NO. I BLACK FLIES OF GUATEMALA — DALMAT 27 



of Yepocapa, 6,000, or 74 percent, of the 8,200 inhabitants live or 

 work outside of the town. Of this rural group approximately 95 per- 

 cent are Mayan Indians. They live in small huts, usually made of 

 cornstalks, with straw roofs. More recently somewhat better-con- 

 structed houses are being built on a few of the plantations. During 

 most of the year the women usually remain at home, attending to such 

 domestic chores as obtaining water from streams or centrally located 

 water outlets, which they collect in large earthen receptacles (tinajas) 

 carried gracefully on their heads ; preparing the family's food, usually 

 consisting of black beans, some vegetables, wild herbs, chirmol (a mix- 

 ture of finely diced onion, tomato, and chilies), salt, tortillas, bananas, 

 coffee, meat about once a week and, infrequently, rice ; doing the family 

 wash ; making purchases and selling their excess produce (often things 

 they do not use, like eggs, beets, carrots) ; making trips to the fields 

 and streams to collect herbs for food, and reeds for making sleeping 

 mats (petates) and native "umbrellas" (suyacales) ; cutting firewood 

 in the nearby woodlands ; caring for the children ; and occasional weav- 

 ing (pi. 4, fig. i). This routine, of course, varies somewhat with 

 different localities. In the highlands weaving may be a principal occu- 

 pation of the women, while in Yepocapa very few weave their cloth, 

 preferring to purchase it in the market place. 



The work day of the woman begins at about 3 a.m. to 4 a.m. if the 

 man must walk a distance to work, or at 5 a.m. if he does not have 

 far to go. At this hour the woman grinds the corn, which was softened 

 and removed from the husk by heating in lye water prepared from 

 wood ashes the previous day. The ancient grinding-stone (metate) 

 method is still used ; but also, when possible, the corn is taken to the 

 town's electric or hand-operated mill, where it is coarsely ground. The 

 ground corn is made into dough (masa) for preparing the day's supply 

 of tortillas and pixtones (thick, soft variety of tortilla used on 

 travels). On market days, usually once or twice a week, the women 

 congregate to buy and sell their wares and to exchange experiences. 

 Wherever the women go, they usually carry with them their infants 

 suspended in a large cloth (perraje) slung around the shoulders to 

 form a cradle. During the coffee harvest almost all the women leave 

 for the fields to help gather the coffee, the children accompanying 

 them and the infants being carried in the manner just described. At 

 this season of the year, when the fly population is at its peak, the 

 women and children, as well as the men, who remain relatively sta- 

 tionary while picking the coffee, serve as particularly good targets 

 for attacking Simulium. 



The work of principal importance to the man is the cultivation of 



