INSTITUTE OF SOCIAL ANTHROPOLOGY—PUBLICATION NO. 4 
have contributed to the development of weaving in 
Momostenango (p. 15). When the town was built at 
its present site (said to have been 1705), forests of 
huge white pine reportedly covered much of the area, 
as evidenced by the hewn boards nearly 1 m. (39 
inches) wide in the ceiling of Ernesto Lang’s house, 
one of the first to be built. 
Prate 31 
a, The hand-woven: trousers and shirt are red and white 
(women’s huipils are of the same material, mostly like 
the one on the right; skirts are dark blue) ; jackets and 
outer pantaloons are of natural black wool. Newer 
European-style coats are blue, woven in Momoste- 
nango (p. 50). A red bandana tied on the head is 
generally worn under the low-crowned straw hat. 
The picture was taken in Pueblo Nuevo, and the 
Todos Santeros were going to Mazatenango to buy 
ixcaco brown cotton, they said. 
b, Shirts and trousers are of hand-woven white cotton; 
sleeves, collar, and zufe (worn under hat) are red- 
striped. Sandals have heels like shoes, as at Todos 
Santos. The long black wool capirais are comfortable 
in this cold region (p. 50). These men are loaded 
with ocote (pitch pine) which they cut in the high 
forest between San Juan Atitan and Todos Santos. 
Note machetes leaning beside the men-at left and 
right. 
c, Plows are simple wooden shafts, generally having metal- 
tipped shares (p. 20). 
d, These instruments, mostly made by Ladinos living on the 
e, At 
outskirts of town, are elaborately inlaid, sometimes 
with as many as 13 concentric rings of different wood 
around the sound hole. This is the operation shown in 
the photograph. Tools consist of a peg, a slotted 
piece of hardwood that rotates like a compass, and 
a pocketknife. There is also a jack plane on the work 
bench (upper right in picture). These elaborate 
guitars sell for between $2.00 and $3.00. 
the right is a portion of the market (Thursday, De- 
cember 26, 1940). 
f, The altitude here is about 2,400 m. (7,900 ft.) ; date De- 
cember 24th, 1940 (p. 20). 
g, At the right is a conical, stone and adobe sweat-bath 
structure (temascal), with square opening facing the 
camera. 
PLaTE 32 
a, Black humus at the surface, often as thick as 2 feet and 
underlain by clayey red-brown horizon is the typical 
soil profile here, apparent along either side of the 
road. This is the main highway between Guatemala 
Gity and Quezaltenango, now a part of the Pan 
American Highway. The law requiring 2 weeks’ road 
work a year (or $2.00 tax) by each man has resulted 
in a good road net. Though short-grass meadows 
predominate on these highest summits, there are 
patches of woodland and forest, mainly coniferous 
(pines, cypresses, and junipers; p. 6). The pines 
here, as in the Cuchumatanes, have been killed in 
great numbers, reportedly by a boring beetle and by 
fires. 
b, Blue and yellow meadow flowers dot the smooth slope 
in the foreground. In this area about 95 percent 
of the sheep are black, for the dark brown wool is 
widely used in weaving (p. 64). 
c, The size of the bunchgrass may be estimated by com- 
parison with the sheep. Here in the Cuchumatanes 
Mountains, black and white sheep are more evenly 
divided in the flocks, for there is more demand for. 
white wool than farther south, where black sheep 
predominate. The woman at the extreme left, with 
a baby slung on her back, is herding the animals. 
d, The pen, with sheep inside, just to the right of the center, 
has been moved from its previous position as indi- 
cated by the smooth squarés extending to the corn- 
field at the left edge of the picture. The vertical 
stakes in the corral are lifted on all sides but one, so 
the new position is contiguous with the previous one 
(see p. 20). Note the lookout shelter at the left 
of the pen, and the furrows of an old field, right. 
e, The pen occupies almost the same relative position in 
this picture as in d. The three squares immediately 
to the left of the corral are darker than the others, 
which are older and more bleached. Often, increas- 
ingly dark tones clearly indicate the course of the 
shifting pen. A lean-to lookout shelter appears near 
the pen. Note also the bunchgrass (foreground, by 
the Cantel road), dwellings, beyond the pen and the 
characteristic open, level terrain of the upper Samala 
Valley in the background. 
PrLatTE 33 
a, The Indian weaver, José Barrera, holds a bunch of raw 
wool in his upraised left hand, which he draws slowly 
away from the spindle as he turns the wheel with 
his right hand. The yarn may be seen passing in 
front of his cap. This picture was taken during 
February 1941; the others on this plate in May 
1936. 
b, Carded white wool' is lying on the table at the right. 
The wheel is operated as in a. The boy seated at 
the left is carding the raw white wool in the basket. 
The cards have long, heavy wire bristles; are made 
mostly in Chiantla, and marketed in San Francisco 
and Momostenango. The boys card and spin, and 
tread blankets (pl. 34, e) but do not weave. Spinners 
are sometimes hired. 
c, In this manner a skein of yarn is rolled from the free- 
spinning, rhomboidal reel onto the spindle made of 
a section of cane (cafion) for use in the creel (see 
d). Thread on a cafion is called molote. It is sold 
in the market in this form or in a ball (bola). The 
dye pot in the foreground is from San Bartolomé. 
Note the rawhide pulley from the wheel to the spindle 
shaft. 
d, The son of José Barrera, at left, turns the freely rotating 
warping frame (urdidor) so that the warp threads 
are spooled in the desired arrangement for the blanket 
pattern. Note that the rotating spindles on the creel 
(right) are placed with six white at the left and 
