LABOR 



97 



ristan in the chiircli and worked much more at it.) 

 The same man is one of two Indians who o\vn 

 canoes, which they use for themselves for carrying 

 passengers and for rent. The two canoe owTiers 

 are brothers-m-law and were close friends and 

 rivals m 1936 (but only rivals in later years) and 

 competed with only one Ladino in this business. 

 The first owned a $20 canoe in 1935; the next year 

 the other boTight a larger one for the same amoimt; 

 not to be outdone, the first in 1937 sold land to 

 buy a new and larger one for $35, and in 1941 was 

 thinking of buying an outboard motor for it. 

 Canoes are not great money makers (passage 

 across the lake costs from 6 to 10 cents, and a 

 canoe can be rented for 20 cents or 25 cents a 

 day) ; both men depend largely on their lands for 

 a living and happen to be well-to-do. 



Many women know how to weave, but only sLx 

 know all the processes, and these are called upon 

 by others at least to weave the figured design 

 into their blouses. Six others take in ordinary 

 weaving. 



One woman, from Nahuala, has a permanent 

 restaurant m the market place; most of her clients 

 are passing merchants. In addition, two Pana- 

 jachelenas regularly bring coffee, tortillas, etc., to 

 the markets, each a few hours of most days. Other 

 women only occasionally bring cooked food to 

 market. 



The one "messenger" is a very poor Indian who 

 lost an arm several years before the time of this 

 study, and took to carrying freight and messages 

 between Panajachel and Solola almost every day, 

 chiefly for the Ladinos. He was our closest 

 neighbor for two seasons, and we came to know 

 him well, but could never learn accurate details 

 of his earnings from this business because we were 

 customers. The family has a little additional 

 income from the labor of the wife and daughter, 

 and the man sometimes profits by transactions in 

 fruit. 



The only local marimba (of the gourd type) was 

 bought communally by four young men a year or 

 two before the period of study. In 1937 one 

 dropped out and the group was reorganized. It 

 plays locally and in 1936 had at least one outside 

 engagement, playing in the cqfradias and at taverns 

 during fiestas. Besides cash fees musicians receive 

 hquor; they sometimes work by the hotu- (at 50 

 cents for the company) , sometimes are paid by the 

 customers in the tavern for each piece played, and 



sometimes they contract to play (say for a day and 

 a night) in a cofradia for a fixed sum, with or 

 without food. 



One Indian who plays the flageolet is not 

 included in this study; he is a Panajacheleno 

 without living relatives who is a hotel servant, 

 owns no land or house and is not part of Indian 

 society. Of the tlu-ee listed, one plays the drum, 

 one the cana (a simple reed instrument), and the 

 third both the cafia and the flageolet. They play 

 only for religious fiestas and are paid cash fees 

 (usually 20 cents apiece for a dawn to dark day) 

 with food and liquor. 



PRACTITIONERS 



The business affans of shamans remain pretty 

 much a mystery. We came to know two quite 

 wcU, but both are very unreliable informants, 

 especially on this topic. One is agreeable but 

 evasive, the other even more agreeable and very 

 talkative but a great braggart. Some shamanistic 

 activities are illegal; hence there is some evasion. 

 I could not determine how many cases they have or 

 how much they earn from each. The work of 

 shamans is of coinse irregidar, and part of their 

 compensation is in food. At least one of them has 

 a large practice outside the local commimity (while 

 the local Indians frequently call shamans from 

 other towTis) so it is difficult to get much informa- 

 tion by indirect methods. 



Although in some other towns there are shamans 

 who probably devote all their time to their profes- 

 sion, in Panajachel aU are primarily agriculturists. 

 Some, however, have more clients than others. 

 The 11 shamans fall into four groups according to 

 the reputation (and hence amount of practice they 

 have). The two top shamans probably chd some- 

 thing like a ritual a week each (this does not mean 

 they had new cases each week) and they are the 

 only ones who were frequently called out of town. 

 The next three probably had practices half as 

 extensive; the following four performed rites but 

 once a month; and the last two were just beginning 

 in 1936 and probably had no more than two occa- 

 sions for practice all year. What the shaman does 

 takes him 3 or 4 hours (almost always at night), 

 or 7 or 8 for out-of-town cases (I have never 

 heard of a local shaman going beyond the lake 

 and neighboring towns). Additional time is lost 

 by dinmkenness begun at work, at least by some 

 shamans sometimes. 



