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INSTITUTE OF SOCIAL ANTHROPOLOGY — PUBLICATION NO. 6 



the way to the bow, accompanied by remarks 

 of satisfaction or disappointment, according to 

 the quantity. Depending on net size and 

 amomit of seaweed, the time for placing the 

 chinchorro varies from 3 to 5 minutes, and 



Figure 22. — Seine. Top, the form of the seine in the 

 water. Bottom, the form of the bolsa, or pocket, 

 in which the fish lodge. 



for drawing it in from 10 to 20 minutes. Sink- 

 ers normally are not used when fishing for 

 white fish. 



Bass fishing follows the same basic tech- 

 nique, but the process is complicated because 

 the net is weighted with sinkers and must be 

 thrown in areas full of seaweed. This greatly 

 increases the effort required to draw in the ca- 

 bles, for the sinkers, tangling with weeds, tend 

 to draw the floats under, opening an avenue of 

 escape over the top of the net. Hence, a second 

 small canoe is towed along, and once the net 

 is laid one fisherman stands in the small canoe, 

 continually pulling himself by means of the 

 top rope to spots where he sees the floats dis- 

 appear. His continual vigilance maintains a 



semblance of order in the form and condition 

 of the net. When the ends reach the canoe the 

 seaweed usually has been pretty well eliminat- 

 ed, and this man goes to the large canoe where 

 he joins the other three to pull in the catch. 

 Up to 2 hours for each complete cycle are 

 necessary for bass fishing. 



After fishing, the net is carefully washed 

 clean of weeds, section by section, and then 

 carried to the shore where it is suspended from 

 a series of forked poles 5 m. high. In the even- 

 ing, after drying, it is carried to the house. 

 The long walls of drying nets in the afternoon 

 sun is one of the strongest visual impressions 

 one has of the fishermen's homes and the lake- 

 shore. 



Weeds are often cleared from the lake bot- 

 tom to facilitate the taking of white fish. This 

 is done with a sickle lashed to a 3 m. pole, 

 worked from a canoe. Often during the pro- 

 cess tiny, crystallike transparent roe appear 

 on the instrument. The cutter carefully notes 

 the exact position, because this is a sign that 

 in the future fish will be plentiful in this 

 region. 



The cheremekua gill net, though used to a 

 considerable extent in other parts of Lake 

 Patzcuaro, is little used in the vicinity of 

 Tzintzuntzan. The small-sized one is suspended 

 between two poles, usually near the shore, 

 with tiny pebble sinkers carrying it nearly to 

 the bottom. Then the fisherman, either walking 

 in the water and splashing or making noise 

 from a canoe, drives the khuerepu and charal 

 toward the net, and in trying to pass the fish 

 are caught by the gills. Small boys often be- 

 gin to fish in this manner, tying their diminu- 

 tive nets near the shore where the water is only 

 a few centimeters deep. 



Fishing with the large gill net is a very 

 different process, and involves one man in a 

 small ichdruta canoe. Up to a dozen chereme- 

 kuas are tied together to form one long net. 

 At one end a block of wood known as a pato 

 ("duck") is tied as a float, and to it is suspend- 

 ed at a depth of several meters a heavy stone 

 sinker. In the center of each section a colorin 

 log float is tied with a rope one and a half 

 hrazadas ("arm lengths") long, so that the net 

 will sink to this distance beneath the surface. 

 The other end of the net is fastened to the 



