HOUSES OF THE SIERRA TARASCANS — SEALS, CARRASCO, McCORKLE 



11 



crosspiece, "atravesano de la taiima," are placed 

 first, then the two remainmg foundation beams. 

 The lower beams are notched at each intersection 

 to half their thickness on the upper side; the 

 upper beams are similarly notched on the lower 

 side. Very frequently the front and back beams 

 are notched to receive the ends of the floor planks 

 (fig. 4; pi. 4, upper, left). 



DOOR 



HINCt - 



r Loor Board 





Figure 4. — Details of construction of the "troje" shown 

 on figure 3. 



Upon the foundation beams are placed the floor 

 planks, "tarima" (ta^ujpani) (pi. 4, lower, right). 

 Upon the floor planks are laid one or two more 

 beams, "planchitas." One marks the line of the 

 front wall with the door. If there is a wooden 

 floor to the veranda, a second, somewhat heavier 

 beam is laid at the outer edge (pi. 4, upper, right). 

 These beams are morticed to received tenons on 

 the lower ends of the pillars of the veranda and the 

 side frames of the door. 



The walls are of logs or, more commonly, of 

 heavy planks set on edge. Both logs and planks 

 are notched to interlock at the corners in the 

 manner of the log cabin of North America and 

 Europe. Assembling planks or logs in this fash- 

 ion is spoken of as "to chain," " encadenar." Two 

 methods of notching planks are used (fig. 5). 

 The number of planks varies somewhat according 

 to the total size of the house. The door is 9 

 euartas (72 in.) in height, and the front wall up 

 to this point is made of short planks. When four 

 or five planks are in place, giving the required 

 height for the door, the side frames of the door 



/7\ 



Figure S. — Two methods of notching wall planks. That on the 

 right Is more recent and is a tighter fit. 



(ajjamiirakua) are put in place (pi. 4, lower, left). 

 Each frame has a tenon at the bottom, fitting 

 into a mortice in the "planchifa," and a groove at 

 the side to receive the wall planks. 



Various methods of completing the doorframe 

 are used. The simplest way is to notch the top of 

 the doorframes to receive a long plank extending 

 across the front of the house. Sometimes this 

 plank is ornamented with carving; in this case it 

 may be cut so the lower part is red heartwood, 

 the upper part white sapwood. More often, the 

 doorframe is finished with one or even two special 

 pieces, "arco de la puerta" (uijimukua). These 

 pieces are grooved to receive the upper wall 

 planks (fig. 6). 



Figure 6. — Methods of finishing doorframes, windows, and pillars. 



If the veranda is floored, usually four pillars rest 

 on the forward "planchifa." The pillars are made 

 of heartwood and are usually round but occasion- 

 ally spindle shaped. Each end has a tenon, the 

 bottom tenon fitting into the "planchita" (pi. 4, 

 upper, right), the upper into a capital, zapata 

 (fig. 6), or directly into a roof beam, "arco del 

 portal" (uanajukua). If no capital is used, the 

 roof beam is often carved into an arch between 



