EMPIRES CHILDREN: THE PEOPLE OF TZINTZUNTZAN FOSTER 



121 



generalization. Guns and traps are the princi- 

 pal hunting techniques, and dogs are often used 

 to flush and run down the quarry. 



Deer are hunted in August, after the fawns 

 have been born. They are lured with a gamita- 

 dera, an artificial auditory lure which sounds 

 like a fawn calling, or they may be taken at 

 night by a hunter who fastens a flashlight to his 

 forehead and shoots at the reflection of the eyes 

 of the curious deer that comes to investigate. 

 On the rare occasions when venison is sold, 

 the price is $2 a kilo, the same as for beef and 

 pork. Rabbits and squirrels are flushed by purs- 

 ing the lips and making a shrill sound some- 

 what like that of the deer caller; the same 

 method may be used to attract deer if the bun 

 ter lacks a gamitadera. The squirrel call is 

 shorter and sharper than that for a rabbit. Both 

 animals are killed with guns, and are valued 

 for their flesh. Rabbits are said to be most easi- 

 ly taken during the rainy season. 



Foxes and coyotes are shot during the sum- 

 mer for their skins, which are worth about S1.5 

 and .?10 respectively. Opossums, the meat of 

 which is a great delicacy, are run down on foot, 

 grasped by the tail, and clubbed; this is a dan- 

 gerous sport since the animals sometimes bite. 

 Skunk meat is believed to be good "to clear up 

 the blood." Badgers (tejon) are said to be bad 

 pests during the season when maize is ripening. 

 They are sometimes taken by a device not seen, 

 a type of dead-fall. One end of a string is 

 fastened to a large stone which is precariously 

 balanced on two others, and on the other end a 

 fish is tied. When the badger tugs at the fish 

 the stone falls and crushes him. 



Birds are hunted both for their flesh and to 

 reduce the menace to ripening crops. Doves 

 (huilotas) are taken with a noose trap or shot- 

 gun. Towhees (tarengos) eat the stalks of young 

 maize plants, cutting under the earth with their 

 beaks to the roots. They are taken with slings 

 and shotguns. Pigeons (torcasitas) are taken 

 with rubber slingshots (resorte) or shotguns. 

 Blackbirds (tordos), a great menace to ripening 

 maize, are killed with guns. Crows, which un- 

 like the foregoing birds are never eaten, are 

 frightened though rarely killed with guns. If 

 by luck one falls it is nailed to a post in the 

 milpa as a scarecrow, and is said to be very 

 effective. 



The two most common traps are shown in 



figure 30 



Dove trap. — A 1-m. long stick of istafiate {Ar- 

 temisia fdifolia) is stuck in the ground. A 

 70-cm. cord consisting of eight horsehairs roll- 



FiGURE 30. — Traps. Top, dove trap. Bottom, squir- 

 rel trap. 



ed together is tied to one end and set so that 

 the stick is bent sharply. The noose is held on 

 the ground by means of small pebbles, and cock- 

 ed by means of a tiny stick a held in place by 

 trigger b. Seeds of the chicalote are used as 

 bait. When the trigger is disturbed the small 

 stick a is pulled out from under the cross bar, 

 the bent stick straightens, and the noose tightens. 

 Squirrel trap. — Stone e, the size of an adobe 

 or larger, is balanced on notched stick b which 

 is supported on post c driven into the ground. 

 The trigger a caught in the hook at the end of 

 b is delicately balanced in a side notch on c. 

 It is baited with an ear of corn d. When the 

 squirrel nibbles the corn, a is pushed out of the 

 notch of c, causing the stone to fall and crush 

 the animal. 



MEZCAL MANUFACTURE 



In Tzintzuntzan the term mezcal refers, not 

 to the distilled liquor of this name, but to the 

 pit-roasted hearts of the mezcal cactus. This 

 cactus, a type of maguey, grows wild on the 

 slopes of Tariaqueri. The plants are carefully 

 watched in late spring, and when the quiolc, or 



