CULTURAL AND HISTORICAL GEOGRAPHY OF SOUTHWEST GUATEMALA—McBRYDE 5D 
tortilla-baking plates) (pl. 41). Colander pots, called’ 
pichachas in the Cuchumatanes region, are widely 
used for rinsing nixtamal (corn boiled in lime- 
water) before grinding it; and at San Andrés Xecul, 
where soapmaking is a major industry, these pots 
may be seen supported on posts, and used for filtering 
water through lime and ash. The dominant colors 
are yellowish, greenish yellow, and light orange, un- 
decorated except for simple serrations, often made 
along the brim or shoulder of a vessel by pressing the 
straight or folded edge of a piece of leather (used 
otherwise for smoothing the brim) into the soft clay. 
Generally, this ware is glazed on the inside and 
the upper half of the outside (pl. 41, a). Lead from 
-Huehuetenango and sulfur from Zunil were said to 
be mixed together, along with fine white clay, and 
ground on the mortar stone by women of San Crist6- 
bal.8? 
On the basis of a number of local reports, it seems 
that San Cristébal potters sometimes buy dull 
ceramic ware made elsewhere, put a glaze on it, and 
resell it at a higher price. Water jars (tinajas), for 
example, made unglazed in Santa Maria Chiquimula, 
often appeared in the San Francisco el Alto market 
with the high lead glaze characteristic of San Cristé- 
bal ware. This refinement was said to have been 
applied by potters of the latter community, who 
bought and resold the ware in the San Francisco 
market. Though this reported industry was not veri- 
fied by any first-hand observations, the idea is plaus- 
ible in view of the admitted inferiority of Santa Maria 
water jars, especially in comparison with the fine 
(though unglazed), higher-priced products of Chi- 
nautla, prized throughout the region and sold in most 
of the markets. 
Besides being the center of pottery production in 
terms of volume and of geography, Totonicapan is 
also the center of diversity of technique and style in 
ceramics. This is due partly to the fact that Ladinos 
as well as Indians engage in the art, and is in keeping 
with the high degree of skill in various crafts which 
characterizes the natives of this municipio. 
The high-grade, modern ware made on the wheel, 
and sometimes given a bright bronze glaze, is one 
product of Ladino potters, who also make good 
glazed, yellowish pitchers, cups, bowls, and the like, 
89 According to Gutierrez, a leading storekeeper of San Cristébal, 
these elements were commonly mixed in the following proportions: 
Potter’s lead, 18 pounds; sulfur, 4 pounds; fine white clay (tizate), 4 
pounds; melted with firewood into a mass which is ground together on 
the stone, then mixed with water to make a bath in which the vessel is 
‘dipped. It is then fired 1 hour to get a glaze. 
mainly for Indian consumption. A particularly 
notable example of this kind. of ware is a small cup 
or pitcher bearing an owl design (regarded as an 
emblem of good luck), the beak of the bird suggesting 
a spout. It is one of the most widely sold and popular 
clay drinking vessels. Simple, crude, geometric or 
floral designs are commonly painted upon yellowish 
and reddish bowls, plates, and cups (pl. 41, f). 
My most detailed observations of the use of the 
potter’s wheel were made in the town of Huehue- 
tenango in 1940. At that time there were not over 10 
or 12 potters in the entire community, and it may be 
presumed that the same is true today. Though minor 
individual and regional differences in pottery-making 
techniques may be observed, the Huehuetenango 
potters’ work is described here as typical of the 
method. 
Approximately half of the dozen or so potters of 
Huehuetenango, 4 men and 2 women, are in one 
family, that of Ricardo Rivas Cardona, living on the 
north edge of town. They dig their clay from a 
3-foot layer of subsoil, the upper edge of which is 
about 3 feet below the surface. The areal extent of 
suitable material here is said to be about 50 square 
yards. When dry, the clay is yellowish brown, and 
when wet it is a dark coffee color. Dry lumps are 
pounded with a pole 6 inches in diameter, on a hard- 
packed dirt surface in the patio of the house. The 
clay is then sifted through a very fine screen and 
stored, moist, in a pit. A minimum of a half day of 
soaking and 3 minutes of kneading with the hands 
is performed before it is ready for molding. 
The wheel employed has a 40-inch vertical spindle 
made of hardwood (cedro, or preferably guachipilin 
or chicharro). The wooden disk on which the clay 
is worked is about 8 inches in diameter, attached to 
the top of the spindle. Just below it the spindle is 
narrowed where it passes through the hole in the 
table top, and is covered with a piece of greased 
leather serving as a bushing. A larger wooden disk, 
28 inches in diameter, with two counterbalanced 
wooden blocks fastened beneath it, is attached to the 
lower end of the spindle, so that it rotates hori- 
zontally. It is kicked around directly with the foot, 
which provides the only motive power (pl. 41, b). 
Clay is built up on the top disk to form a truncated 
cone about 15 inches high, with a basal diameter of 
about 10 inches. From this a dozen or more average- 
sized pieces of pottery are made. Only a few simple 
implements are used in fashioning the clay. These 
consist of a piece of tree calabash or a small clay cup 
