CULTURAL AND HISTORICAL GEOGRAPHY OF SOUTHWEST GUATEMALA—McBRYDE 
belt and sandals here and in Nahuala, are bought from 
Totonicapan (especially Argueta), leather workers. A 
small, fringed, natural black wool blanket, with termi- 
nal bars of red, white, and blue squares and other 
geometric patterns, is often carried, as is a large, 
whitish string bag. 
c, The huipil is of white (ixcaco brown also commonly 
used) cotton, heavily brocaded by women (as are 
sutes) in red (on white) or purple (on brown) silk 
or cotton. Wide bands of embroidery extend down 
the center of the front and back and along the should- 
ers (for color illustrations, see Osborne, 1935, pl. 2 
foll. p. 58; Lemos, 1941, p. 25). At the top, front and 
back, and at each shoulder, a black silk disk is 
gathered to a central coin or small button or coil of 
silk chain-stitching (p. 52). This is sometimes done 
by men, who more often do the needlework on their 
own clothes, The black-and-white striped wool belt 
(about 8 feet long and tightly woven) is completely 
covered with brocade at one end (about 30 in.) in 
dark purple silk. The blue, white-striped cotton 
skirts are locally woven on foot looms, generally by 
Ladinos. Chichicastenango women wear many strings 
of glass beads, generally silver, which form a very 
thick mass around the neck. 
d, The long, draped huipil is of ixcaco brown cotton with 
wide red stripes and geometric designs of various 
bright colors woven in on the stick loom by the 
wearer. The skirt is of blue cotton, with large white 
checks; some have jaspe patterns. Coin necklaces 
(chachales) are usually worn (see ¢). The men’s 
costume is similar to that of San Andrés (see under 
pl. 7, 1; also pl. 12, a, right). 
e, The Comalapa huipil is essentially deep wine red (across 
the shoulders) and white or ixcaco brown, basically 
cotton with many fine bars and bands of different 
colors, often of wool, and rows of bright-colored 
figures (animals or geometric designs) brocaded in 
silk, which fades to beautiful pastel shades. The sash 
is red; skirt is blue cotton. The sute on the basket 
and the one coiled under it are usually woven on 
stick looms and may be as elaborate as the huipils. 
Just behind the Comalapefia is a Tecpan woman 
(see d). The child at the right edge of the picture is 
wearing a hand-woven cap which is made deep enough 
to pull over the head as a hood to protect the wearer, 
according to some, from the “evil-eye” of strangers. 
Frequently these caps exhibit some of the finest stick- 
loom weaving. 
PLATE 9 
a, For a list of the essential parts of the loom, see page 6l. 
The Panajachel women’s costume (a and b) consists 
of a huipil that is mostly ixcaco brown with vertical 
red stripes and a mass of red or purple brocade pat- 
tern in the center of the front and back. The belt 
is mostly red with fine yellow stripes. Zutes are 
mostly ‘red, with narrow, white stripes. All these 
elements are woven on stick looms, but the blue skirt 
is made in SololA by Ladinos using foot looms. Many 
strings of beads are worn, and the braids of the hair 
are tied with pink ribbon. 
165 
b, Spinning of cotton, here being done by a girl about 
b, 
d, 
n 
, 
11 years old using the common spindle (malacate), is 
accomplished by twirling the small end of the stick 
with the whorl end usually resting in a bowl or gourd 
which acts as a guiding surface causing little friction. 
In front of the spindle is a ball of chalk (tizate) for 
keeping the spinning fingers dry. The raw cotton, 
held in her left hand, is pulled away from the whirl- 
ing spindle on which the thread is spun. In her lap 
is another bunch of raw cotton, Homespun thread 
is sometimes twisted on the spindle with bought yarn. 
Once loaded with thread, the spindle is sometimes 
used as a bobbin, as the San Antonio woman in c is 
doing, without troubling to transfer it to the regular 
bobbin stick. Spinning is often done by women seated 
in the market (pl. 25, e). This picture illustrates 
the San Pedro woman's costume, with plain short- 
sleeve, white blouse, some of which even have but- 
tons (collar and sleeves may be trimmed with lace 
and sometimes the collar is embroidered in red) ; 
narrow figured belt from Totonicapan, and jaspe 
cotton skirt from Salcaja, mostly blue, greenish or 
pink. A shawl is generally carried, blue with jaspe 
patterns and fringed at the ends. 
Piate 10 
the background, about 600 m. (1,800 ft.) below, is 
Lake Atitlan, with volcanoes Toliman and Atitlan 
lined up in the distance (see maps 20 and 21). Photo- 
graph taken in March 1932. 
The old woman seated in front of the house is weaving 
with a stick loom, the end of which is attached to the 
post in the foreground. The administrative center of 
Solola is directly in the background. 
Even more than most north-Lake arroyos, this valley, here 
viewed from the precipitous southern edge of Solola, 
is subject to disastrous flooding, especially during 
September (p. 61). 
This is Calle de la Torre (right foreground in b). The 
tower at the right is a small reservoir from which 
water, brought from mountain streams through tile 
aqueducts (alcantarillas), is distributed through iron 
pipes; another may be seen 100 m. down the street. 
The contiguous whitewashed, tinted adobe houses pre- 
sent a solid wall which is characteristic of Guatemala 
towns, as elsewhere in Latin America. 
The field in the foreground has been freshly furrowed 
with broad hoes and is ready for planting. The old 
milpa in the background’ consists of rows of hills over 
a foot high, which were built up around each group 
of corn plants as they grew larger, as support against 
high winds. A tuft of giant bunchgrass may be seen 
at the left end of the new field. Government officials 
are inspecting the site, during March 1932 preparatory 
to converting it into an emergency landing field. The 
cone of San Pedro volcano appears in the right back- 
ground. This scene is near the edge of the upper 
terrace shown in plate 46, a and b. 
f, They are carrying a load of earth from the bank behind 
them, to be molded in the wooden frame just in front 
of them, Water is added from the 5-gallon gasoline 
