EMPIRES CHILDREN: THE PEOPLE OF TZINTZUNTZAN FOSTER 



109 



is stretched between two pillars in his patio, 

 and deftly he weaves the first line of tiniest 

 mesh, 0.5 cm. in diameter, 150 meshes wide. 

 (He scorns those who begin a new net by tying to 

 an old one as inferior weavers. Yet, I notice, 

 he has just such a scrap hanging from a nail; 

 apparently when it is not visitor's day he is con- 

 tent to begin the easy way.) This net is extend- 

 ed gradually until it is a rectangle 150 meshes 

 wide and about 40 cm. long. Then he changes 

 his spacer, taking one that is 0.6 cm. wide, and 

 continues as before, 150 meshes wide. Owing 

 to the slightly wider spacer, there is a certain 

 slack in the new weaving which, however, when 

 the net has shrunk and dried and been in use 



Marcial will stop, because this will correspond 

 to the exact width of the first pano, the batidor, 

 to which the cuchiUo must be joined. 



Thus, in the completed cuchillo there are six 

 different meshes, ranging from 0.5 cm. to nearly 

 2 cm., the latter corresponding to the width of 

 the first batidores. At the tiny end the cuchillo 

 is 150 0.5-cm. meshes wide, or something over 

 a meter, since the meshes are woven obliquely 

 to the line of measurement. At the other ex- 

 treme the cuchillo is 400 2-cm. meshes wide, or 

 about 11 m. Actually, with shrinkage in the 

 knots and thread the linear measurement will 

 reduce by a third or a fourth. The sixth section 

 of the cuchillo on which measurements were 



Figure 25. — Design of seine. See text pp. 108-110 for explanation. 



will adjust itself evenly. Then, four lines after 

 beginning the new mesh, he adds an additional 

 mesh, making a width of 151 meshes. Now, 

 during the next 60 cm. he will continue in this 

 fashion, adding a new mesh of width for each 

 four of length. 



Gradually, the completed section begins to 

 take the form of a truncated pyramid. After 

 about 60 cm. Marcial takes still another spacer, 

 between 0.7 and 0.8 inches in width, and contin- 

 ues as before, this time adding an extra mesh 

 to the width for every five lines of length; 70 

 cm. later a new spacer, this time of 1 cm., is 

 taken, and the rate of widening is reduced to 1 

 in 10. After about 140 cm. of additional length, 

 a new spacer about 1.2 cm. is substituted, and 

 used for an equal distance of about 140 cm., 

 continuing to widen the net at the rate of 1 to 

 10. Finally, the last spacer, nearly 2 cm. in 

 diameter, is taken, and the weaving continues, 

 always increasing the width at the rate of 1 to 

 10. When a width of 400 meshes is reached. 



taken was not completed, and it was therefore 

 impossible to measure its length. It was 310 

 meshes wide where it joined with the fifth, and 

 had to end when 400 wide, widening at the rate 

 of 1 to 10. Theoretically, then, it should be 900 

 2-cm. meshes long, considering the oblique angle 

 of the meshes, a distance of something over 20 

 m. Hence, not allowing for contraction and dis- 

 tortion, the finished cuchillo should be about 25 

 m. long. 



The top and bottom panels, the varones, are 

 150 meshes wide at the bottom end, correspond- 

 ing exactly to the cuchillos. Then, however, 

 instead of increasing in mesh width they de- 

 crease, first to 135 or 140 meshes, then 125 or 

 130, until in the sixth and final section they are 

 only 80 or 90 meshes wide. When all sections 

 are ready, they are joined with a simple loop 

 stitch, and then the ends of the cuchillos are 

 fastened in the same manner to the batidores. 

 The segundos, the second set of pahos, have a 

 width of 380 meshes, while the terceros, third 



