14 



INSTITUTE OF SOCIAL ANTHROPOLOGY — PUBLICATION NO. 1 



quent on the roofs of kitchens. If the much 

 inferior pine shake is used, the nails usually are 

 not driven all the way in and a length of wire is 

 run from one nail to another, a turn being given 

 about each nail (fig. 8, c). This may be done 

 with fir shakes also, in which case the nails are 

 driven all the way in after wiring. 



The door is usually carefully made and is 

 bought from a master carpenter. The hinges 

 and latch arc usually of metal, although the hard- 

 ware may be crude. If a well-made door cannot 

 be afforded, however, the door may consist 

 merely of loose upright planks fitting in gi-ooves 

 at top and bottom. 



A hinged trapdoor is placed in the opening to 

 the loft. This is usually a well-built door l)ought 

 from a carpenter and fastened by a stout pad- 

 lock. A ladder gives access to the door. Some- 

 tunes the ladder is a notched log (kekua). 



Thirty days is considered the minimum con- 

 struction time for a house. 



Some further general comments on houses, or 

 "trojes," may be made. Houses with carved 

 ornament are called "trojes labradas." The parts 

 decorated may include the beam over the front 

 pillars, the piece over the door, capitals, the upper 

 part of the pillars, and "cornices," or special 

 pieces along the upper walls. A "iroje labrada" 

 usually is carefully made tlu'oughout. Undeco- 

 rated houses, "trojes lisas," may be made crudely 

 with only ax and adze as tools. Small "trojes 

 lisas" are virtually the only ones to lack a veranda. 

 Occasionally, heavy planks are not used for the 

 ceding. Instead, light boards are laid over several 

 cross beams, which also support the "plavchas," 

 or frames, holding the roof. 



The size of the "troje" is taken from the length 

 of the rear wall. Other dimensions vary accord- 

 ing to table 1. Lengths in the table are in tmras. 



Table 1. — Proportions of the liouses, or "trojes" 



The measure of the back wall is also the length 

 of the front, center, and back foundation beams 

 and the " planchitas ." The side-wall measure is 

 the length of the short foundation beams; the 

 floor planks are a little shorter. The top waU 

 planks, cornices, the beam over the veranda 

 pillars, the planks for the loft floor, and the 

 "planchas" holding the ends of the rafters are 

 all one vara longer than the corresponding meas- 

 urements at the lower floor. "Trojes" of 6 or 7 

 varas are the most common. 



A "troje," or house, may be moved completely 

 to a new location in from 1 to VA days. Each 

 piece is marked as the structure is dismantled and 

 then reassembled in the same order. As many of 

 the men cannot read, the side boards are marked 

 with a symbol for each side and then numbered 

 by a scries of tally lines. A master carpenter is 

 hired primarily to supervise the work and to 

 make sure that the foundation frame is level. 

 Relatives of the owner do the rest of the work 

 and are fed, but receive no pay. 



A "troje," or house, may last 50 to 100 years 

 or more, if not destroyed by fire. Cases where 

 "trojes" have lasted longer than 80 years are 

 exceptional. However, the roof shakes must be 

 replaced at intervals. Pine shakes last only 

 about 6 years, fir shakes about 10 years. 



Tarascan kitchens are of two types. The 

 simpler structure is called "torita," or kosina 

 t6rueri in CherAn (kosina kukuarekata, in Anga- 

 huan). It has no loft or veranda. The floor plan 

 is rectangular, \vith the door on one of the short 

 sides. The roof has two sheds (fig. 9; pis. 5, upper, 

 left; 6, upper, left). Subtypes may be distin- 

 guished according to the method of supporting the 

 corner posts. In "cocinas de pie derecho," the 

 corner posts rest on wooden foundation beams, 

 while in "cocinas de horcdn," the corner posts are 

 set in the ground. Further dift'erentiation may be 

 made according to the presence or absence of a 

 ridge pole. 



The "cocina de pie derecho" starts with four 

 foundation beams of heartwood, morticed at the 

 corners and resting on four small stones. Four 

 corner posts (a?jdjtarakua) of heartwood of pine 

 are morticed into the foundation beams. The 

 posts have grooves on two sides to receive the 1 



