170 
INSTITUTE OF SOCIAL ANTHROPOLOGY—PUBLICATION NO. 4 
d, These are mostly merchants with Highland products for 
Lowland markets. Cargoes of Totonicapan pottery 
are especially in evidence, as in f (p. 80). 
e, From the stern of this small canoe 4 Atitlan paddlers and 
5 passengers with cargoes are stepping ashore. They 
will go to the Friday market at Solola. The water 
is calm at this time (about 7 a. m.), as the heavy 
waves do not come until the south wind sets in, about 
9 a.m, The 9-mile crossing from Santiago to Pana- 
jachel is made in about 4 hours (p. 99). Handles for 
lifting are visible on both stern and prow of the canoe. 
Prate 25 
a, The thatching material is pajén (high-altitude giant 
bunchgrass). About 20 relatives and friends of the 
builder are helping him roof his house, for which he, 
in turn, provides food and drink (see p. 44). This 
new house is of the short-ridgepole type; the one at 
the extreme right in the picture is pyramidal, with an 
inverted bowl on top (p. 44). The houses of Santiago 
are of both types, fairly evenly divided (b; see also 
map 14). Rocks for walls are abundant, as the vil- 
lage is built upon a lava terrace. Not only alleys 
are walled (foreground) but most yards are enclosed 
by stone walls, and house walls are of stone (lower 
half), usually whitewashed, and vertical cane (upper 
half). The lava is basaltic andesite, porphyritic, with 
phenocrysts of olivine and pyroxene. San Pedro lava 
is similar; samples were lighter colored, more com- 
pact, and less prominently porphyritic (plagioclase 
phenocrysts). My samples were analyzed by Dr. 
Charles M. Gilbert, University of California. 
b, The houses‘are grouped in stone-fenced enclosures, usually 
according to families, brothers or other relatives 
occupying groups gf houses close together. View 
from a high lava terrace just east of the village; Lake 
Atitlan in the background. 
¢, This picture includes part of the area shown in b, from 
a greater distance. Two sopilotes (buzzards) are seen 
soaring, against the white background of the Lake. 
d, This overlaps c about one quarter inch, the point of the 
peninsula in the upper left appearing in both pictures. 
The municipal buildings and market place are in the 
extreme right. The principal “street” leads from 
there across the peninsula, and may be traced in 
c and d by the line of larger, whitewashed adobe 
houses, most of which are owned by the few Ladinos 
of the village. The narrow strait of Santiago Bay, 
with the base of San Pedro volcano beyond, is in the 
background. 
e, An Atitlan woman seated in the foreground is spinning 
white cotton thread. The ftizate (chalk for her 
fingers) is at her right. In the background is San 
Pedro volcano, across Santiago Bay. 
f, All the water used at Santiago is brought from the Lake 
in this manner, so that the village is an especially good 
market for finajas (pl. 42, b). 
PLaTE 26 
a, The column of smoke, horizontal in the stable, early morn- 
ing air, is from the roza, burning and clearing for 
corn planting (this was March 4, 1941). The line 
of smoke, at about 8,000 feet, marks approximately 
the upper limit of cornfields here. They cover most 
of the lower slopes despite their steepness and the 
seriousness of soil erosion where there is no vegeta- 
tion binder. The summit of San Pedro volcano is 
rounded and wooded, and slopes are deeply cut by 
gullies. It is the oldest of the major cones by the Lake. 
Toliman, somewhat less old, is less rounded and 
eroded, while Atitlan, the most recent (there are still 
a few fumaroles at its summit) is bare, sharply 
conical, and the lower slopes are little etched by 
erosion. The edge of the Atitlan cone appears faintly 
in the picture just above the end of the visible line 
of smoke. 
b, The man in the foreground is taking agave (maguey) | 
fibers handed to him by the woman seated in the shadow 
at the right. He separates, straightens, and holds 
them as the woman (left of the center, in line with 
church in the background) about 80 feet away, whirls 
a spinner to which the end of the cord is attached; 
(see p. 69). Another woman (extreme left) is feed- 
ing out fibers for a strand being spun off to the left 
of the picture. Note the Y-post just to the left of 
the man; also potsherds on top of the low-eaved, 
grass-thatched dwellings. 
c, The two prongs of the Y-post serve to separate the three 
double strands of rope and maintain tension as they 
are spun by two men (e) while another spins the 
finished rope in the opposite direction (off right of 
pictures c and e; note rope at extreme right in c). 
In spinning the double strand (second step before final 
spinning), the single strands are also tied to this 
Y-post. The man to the right handles the finished 
rope at the Y-post. 
e, This picture shows an earlier stage than c, which was 
taken several minutes later. The man at the left 
handles one spinner, the center man two; all are spun 
to the right, as is the finished rope, which is being 
spun at the same time (off picture to right). The 
man at the right keeps the rope going smoothly 
through the fork. 
d, Scraping a fresh-cut agave leaf (penga), about 4 or 5 feet 
long. Two such leaves provide fiber enough for a 
small-sized rope, one-half inch in diameter and 4 
to 5 varas (about 11 to 14 ft.) long. The fence (back- 
ground) is of split agave flower stalks. For fuller 
details of ropemaking see p. 69. 
PLATE 27 
a, The whitewashed walls of the few central buildings may 
be seen at lower left center. The ridge is low, the 
village center being about 400 feet.(125 m.) above the 
Lake level (see also pl. 45, e, and map 20). Rugged 
mountains rise as high as 3,600 feet above the Lake, 
Extensive areas along the steep lower slopes have 
been cleared for cornfields. 
b, The top of the church and part of the square may be 
seen (right of center, 50 m. below camera level) 
and a few dwellings at the right. Most of the houses 
are hidden behind trees (jocotes, and oranges; also 
