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INSTITUTE OF SOCIAL ANTHROPOLOGY PUBLICATION NO. 6 



on which spare pottery is kept. Often a plank is 

 hung as a shelf from a rafter, swinging freely, 

 and always a source of regret to a forgetful 

 ethnologist some centimeters taller than the local 

 population. The garabato is a stick with several 

 hooks from which small sacks and other objects 

 are hung. ^ 



Figure 3. — Kitchen stove. Tortillas are cooked on 

 the comal at the left. Boiled foods are prepared 

 over the fire chamber at the right. The rear of 

 the stove serves as a table. Space under the stove 

 is for storage. 



The metate in Tzintzuntzan is fairly large, 

 of a porous volcanic stone, with three rather 

 long legs. The mono, or pestle, is somewhat 

 quadrangular in cross section, shorter than the 

 width of the stone, so that with use a groove is 

 worn in the middle of the stone. As contrast- 

 ed to the long mono, which can be comfortably 

 gripped by the entire hand, this form seems 

 to require greater strength in the fingers and to 

 be more fatiguing. The metate is used either 

 on the ground or set on a bench. 



In every kitchen one finds several wooden 

 bateas or trays for dish washing, which is done 

 without soap in cold water. The estropajo fiber, 

 used equally in metropolitan kitchens, is used 

 for scrubbing, along with ashes for greasy 

 dishes. In season, fig leaves, which are fairly 

 large and rough, may also be used. 



A variety of baskets is used. The tascal is 



1 Not to be confused with the hooked cane knife or ma- 

 chete used in some parts of Mexico, and called by the same 



the common tortilla holder, woven of reeds in 

 checkerwork fashion. The chiquihuite is a larg- 

 er reed basket, twilled, while the chiquiata is 

 of the same material, but wide and shallow. 

 The canasta is also of the same material and 

 weave, but provided with a handle — in Tzin- 

 tzuntzan no basket without handle can be called 

 canasta. All of these are made in Ihuatzio and 

 other lake towns. One also finds, from the mar- 

 kets, canastas of willow, often crudely painted, 

 of the type best known from San Juan del Rio, 

 Queretaro. Small brushes, escobetillas, of the 

 root raicilla are used to scrub the metate when 

 grinding is done. 



The common troje or granary of central Mex- 

 ico is lacking in Tzintzuntzan. Instead, most 

 houses have an attic or tapanco under the low 

 roof where the husked ears of corn and dried 

 beans are stored in jute bags. But storage 

 space, except for families who have large sup- 

 plies of maize and beans, is not an item to be 

 considered in building a house. Foods are 

 bought daily in small quantities, and a bowl 

 or a basket in the kitchen will meet most de- 

 mands. Figure 4 shows the house and yard 

 plans of Vicente Rendon and Natividad Peiia. 



Complete inventories of house furnishings 

 were not made. One afternoon, however, I 

 amused myself by making a list of the furnish- 

 ings of the main room of the humble home of 

 Compadrc Guillermo and Comadre Carmen. 

 This room is about 5 m. by 4 m., and to the rear 

 is a small kitchen. A door on the north side 

 opens to a narrow porch which runs the length 

 of the house, while access to the attic is from the 

 outside by means of a ladder. The floor is of 

 packed earth, and slants rather sharply from 

 the interior toward the door. There are no 

 windows. 



The list of furnishings is not large — a soap 

 box containing a blanket or two and odd bits 

 of clothing, a tattered petate mat rolled in one 

 corner, to be spread on the floor at night as bed 

 for father, mother, and two children, a small 

 table with a few pieces of crockery, two pottery 

 candlesticks, two glasses, a glass water bottle, 

 an empty brandy bottle, several battered chairs, 

 an orange crate to serve the same purpose, an 

 old image of Christ in one corner, its feet eaten 

 away by termites, a pile of pots in one corner 

 awaiting sale, and several molds. On the walls 



