138 INSTITUTE OF SOCIAL ANTHROPOLOGY—PUBLICATION NO. 4 
significance, but, being American, deserves inclusion here. I 
found two varieties at Santo Domingo Suchitepequez, a 
“black” and a “red” (fruit color).”* Standley and Calderon 
considered it as being Brazilian.“ Zhitenev also states that 
its homeland is Brazil, where it is called sicana (Bukasov, 
1930). Uses for dulces as observed by me are also stated by 
the two sources mentioned. 
EXOTIC CUCURBITS PROBABLY OF PRE-COLUMBIAN INTRODUCTION 
Lagenaria spp.—The vine gourds, including bottle gourds, 
usually called in Guatemala tecomate™ (Langenaria sice- 
raria), serve a great variety of useful purposes in Central 
America. Bowls, cups, ladles, and spoons are fashioned of 
them, and in areas of irrigation agriculture, as around Lake 
Atitlan, they serve (where not replaced by tin bowls) as 
vessels for tossing water over crops, from Lake and irrigation 
ditches. It is a common sight to see traders on the trail 
with a bottle gourd for water, stoppered with a corncob, 
and securely tied by a maguey cord around the natural con- 
striction in the side of the “bottle”.™* 
Authorities seem to agree that it is of Old World origin, 
though Standley, who elsewhere (1931, p. 379) calls it a 
“native of tropical Asia and Africa,” writes of L. siceraria 
in British Honduras that it is “perhaps native in America” 
(Standley, 1936, p. 392). He had in “Flora of Yucatan” 
(1930, p. 435) earlier called it “native of Africa,” and later 
he said it was “probably native in the tropics of the Old 
World” (Standley, 1938, p. 1399). Such doubt is readily 
understandable in the light of the great wealth of native 
American Indian names for the plant, and the ancientness 
.of its use. Much pre-Columbian ceramic ware, especially 
Peruvian and Mexican, seems to have been designed from 
tecomates, which, themselves, have been found in early 
burials.° 
Standley (1938, p. 1399), after Pittier, lists three forms: 
(1) “large and globose” (“nambiro” in Nicoya), (2) “elon- 
gate and sausage-shaped” (“calabaza dulce”), and (3) “the 
most common, bottle-shaped.” The second form is, as he 
points out, the one used for marimbas, where wooden sound- 
‘toards2” have not supplanted the more primitive form (pl. 
Wd;ie)a 7 
22 Zhitenev gives the colors as yellow red, red, and dark green (prob- 
ably the “black”). The name “melocoton’” (‘peach’), as well as olor 
and others, he attributes to the peculiar peachlike odor. S. odorifera is 
planted at Santo Domingo S., usually at the foot of a tree, so that it 
climbs the trunk. It is common in the Lowlands to see trees with these 
large, cylindrical, melonlike fruits dangling from the limbs. 
213 Standley, 1930, p. 437; Standley and Calderén, 1925, p. 215. 
Standley lists the plant only among the flora of Yucatan and Salvador. 
24 At Santo Domingo Suchitepequez, I was given only the name tol 
for the gourd. Standley records both names, among others, for the 
same plant (L. leucantha or L. vulgaris) in Salvador (Standley and 
-Calderén, 1925, p. 215). 
215 Many Indians said they did not carry water while on the trail, 
for they crossed many streams, but used the bottle gourd for getting 
water when needed. While working in their cornfields, however, often 
away from streams, they usually keep water in the gourds, and carry 
them to the milpa filled. 
216 Zhitenev cites Uhle, 1889, in this regard (Bukasov, 1930). 
217 This is. by far the commoner type today in Guatemala, the gourd 
marimba being something of a rarity. 
218 Zhiteney disagrees with Spinden and Sapper, thinking that the 
marimba may not be, as they say, “a recent instrument of African 
origin” (Bukasov, 1930). The word “recent”? here seems poorly 
chosen; possibly the fault of the translator. 
Of the first type of gourd listed above, I saw one 18 inches 
in diameter being used by a native Tzununa for watering 
tomatoes.*” The common bottle gourd was grown in this 
same community (Tzununa) in the milpa, and reached 10 to 
12 inches in length. 
Luffa aegyptiaca.—‘Paxte” (Luffa aegyptiaca) is an- 
other Old World cucurbit which “was possibly in ancient 
times raised by the natives” (of America), as “Hernandez 
describes ‘tzonayotli(—hairy gourd’ with the fibrous, inedible 
flesh,” etc.“? In Santo Domingo Suchitepequez, where I 
collected the seed, only the inner “sponge” is used, the rest 
being discarded; young fruits were said to be eaten occa- 
sionally. Standley’s report for Costa Rica (1938, p. 1400) 
cites the same uses there. He states that the plant is “native 
of the Old World, but widely naturalized in America.” It is 
used as a sponge, especially in washing dishes and bathing. 
CHILES (CAPSICUM SPP.) 
Far more prominent in the markets than the cucurbits are 
the chiles (pl. 38, b), especially abundant in some plazas 
(such as San Francisco el Alto) and at fiestas, almost rank- 
ing in quantity with maize and beans. There are many varied 
uses of chiles in native dishes. The area of greatest variety 
and productiveness of Capsicum is in the Lowlands generally, 
below about 1,000 to 1,500 m., (3,280-4,921 ft.), and in drier 
climates particularly (e.g., Asuncién Mita, Jutiapa), though 
varietal diversity is probably less here than on the Pacific 
side. Large chiles (guaque and siete caldos) are grown in 
the Lake Atitlan region, notably at San Antonio Palopé 
(1,600 m.). Great variety and considerable abundance are 
to be found along the Pacific piedmont and Coastal Plain. 
At Santo Domingo Suchitepequez alone, I recorded the 13 
kinds of chiles” described in table 7. 
I did not see the C. pubescens recorded by Bukasov (1930). 
He found the greatest variety of forms of chiles in Mexico. 
This country and Brazil he cites (1930, p. 527) as the two 
centers of diversity of C. annuum, which has a wider range 
of distribution than the perennial C. frutescens, since the lat- 
ter, though disseminated throughout the Tropics (var. bac- 
catwm most common) requires higher temperatures than the 
former. Bukasov records many varieties of baccatum in the 
wild state, whereas “there are no indications of C. annuum 
growing in the wild state.” Standley says of C. annuwm 
that it “is really only a cultivated form which doubtless has 
been derived from the wild Capsicum frutescens through long 
centuries of cultivation.” ” 
The large-fruited varieties (Jongwm and grossum) were 
219 He had bought it in Solol4 a year before, from a Totonicapdn mer- 
chant who had brought it from Guatemala City. 
220 Zhitenev (Bukasov, 1930) recorded the name “payste’’ in Guate- 
mala; Standley gives “paste” and “estopa” in Costa Rica (1938, 
p. 1400). 
221 Since my observations and collections were made during the late 
dry season, dependence for identifications rests entirely in seeds and 
dried fruits. These seeds were never planted, so there is still no plant 
material upon which to base any identifications. I therefore rely upon 
the nomenclature as reported by the Russian botanists (Bukasov, 1930, 
ch, 18, p. 526 ff.). 
22 Standley, 1931, p. 341. Regarding the use of chile, he says that 
“it is used currently for flavoring food in Honduras, but not nearly so 
frequently as in Mexico. Except in Guatemala, chile is not used to 
excess in Central America, and in some regions is seldom employed in 
the kitchen.” 
