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INSTITUTE OF SOCIAL ANTHROPOLOGY PUBLICATION NO. 6 



those individuals with the least ability, energy, 

 and initiative. During recent years considerable 

 numbers have been employed on the construc- 

 tion and maintenance of the highway and in the 

 excavation and restoration of the ydcatas. Nor- 

 mally, agricultural work is the chief opening 

 for them. They have drifted into this work 

 from a variety of other professions, primarily 

 because of inability or unwillingness to make 

 the grade where prevision and initiative com- 

 mand higher premiums. A second class of part- 

 time laborers must be mentioned. These are 

 the farmers, the potters, and members of other 

 professions who, under the stress of highway 

 or archeological work, will work for several 

 weeks for hire, and who are not to be included 

 among the professional day laborers, of whom 

 the census lists 40. The attraction for these 

 men seems to be, not the meager pay, which is 

 less than they would earn in their usual profes- 

 sions, but the desire for variety, to break out 

 of the daily channels, to talk with other people, 

 and to earn something with a minimum expend- 

 iture of brain and brawn. 



Table 10 shows the principal occupations of 

 both men and women not heads of families. 

 Among the men about the same ratio is main- 

 tained as among the heads. Comparison of 

 both charts clearly reveals that pottery is over- 

 whelmingly the chief occupation of the town, 

 and the source of most of its income. Wives 

 and daughters of potters usually help the hus- 



Table 10. — Occupations of all persons 16 years of 

 age and over, excluding family heads 



band and father, though a surprisingly large 

 number of women, 127, are listed simply as 

 domesticas, or as having as occupation su casa. 



"her house." The few young scholars are the 

 ones who have gone away to an internado or 

 boarding school to continue their studies beyond 

 the 6 years offered by the local school. The two 

 tailors are youths, apprenticed in Morelia. 



AGRICULTURE 



In Tzintzuntzan 66 family heads earn all or 

 part of their living from agriculture. In terms 

 of numbers of individuals employed it ranks 

 next to pottery. Because the surrounding moun- 

 tains closely approach the lake, agricultural 

 land is relatively limited, and consequently 

 there is an absolute limit to the number of in- 

 dividuals who can be employed as field labor- 

 ers. Before the land "reforms" of tlie last cen- 

 tury the village owned communally, through the 

 instrument of the Indigenous Cominunity, a 

 much larger area than at present. When indi- 

 vidual title was given to the inhabitants many 

 were swindled of the lands they had cultivated 

 for years. In a later section the formation of 

 the modern ejido will be discussed. Here it is 

 sufficient to say that the plan has been rather 

 unsuccessful in Tzintzuntzan, and has not added 

 appreciably to agricultural lands. With the ex- 

 ception of the ejido all cultivated fields are 

 privately owned. 



TYPES OF SOIL 



The Tzintzuntzan farmer is a practical soil 

 scientist. He recognizes a number of different 

 types of earths and categories of fields, each 

 with certain special qualities or shortcomings. 

 The orillas are the rich black alluvial shores of 

 the lake, level and relatively free of stones. The 

 laderas are the stony, badly eroded, and often 

 steep sides of hills. To these may be added a 

 less important category, the solares or small 

 plots within the village. Often they are simply 

 an extension of the building plot itself which 

 has been planted with a few rows of corn or 

 several handfuls of wheat. In a strict sense the 

 word solar refers only to building lots. 



Within these major categories all soils are 

 by no means identical. Ten basic types are 

 recognized and named, and any farmer can tell 

 where they are to be found and to what use they 

 can best be put. 



