38 INSTITUTE OF SOCIAL ANTHROPOLOGY—PUBLICATION NO. 4 
SHEEP AND GOATS 
The Highland habitat of sheep has already been 
mentioned (pp. 6, 7). Goats, mostly raised in the 
same regions as sheep, are far less common and 
economically important. Both animals are kept at 
high elevations, rarely below 2,000 m. (6,562 ft.) 
(pl. 32). The absence of sheep in the Lowlands is 
evidently owing to the greater abundance of insect 
pests and diseases in the warmer zones. The greater 
warmth alone would not be a deterrent, as is evi- 
denced by the production of sheep in many tropical 
lowland regions. The heavy wool coat may act as an 
insulator against the hot sun. 
The slow acclimatization of sheep in Guatemala 
after the Conquest is attested to by several early 
sources. The paucity of sheep in 1571, and the large- 
scale importation of them to Guatemala from Oaxaca, 
may be seen in the following statement. “Few sheep 
are raised [in Guatemala], so over 3,000 sheep are 
brought in annually from the valley of Oaxaca, and 
they are not worth more than six reales i 
(Velasco, 1894, p. 285). Wool has been since early 
Colonial times the most important and valuable 
product of sheep. Ponce’s companion cites the 
scarcity of sheep in El Salvador, and reports (Ponce, 
1873, vol. 1, p. 384) that mutton was brought by 
the Spaniards from the Valley of Mexico to Son- 
sonate. In the same volume (p. 439), the anonymous 
author reports sheep raising as “just beginning” in 
the Highlands near Quezaltenango, where pasturage 
was reported to be good. 
The sources of supply of raw wool for the weaving 
centers are plotted on map 16. Important sheep 
markets in the southwest Highlands are as follows: 
San Francisco el Alto, Chiché, San Juan Ostuncalco, 
and Cantel (map 15). There are usually a few 
sheep for sale in the Friday plaza of Solola, but 
this is a secondary center. Sheep and goats are not 
sold in Lowland markets. (For the description of 
sheep, and the sale and uses of wool, see p. 63). 
PIGS 
Early references to pigs are fewer and less specific 
than those of other domesticated animals. In the 
latter half of the 16th century, according to Pineda 
(1908, p. 431), Spanish merchants along the coast 
of Guazacapan sold, in addition to native and im- 
ported articles of wearing apparel, also “bread, 
biscuit, bacon, and viscera of pig for eating au 
The Indian buyers paid for these pork products in 
cacao. 
A study of the pig traffic in Southwestern Guate- 
mala today reveals a transhumance based upon a 
division of labor arising from regional contrasts. The 
buying and raising of young pigs is a widespread 
activity which may have considerable local im- 
portance. It can be most successfully practiced in 
the Lowlands, where there are two harvests of maize. 
In addition to the abundant grain (poorer and 
cheaper than Highland varieties) there are many 
palms and other trees which supply fruits, nuts, and 
seeds. Breadfruit and quiamol are said to be im- 
portant sources of pig feed, as are bananas, men-’ 
tioned (with maize) particularly at Pueblo Nuevo. 
The feeding of whey as a byproduct of cheese at San 
Bernardino has been pointed out. Maize and whey 
were said to be the chief pig foods in this com- 
munity. 
With only one harvest of maize in the Highlands, 
and a dearth of suitable fruits and seeds, cultivated 
or wild, there is an altitudinal exchange of pigs in 
different stages of maturity, comparable with that of 
cattle. In both cases, it is usually the young animals, 
little affected by the great altitude change, which move 
into the lower, tropical levels where they are raised, 
while maturer, ‘usually full-grown ones, difficult to 
acclimatize, are driven in quantity to the higher re- 
gions for slaughter. Illustrations of the former proc- 
ess are evident in the two chief pig markets of the 
Southwest, namely, San Francisco el Alto and Chiché. 
Herds of small pigs,®® each attached to a string, may 
be seen any Friday squealing through the streets as 
they are driven from the high-perched animal market 
of San Francisco el Alto (pl. 13, c). Special mer- 
chants who engage in this activity, said to be primarily 
men of San Francisco la Uniédn (4 miles west of 
San Francisco el Alto), drive the animals along 
the road to Lowland markets. In 1936 there were 
four men who regularly herded some 20 to 30 
pigs each (when they left San Francisco on Friday) 
first to San Felipe for the Sunday market, then next 
day to Cuyotenango and Retalhuleu, two vendors go- 
ing to each of these towns (see map 13). Other 
Lowland centers, such as Mazatenango and San 
Francisco Zapotitlan, are supplied with pigs from 
San Francisco el Alto. That they are not sold ex- 
clusively in the Lowlands, however, is evidenced by 
the appearance of the small animals in the markets 
of Quezaltenango, San Juan Ostuncalco, and Cantel, 
55 These come to San Francisco from various parte of the Highlands, 
I was told, even from as far as Huehuetenango, but most were said 
to be from San Francisco and municipios immediately to the north. 
