CULTURAL AND HISTORICAL GEOGRAPHY OF SOUTHWEST GUATEMALA—McBRYDE 81 
characteristic skirts, often differing slightly from 
those of neighboring municipios or areas. Skirt 
vendors generally take the material in quantity to the 
nearest plazas. In the market of San Juan Ostun- 
calco, men from Quezaltenango appeared regularly 
(1936) with quantities of skirt cloth for San Juan 
and the six immediately adjacent municipios, in all 
of which the same plain dark blue is worn. Usually 
six men came and sold about 3 dozen skirts every 
Sunday. Salcaja Ladinos specialize in skirts and 
scarves, which they sell mostly at San Francisco el 
Alto and other neighboring markets, but many go as 
for as Solola and into the Lowlands. Totonicapan, 
San Cristébal, and Quezaltenango, where huipi! cloth 
is woven on treadle looms, are major skirt-weaving 
centers which supply most of Southwest Guate- 
mala. They specialize in blue patterns of checks and 
dashes; La Union (San Marcos) produces mainly 
yellow, orange, and yellowish green, with much silk; 
Huehuetenango, red and yellow; Chichicastenango 
and Solola, blue. The plain heavy dark-blue skirts 
made in Solola are worn in most of the Lake region, 
except for the south shore villages (pls. 6, 7, 8, 9). 
Quezaltenango, Totonicapan, and Chichicaste- 
nango cloth merchants are the leading vendors ot 
cotton cloth, peddling to stores and houses as well 
as in the plazas. Other men from these localities, 
especially Totonicapefios, sell colored cotton yarn, 
nearly all of it imported from England and Germany 
(before 1940). By 1941 there was an acute short- 
age, especially of red thread, which weavers hoped to 
obtain from the United States. 
Wool textiles, most of which are woven in Momos- 
tenango, are sold mainly by Momostecos and 
Quezaltecos, who were going by bus as far as El 
Salvador and sometimes Honduras, and returning 
with indigo. Outside of Momostenango itself, San 
Francisco el Alto is the main producers’ outlet for 
woolen goods, there being on an average about 100 
Momostecos selling blankets, rodilleras, and bolts of 
cloth (generally dark blue, for men’s suits) there 
every Friday (pl. 35). Quezaltenango is the main 
center for textiles of all kinds sold by middlemen as 
well as by the makers themselves. Huehuetenango 
is the chief market for the northern part of this 
region and for the Cuchumatanes villages. A shaggy 
rug (peyon) is made in San Sebastian Coatan by 
three brothers living close together; nowhere else in 
Guatemala is this type of weaving done (pl. 37 and 
p. 65). More raw wool than thread is bought by 
wool weavers, most of whom spin and dye their own 
654162—47-—7 
thread (pls. 33; 34; 35, ¢). Momostenango is the 
main market for dyewoods, which generally come 
from great distances (pl. 34, c; pp. 65, 66). 
COARSE FIBER GOODS 
(Map 17) 
The production and distribution of fiber goods 
other than textiles, such as baskets, palm-leaf rain- 
capes, hats and mats, ropes, and brooms, are shown 
on map 17 and described on pages 67, 68, 69, 70. 
Specialization based upon sources of fibers is particu- 
larly marked in the case of these crafts, nearly all of 
which are scattered through the Highlands. 
Other products are similarly localized, some even 
more so. Decorated tree calabashes (see jicaras, 
p. 57), which are sold throughout Guatemala by 
Maxefios and other merchant groups, are produced 
only in Rabinal (pl. 43). Foodstuffs, such as bread 
and cheese (see p. 57), are made in certain centers 
and go regularly to different markets. A popcorn 
confection called boceles, sold in the plazas of the 
region, is made only at Patzim. 
MISCELLANEOUS PRODUCTS 
Sandals and other leather goods are made 
especially by men of Totonicapan and some from 
Quezaltenango and other towns in this region (p. 
68). Santa Cruz Quiché men have a unique specialty 
in the making of sandals out of old automobile tires. 
Soapmaking and candlemaking are not so local- 
ized, occurring both in the Highlands and the Low- 
lands. They are associated with livestock raising— 
soap primarily with pigs and candles with cattle. 
There are other minor occupations which show 
localizations, but the ones mentioned above suffice to 
present the complex picture of diversification which 
characterizes the region. 
MARKETS 
(Map 19) 
Many sources in the literature dealing with native 
life in Central America refer to the size, importance, 
and complexity of the markets, which have impressed 
travelers and writers since the time of the Conquest. 
According to Joyce: 
. the great market in Tlatelolco [near the present-day 
Mexico City] moved the wonder of the conquerers; it is 
described as being three times as large as that of Salamanca, 
and one estimate places the daily attendance at twenty or 
twenty-five thousand persons, . . . Special magistrates held 
