80 INSTITUTE OF SOCIAL ANTHROPOLOGY—PUBLICATION NO. 4 
also commonly sold in Lowland markets. Fresh fish 
is sometimes brought from the ocean to piedmont 
markets, as from Champerico to Mazatenango. 
POTTERY 
(Map 15) 
Nearly all the pottery used in Southwest Guate- 
mala is made in 15 centers scattered through the 
Highlands, especially in the west (see map 15 and 
pp. 54-56). Most important of these by far is Totoni- 
capan. Among the major wholesale pottery markets 
are San Francisco el Alto (to which ceramic ware 
comes from 5 centers), Quezaltenango, Totonicapan, 
San Cristdbal Totonicapan, and Santo Tomas 
Chichicastenango (100 Totonicapefios sell here 
weekly; see map 25; pl. 29, a). Totonicapan and 
Chichicastenango pottery merchants buy stock at the 
potters’ houses and in the markets, and take cargoes 
to other markets, especially those of the Lowlands, 
often many miles away (pl. 41). Some go to sell in 
Guatemala City and return with fine Chinautla water 
jars, which are sold throughout the Southwest (pls. 
2, d; 14, a; 21, c;42,b). The Lake Atitlan villages, 
depending as they do upon Lake water, provide an 
excellent market. Chichicastenango pottery mer- 
chants buy San Pedro Jocopilas ware in their own 
market and load up each with 10 jars of the type 
tamales are cooked in and 10 large clay griddles 
(comales) for baking tortillas. This is an average 
load of the pottery most commonly sold by these men, 
who leave their own Thursday market to sell in Solola 
on Friday, reach Santiago (crossing the Lake by 
motor launch; pl. 24, d, f) on Saturday, and continue 
to Moca and other fincas for Saturday night and Sun- 
day markets. This is done also on other days of the 
week, especially Sunday (Chichicastenango) to reach 
Thursday Lowland markets. About 20 to 25 Max- 
efios per week go via Santiago and an equal number 
go by San Lucas and on to Patulul and Pochuta. 
Totonicapan men, usually less than half as many as 
Chichicastenango, follow these same routes with the 
same cargo. They nearly all return with tropical 
fruit, rice, coffee, and other Lowland products. Rela- 
tively few Totonicapefios thus buy pottery in Chichi- 
castenango. More of these merchants buy pottery in 
the markets in or near their own town, especially 
the Friday plaza of San Francisco el Alto. Here a 
typical cargo would include 18 Santa Maria Chiqui- 
mula water jars (tinajas), neatly tied in threes, 
mainly on top and along the sides of the carrying 
frame (cacaste) and 25 small, rough blackish pitchers 
from San Miguel Ixtahuacan, 10 inside and 15 outside 
of the frame (pl. 41, d, e, g). These are taken by 
about 12 to 15 men per week, to the Sunday markets 
of Mazatenango, Retalhuleu, San Felipe, and other 
western Lowland towns. They return with Low- 
land cargoes, especially tropical fruit and coffee. 
Four or five Totonicapefios daily pass through 
Quezaltenango with loads of Totonicapan and San 
Cristdbal tortilla griddles on their backs, headed for 
Lowland markets. 
Besides the rhythmical Highland—Lowland trips by 
pottery merchants, there are circuits within smaller 
areas, as illustrated by five Olintepeque women in 
1936. They would buy pottery at San Francisco el 
Alto on Friday, load it into large rope nets and carry 
it on their backs across the valley to San Juan Ostun- 
calco, where they would sell it on Sunday. A typical 
cargo consisted of about 6 large, unglazed Totoni- 
capan tamale jars, 15 or 20 small glazed pitchers and 
other San Cristobal pieces, and 5 or 6 Santa Maria 
Chiquimula water jars. 
That there are seasonal fluctuations in the volume 
of pottery in the markets was evident in Quezalte- 
nango during 1936. In April there were only about 
10 or 12 San Miguel Ixtahuacan pottery merchants 
in the San Juan Ostuncalco Sunday market. This in- 
creased during May to 20, and on August 9 there 
were 40. They sold mostly crude, yellowish unglazed 
bean jars, water jars, tortilla griddles, colander pots, 
and a few small pitchers (pl. 41, e¢). Such periodic 
variations in numbers of vendors seemed to be in- 
fluenced by the amount of seasonal work needed on 
the coffee fincas, men being least numerous in High- 
land markets during the harvest, when many of them 
were working in the Lowlands. 
TEXTILES 
(Map 16) 
Centers of cloth production of various types are 
shown on map 16 (see also pp. 61-67). In stick-loom 
weaving areas women usually make their own huipil 
(blouse) and head-cloth material (pl. 9, a, b, c), 
employing cotton almost entirely, sometimes silk or 
rayon, and rarely wool. Relatively little commercial 
stick-loom weaving is practiced, as at San Pedro la 
Laguna. Indians’ skirts are generally bought in 
markets from special cloth merchants, often Ladino 
weavers who make them (pl. 40). Women of each 
community (or area, such as Solola and San Juan 
Ostuncalco) throughout the Highlands tend to wear 
