slope, where the stems are carried on the shoulder, 
usually by Negroes. The latter method is also com- 
mon on the Pacific side. 
At Pueblo Nuevo, the following banana varieties 
were recognized: Platano (plantain), platano do- 
munico (Santo Domingo var.), platano guineo (large 
banana), banano morado ingerto (‘red hybrid’), 
guineo blanco (fino and ordinario), guineo pina, 
guineo mangana, guineo jocote (said to have flavor 
of jocote corona), guineo perulero (fruit stem 
reaches ground, for the tree is only about 6-8 feet 
high). Bananas are even more important than 
maize (which is usually costlier) for fattening pigs 
in this region. 
The 10 varieties of bananas and plantains described 
in table 2 were growing in an experimental section 
of the Armas finca at Panajachel. 
TaBLe 2.—Ten varieties of bananas and plantains grown in 
the Armas finca at Panajachel 
Approximate 
height and 
Description diameter of 
Common name of fruit Leaf length stalk of plant 
Guineo de miniatura.. | 4 in. long | About 5S ft. 0) Ft <6) in: 
. 1 in. diam- 
eter. 
Guineo de oro........ 4 in. long X |8 ft.-9 ft. 12: ft: 
1 in. diam- ( Narrow.) 
eter. 
Guineo de coche...... 5 in.-6 in. O FLOM Etsy || Masaerevaetteacs 
long. 
Guineo banano ....... 8 in. long X | 10 ft. V5oxt: 
1% in. di- 
ameter. 
Guineo blanco (or ‘de 
PAPALONS)  o.srsie0 5.5.0 000 5 in. lang X | 10 ft. 15. ft, 
2 in. diam- 
eter; pink- 
ish flesh. 
Guineo de manzana...|6 in. long X | 8 ft.-9 ft. Lott, 
2 in, diam- 
eter. 
Guineo de majunche... | 6 in. long x | 7 ft.-8 ft. 13. ft.-14 ft; 
2% in. di- thick. 
ameter; 
pink flesh, 3 
PlatanitOiis aches eszic.6 8 in.-9 in. 7 ft. (Wide.) | 10 ft.; thin 
long K 1% (8 in. diam- 
in. diam eter base). 
eter; pink; 
coarse flesh. 
PUAPATION. 50.0 0eFiela wae ier OMS SG 6s | arg te tte acchavers 12: oftys authin 
in.—2 in. (9-10 in. 
diameter. diameter 
Guineo injertado (hv- base). 
brid, morado xX de 
COCKE icc, Js.clevieise 6G. ins lone Xi isese ene eae 14 ft. 
2 in, dtam- 
eter. 
CINNAMON AND SESAME 
Two Old World crops that are increasing some- 
what in importance in the Lowlands are cinnamon 
and sesame, particularly the latter. Both give promise 
of great economic potentialities. 
Cinnamon was said to have been introduced as a 
plantation crop during the rule of Barillas (1885-91). 
A large grove of cinnamon on the finca San Antonio 
Palajunoj, near Palmar, was reportedly destroyed by 
the 1902 eruption of Santa Maria Volcano. The plant 
is grown on a small scale today at Pueblo Nuevo 
