CONSUMER GOODS 



145 



from rain. Half a dozen sweat baths in ruins 

 were counted. 



Until 1935 or 1936 there were probably no privy 

 outhouses among the Indians; on Government 

 insistence, 89 had been built by 1937, and a 

 number of others were under construction. Of the 

 89, 29 had walls of mass-adobe, 58 of cane, and 2 

 of wooden planks. With 1 (tile) exception, all 

 outhouses with roofs were thatched. 



Table 54. — Kinds of houses 



HOUSE BUILDING 



Houses axe built at the expense of the owner 

 with no neighborly help or system of communal 

 labor. For a house of adobe bricks, the owner 

 hires an adobe maker, unless he is one. Men of 

 the family may help the adobe maker, and later 

 the masons, as common laborers; or these may be 

 hired. Roof tile must be ordered and masons 

 hired by the day or on contract to lay adobes, 

 tiles, or bricks (for floors). If it is to have a tile 

 roof, a carpenter is hired to build the roof skeleton, 

 for which the owner buys sawed lumber. 



On the other hand, walls of mass-adobe or cane 

 and roofs of thatch require no specialists; the 

 owner himself, assisted by members of his house- 

 hold or by hired labor, or both, does the buOding. 

 The materials used include unsawed tree trunks 

 and poles, either gathered by the housebuilder or 

 bought from Indians of other towns; cornstalks or 

 canes, gathered or bought locally; grass for thatch, 

 usually bought by the large bunch from Concep- 

 cioneros and Andresanos who bring it to Pana- 

 jachel; maguey fiber, usually bought; long vines 

 (Jbejucos) which are gathered; earth, water, and 

 pine needles, never bought; and quicklime, always 

 bought. Some lumber is bought from Chichi- 

 castenango Indians of Panimach^ and from the 

 Totonicapenos who live in Patanatic (of the 

 municipio of Panajachel) who bring it to town on 

 Simday mornings or on special order. 



Wauchope has described the building of the 



mass-adobe and thatched-roof houses of Pana- 

 jachel in some detail.'" Suffice it to say here 

 that after the materials have been collected, and 

 the location and measurements of the house 

 determined, the ground is leveled off and post 

 holes dug with old machetes. The roof posts (or 

 king rods) are set in first, followed by the corner 

 and other posts,"* the height of the smaller posts 

 determining the pitch of the roof, which is decided 

 by sighting. Posts are of hardwood, preferably 

 gxMchipilin. The ridge pole and wall plates, of 

 pine, cypress, or oak, with the bark left on, are 

 then lashed in the forks of the posts with vines 

 and are allowed to extend about a foot beyond 

 the poles; the posts are permanently wedged and 

 stamped into the ground. The rafters, usually 

 of pine, are lashed at intervals of about a foot to 

 the ridge pole and the wall plates, and extend a 

 foot or more beyond the wall plates. The base 

 of the rafter pole is always at the ridge pole. The 

 roof rods are of cane, placed at intervals of some 

 8 inches and extending flush with the ridge pole 

 and wall plates. The roof is covered with handful- 

 sized bunches of long grass, bought from Indians 

 of the colder country, or shorter grass growing 

 wild in Panajachel. The thatch extends over the 

 eaves, and is packed in tightly, the bunches over- 

 lapping in three or four layers. There is no false 

 ridge pole, but extra thatch is laid transversely 

 over the ridge and tightly fastened down with a 

 cane on each side. The thatch is lashed down 

 with maguey fiber. Several men usually work on 

 the roof at once. 



The canes of the wall frame are lashed onto the 

 posts, inside and out, with vines or maguey twine, 

 in pairs. They are placed evenly from 4 to 8 

 inches apart. The frame is then filled with mud, 

 usually mixed with dry pine needles, and with 

 stones, pieces of brick, and so on. Sometimes the 

 walls are then daubed over with mud, and white- 

 washed; others are whitewashed without daubing. 

 The walls^even those of the gables — are fre- 

 quently all built in this manner; but often from 

 the level of the wall plate to the ridge, the gables 



I" Unfortunately the house Wauchope saw built and which he describes 

 in detail (1938, pp. 30-31, 81, 107-8, 124, 140; flgs. 12d, 27b, c, 40c, d, f, g, h, 43 : 

 pis. 8c, d, lib, 21c, 28c) is not typical of Panajachel. A locally resident 

 Pedrano was doing the building for himself. The house was built with an 

 A-frame resting on the wallplates and supporting the ridge pole rather than 

 with roof posts, as is usual in Panajachel, Also, the house he saw had notched 

 rather than forked posts; but forked posts are certainly more common. 



"* Besides the roof and comer posts, there are frequently posts between the 

 roof post and each comer post on the ends, and one or two posts In the side 

 walls. 



