FUNCTIONS OF WEALTH 



199 



to harvest quickly, they could easily have foimd 

 time to do all of the work without assistance. 



WEALTH AND DOMESTIC ANIMALS 



Table 80 shows that the wealthy, naturally, 

 have more than the poor of every kind of domestic 

 animal, whether horses, dogs and cats, most 

 obviously "consumption items"; or fowl and pigs, 

 which also produce some return; or cattle, which 

 presumably are kept for the income they produce. 



DIFFERENCES IN HOUSING 



In the section entitled "The Level and Cost of 

 Living" there is (pp. 154-158) a brief description 

 of the houses in which 10 of the families live, de- 

 signed to give not only some picture of the material 

 differences in the goods of rich and poor but also an 

 indication of what wealth does to the standard of 

 living. 



Table 81 lists these 10 sample households with 

 the grade given each by the two informants above 

 referred to (neither of whom is included among 

 the 10) and the amount and value of land con- 

 trolled by each in 1936. The 10 families vary in 

 size from 3 to 10. As may be seen in the list of 

 Appendix 3, the size of the family does not correlate 

 with the wealth, but the four richest families 

 happen to be among the largest, and none of the 

 smallest families are among the richest. It is 

 evident from table 81 that the amount of land 

 owned increases roughly with the wealth; this is 



natural, since land is the important determiner of 

 wealth in Panajachel. The notable exception 

 (the family No. 15, which has less land than that 

 of No. 19) is explicable partly on the basis of 

 famUy composition, partly on that of personahties. 

 Family 15 had three men in 1936, including a deaf- 

 mute who was a good worker; family 19 had but 

 one man. At the same time, the head of family 15 

 was a young and progressive Indian who not only 

 made the most of what land he had, but engaged 

 in business in various ways. 



A study of the descriptions of the 10 households 

 makes two things clear: (1) that the rich live better 

 than do the poor, and (2) that the differences art 

 strictly limited — i. e., in degree not proportional 

 to wealth and always within the bounds of the 

 culture. Comparison of room space and the 

 sleeping arrangements in the 10 houses (tables 82 

 and 83) shows this. In table 82 children from 4 to 

 15 are counted as half adults; those under 4 are 

 not counted. Chicken houses, sweat baths, bake 

 ovens, and granaries are not counted as "rooms," 

 but their floor space is counted in the total. Al- 

 though the poor have fewer houses and less floor 

 space than the rich, regardless of family size, the 



Table 81.— Wealth of 10 households 



Table 82. — Rooms and living space of 10 households 



' Servant not counted. 



' Projected house not included. 



3 House under construction included. 



