42 INSTITUTE OF SOCIAL ANTHROPOLOGY—PUBLICATION NO. 4 
erable number of tile roofs and whitewashed walls 
built of rectangular adobes (pl. 23, a, b). 
On the basis of various bits of evidence presented 
by several writers on house types, it seems that the 
square or round house was the commoner aboriginal 
type in Mexico and Central America. The gable- 
roofed, rectangular type apparently represents a later 
introduction. 
One 16th-century author, whose writings are 
almost unknown in America, states, “In these cold 
regions [Highlands], the Indians’ houses are little 
round grass huts . . .”8° Oviedo (1851-55, vol. 3, 
p. 131) states regarding the early 16th-century 
round, cane-walled, thatch-roofed huts of Castillo de 
Oro, that round walls presented less wind resistance 
than square and rectangular ones, and were therefore 
desirable, especially in view of the frequent strong 
winds. Elsewhere (ibid., p. 163) he describes two 
types of houses: “canay,” round, commoners’ huts ; 
and “buhio,”’ rectangular, the larger houses used by 
chiefs, thatched with grass, bihao (Calathea sp.), or 
palm. 
CONSTRUCTION 
FRAMES AND WALLS 
In the mesothermal region (generally above 1,500 
m. or 4,921 ft. elevation) adobe is the usual wall 
material (pl. 10, b, f); below, in the coastal Low- 
lands, except for better houses and buildings of adobe 
or wood, walls are generally made of vertical poles, 
canes, or boards with open spaces between them for 
air circulation (pls. 2, b, d, g; 3, c). There are two 
possible explanations for this: (1) nights are cool 
in the Highlands, and walls must be well sealed for 
warmth; (2) upland, eluvial soils tend to be collodial 
and almost always suitable for adobe, whereas in the 
Lowlands, except near the sea, in the swampy lagoon 
region behind the barrier beaches, sandier, alluvial 
material predominates, much of it unsuited to adobe 
construction; timber and poles, on the other hand, 
are abundant in the Lowlands, and often scarce in 
the Highlands. 
Details of distribution of materials used in con- 
struction are shown diagrammatically on map 9, based 
upon estimated percentage frequencies as observed 
in the field. In the text, these plottings are merely 
summarized. 
I took detailed construction notes (table 3), with 
special emphasis on kinds of wood used in the frame- 
60 Médel, Ms., 1550-60, p. 195, f. 217. This mid-16th-century Oidor 
of Guatemala and New Granada was, insofar as the past may be 
judged in the light of the present, a very careful observer. 
work, in only one Lowland locality, namely, Santo 
Domingo Suchitepequez, in an area not visited by 
Wauchope. Most of the wall and roof materials are 
of sorts not mentioned by him. 
TABLE 3.—House-frame materials used at Santo Domingo 
Suchitepequez 
{A hard, durable wood is selected for mainposts: for other elements, 
various straight poles are used. The common trees: listed are by no 
means the only ones used for the purposes indicated. ] 
Material commonly used in construc- 
Element of house frame tion (identifications from Standley) 
Spanish 
name English name Common name Scientific name 
Horcon ...|Mainpost ...... Guachipilin .... | Diphysa robinioi- 
des. 
DO sreiecye:s Fy Civera sisfeteriets's Madre de cacao.. | Gliricidia sepium.? 
DOs ery s\alore Gs ccisiciseieciete attrell eo .ceie «+ | Cordia alliodora.® 
Doweerraie : OG eretersierevererele Chichipate ..... Sweetia panamen- 
sis.4 
Tendal5 ... | Crossbeam ..... Chichique ...... |Aspidosperma me- 
galocarpon.® 
Calsonte 5.. | Common rafter.. | Laurel, canoj (ne- 
gro y blanco).. | Cordia alliodora.® 
Madre (Wall plate .... ||Chichique ....... Aspidosperma me- 
(viga) 5.. , galocarpon.® 
\Pole plate ....:. | Tapalcuite.<:..' (?) 
Tijera® ... | A-frame  (princi- 
pal: rafters) \s\¢e:|/Juatirel: qetemrsiccesie Cordia alliodora.® 
Cumbrera 
(viga) ... | Ridgepole ...... COseeiscveis cies Do. 
Costanera .. | Roof purlin .... One oristeiictelele Do. 
Warillags sec | URGOL TOd Vacca Cafia brava Gynerium sagitta- 
ic 
ae Cotate). ise. sis tum (?) 
1 This ranks as one of the most valuable and widespread hard con- 
struction woods. Though Wauchope (1938, p. 33) expresses uncertainty 
as to the identity of the ‘‘guachipilin’” used for mainposts at San Cris- 
tébal (Alta Vera Paz), it is probably the same tree as that mentioned 
in Standley’s works, and referred to by natives in many parts of Guate- 
mala. (See Standley, 1920-26, p. 479; 1930, p. 295; 1936, p. 183; 
Standley and Calderén, 1925, p. 110; Salvador, Ministerio de Instruc- 
cién Publica, 1926, vol. 4, p. 33.) 
(1930, p. 295) as having the local names “‘tsutsuc” and ‘‘xbabalche,” 
and Maya “‘sucuc,” in Yucatan, and similar names in British Honduras. 
Redfield (1934, p. 35) mentions the use of a ‘‘dzudzuc,’’ among other 
trees, for mainposts in the Yucatdn area. The name “‘u’kui,” applied 
to guachipilin at San Lucas Toliman, where it is used for mainposts, is 
rather similar to ‘‘sucuc,’’ and the same use of this tree at San Pedro 
la Laguna also is mentioned by Wauchope (idem). From my own 
observations, I can add Santo Domingo Suchitepequez and San Pedro 
Cutzan, 
2Identification of this famous cacao-shade tree is from Standley 
(1920-26, p. 492). In the “Lista Preliminar’” of Salvador plants 
(Standley and Calderén, 1925, p. 142), it is described as a hardwood, 
much used in railway construction. An intelligent informant at Santo 
Domingo Suchitepequez explained that the railroad company had cut out 
great numbers of the madre de cacao, palo amarillo (gauchipilin), and 
other hardwood timber trees, for cross ties, removing much valuable 
cacao shade, and contributing toward the final decline of cacao culti- 
vation (q.v., p. 33). 
% Standley and Calderén (1925, p. 183) state that the wood is used 
in the construction of houses, railways, étc. In his Mexican flora, 
Standley says of this tree: ‘‘The wood is highly valued for carpenter 
and cabinet work, and is used for beams, flooring, ceiling, and finer 
work” (Standley, 1920-26, p. 1219). 
4Chichipate is described by Standley and Calderén as a fine con- 
struction wood of many uses. 
® Correctness of doubtful terminology verified from Wauchope, 1938. 
6 Standley, 1920-26, p. 1157. This tree is ‘apparently rare’ in the 
Lancetilla Valley region, and in all Central America only one species of 
Aspidosperma is known, though “the genus is represented in South 
America by many species, some of which furnish valuable wood’ 
(Standley, 1931, p. 321). 
7 Standley, 1920-26, pp. 65-66; 1931, p. 92; Standley and Calderén, 
1925, p. 31. 
Guachipilin is reported by Standley ° 
