174 
INSTITUTE OF SOCIAL ANTHROPOLOGY—PUBLICATION NO. 4 
ing between the tents. Plain white Cantel cotton 
goods are sold along the edge of the square to the 
right, and lengths of indigo-blue cotton skirts may 
be seen hanging in the shade in front of the building 
across the square. Blankets and woollen goods are 
also sold there, out in the sun. Wool textiles spread 
out to dry may monopolize the street on the far 
left-hand side for several blocks. The two streets 
parallel to the camera and behind it are also crowded 
with vendors, especially of pottery (right) and corn, 
some in trucks (left). Not over two-thirds of the 
total market is visible in this picture. San Francisco 
is primarily a wholesale market and redistribution 
center (p. 127). Note how the distant hills have been 
cleared of woody growth, except along fence lines. 
Pirate 37 
a, An outside loom may be seen on each side of the house 
to the left. The one nearer the center is pictured 
in b, d, and e. Note black and white sheep and 
bunchgrass in the foreground; fog in the background. 
Black wool jackets with split sleeves are worn by 
men here as in much of the Cuchumatanes region 
and in Chiapas. 
b, The man in the left background is spinning white yarn, 
the other, black. For closer views and explanations 
of the spinning wheels, see plate 33. 
c, These crosses and shrines are common along roads and 
trails, especially at summits and crossroads, in most 
of Catholic Latin America. Travelers, stopping a 
moment for prayer, leave flowers or light candles. 
e, The weaver has just thrown the shuttle through with his 
2 
left hand and caught it in his right. For a descrip- 
tion of peydn weaving, see page 65. 
PLATE 38 
The Samala River flows from right to left across the 
picture. The common agave of this area appears in 
the left foreground. There are few trees in this 
valley, so that the little patch by the Quezaltenango 
road is exceptional. Cerro Quemado (immediately 
behind Quezaltenango) and Santa Maria volcano are 
in the background. For a brief description of the 
valley, see pp. 4, 133. There is not the isolation in 
this valley that is seen in the Lake Atitlan Basin. 
On the contrary, there is free intercommunication. 
Consequently, individuality among municipios is less 
apparent. Men are indistinguishable as to provenience 
throughout the valley. Even women, who speak more 
Spanish than those of the Lake basin, are more 
alike. In many municipios women wear distinctive 
costumes, as at Quezaltenango (c). Olintepeque 
women wear two types of huipils: (1) red with 
wide-spaced horizontal white stripes and white sleeves 
with longitudinal red stripes; (2) dark blue with 
14-inch cerise stripes, horizontal, about 4 inches 
apart: skirts are solid dark blue, belts 4-inch red 
cotton, with fine longitudinal white lines. In the 
line of villages near the western end of the valley, 
from San Martin to Cajola, all women wear the 
same blue checked skirts and wide black wool belt, 
with a few widely spaced thin white stripes (p. 89) ; 
huipils are basically red. At Cajola there is on this 
an occasional horizontal yellow-bordered %-inch 
black line; at San Juan, Concepcién, and San Martin 
intricate designs in over-all patterns, green, orange, 
purple, and red, are woven on the stick looms. An 
unusual twill technique, with double heddle, was 
found here by Dr. O’Neale. Zutes are decorated 
much like huipils (pl. 42, g). Almolonga huipils 
and sutes are heavily brocaded with beautiful over- 
all designs on the loom, on one side only: red, purple, 
cerise) green, yellow, cotton, and some silk. Skirts 
are blue as at Zunil. 
b, The Quezalteco is selling the following types of chile: 
foreground, left to right, Cobdn (2 sacks); sambo; 
costeiio; background at left, chile chocolate from 
Asuncion Mita (see table 7, Appendix 2). In the 
smaller, deeper sacks are Tahuesco salt and Tapachula 
salt shrimp. Behind the vendor, at the right, are 
ixtle (slender agave) leaves, which are used, entire, 
like heavy twine; this plant is especially abundant 
around Chichicastenango. 
c, This is a specialty of Pié de Volcan, and these women may 
always be seen here at the foot of the market steps 
(p. 74). They wear a regular Quezalteca costume, 
with full, pleated skirts. There is great individual 
variation in the intricate designs of the huipils, made 
on foot looms. 
d, The Indians have a stone altar on top of Santa Maria 
volcano, and conduct pagan rites (brujeria) there, 
as they often do on peaks and in caves. It was re- 
ported that, in 1916, after some Quezaltenango Ladino 
schoolboys had disturbed the altar, 5 young mountain 
climbers (2 Germans, 1 Ladino, 2 Indian guides) were 
massacred on the peak by vindictive Pié de Volcan 
Indians wielding machetes. The western Guatemala 
Indians are normally friendly and docile, rarely re- 
sorting to violence. Santa Maria volcano, obviously 
recent, as indicated by one of the sharpest cones in 
the world, yet covered with pines to its summit, was 
classified as extinct by French (Dollfus and Mont- 
Serrat, 1868, p. 475) and American (Intercontinental 
Railway Commission Report, 1898, p. 246) investi- 
gators, yet, October 24-26, 1902, Santa Maria erupted 
laterally from its southwest base, in one of the great- 
est volcanic outbreaks in Central American history 
(see McBryde, 1933, p. 67, ftn. 3). In 1922 a‘ new 
volcano began to grow in the crater; in 2%4 years it 
was 66 m. high, and was christened “Santiaguito.” 
Located about 4 km. (2%4 miles) north of Palmar, it 
is now hundreds of meters high. 
f, As.in a, the church (front shown in e) is the prominent 
landmark of the village center, and there are great 
areas of tall maize extending almost uninterrupted up 
and down the valley. An agave flower appears in the 
left foreground. 
PLaTE 39 
a, For San Andrés soap making, see page 70. 
b, The thatching material is giant bunchgrass. Though most 
of the men are wearing their black wool robes (c), 
about eight of them are not. This is April 30, 1936; 
