CHERAN : A SIERRA TARASCAN VILLAGE — BEALS 



15 



either from the sides of public roads or from 

 fields, with the permission of the owner. It is 

 dug with pick and shovel, put in bags, and 

 taken into town on muleback. 



Adobes (adobi) and adobe mortar are made 

 from any convenient fine earth mixed with 

 manure. In some towns dry pine needles 

 {"hidnomo")^ or wheat or barley straw is used. 

 The mud (adimu) for adobes is mixed in a de- 

 pression in the ground. Dry earth is first 

 mixed with manure and water is added, in the 

 proportion of 10 loads (carretilladas) of earth, 

 half a sack of manure or straw, and 10 five- 

 gallon tins of water. The mud is then mixed 

 with a spade for about 3 hours. 



A wooden frame {marco or adohera) , the size 

 of the brick to be made, is now placed on care- 

 fully leveled ground. Mud is placed in the 

 frame and pressed down well with the hands 

 to insure complete filling of the space. The 

 frame is now lifted off and washed in prepara- 

 tion for making the next adobe. The adobes 

 are allowed to dry for 8 days, first in the 

 original position and then on edge. 



The usual size of adobes is 60 by 40 by 10 

 cm., or 21/^ spans long. Cheran makes this 

 size and also a brick 3 spans in length. 



WATER SUPPLY 



Cheran has a better water supply than most 

 Tarascan towns, but it is still far from ade- 

 quate. The larger of the barrancas through 

 town often has flowing water, but this is used 

 only for watering animals and washing clothes, 

 as it is not considered pure enough to drink. 

 At one spot, however, there are a number of 

 small springs in the walls of the barranca. 

 These have been improved by building cement 

 tanks to accumulate the rather small flow, and 

 people from the barrio of Paricutin and some 

 other nearby residents obtain their water from 

 the springs. 



About 10 years ago an aqueduct was built 

 to large springs near the base of the mountain. 

 El Pilon, a distance of 15 km. (9 mi.). A 

 2-inch pipe line was laid, but the pipe reached 

 only to the edge of town. From the end of the 

 pipe the water is carried to the center of town 

 by an arrangement of hand-hewn wooden 



* Words regarded in Cheran as Spanish but which either do not 

 appear in dictionaries or have special local meanings are placed 

 in quotation marks. 



troughs and pipes (pi. 3, upper left). Large 

 tanks exist in the approximate center of town, 

 and water is also piped to a fountain in the 

 plaza. The troughs leak, however, and in some 

 places are low enough to permit water to be 

 dipped directly from them. In consequence, if 

 the flow is small, water may not reach the tanks 

 in sufficient quantity. The lower portion of 

 the town receives no water directly and the 

 effort of obtaining water in those sections, par- 

 ticularly the southwest district, is considerable. 



FOREST UTILIZATION 



The forests are one of the important and 

 most utilized natural resources of Cheran. 

 Firewood, charcoal, posts, railroad ties, shakes, 

 and lumber of various sizes are secured from 

 the woods. Forests cover a very large part of 

 the Cheran lands and most of the timber is on 

 public domain, although some forest patches 

 may occur on privately owned land. The public 

 domain is regarded as belonging to the town, 

 and the Federal Government levies a nominal 

 land tax on the community for the forest lands. 

 Each head of a household pays a fee (rustica) , 

 usually 25 centavos a quarter, which is collected 

 by a committee on community property (bieries 

 comunales). This sum covers the taxes and 

 gives each person the right to cut firewood 

 from public lands. Persons exploiting other 

 forest resources pay more. 



Until recently utilization of other forest 

 resources was also open to everyone. The De- 

 partment of Forestry of the Federal Govern- 

 ment is now attempting to control the exploita- 

 tion of the forests, and since 1940 any use of 

 the forest for purposes other than cutting fire- 

 wood requires a permit. In 1941 an effort was 

 being made to restrict all lumbering and char- 

 coal burning to members of a cooperative. 

 This is discussed later. 



With the exception of a few wealthy persons, 

 everyone who is not lazy cuts his own firewood.'^ 



' This is general even in such Mestizoized towns as Chilchota. 

 In the latter town, however, there is some selling of firewood. 

 During planting and harvest times the price is $0.36 a carga 

 (burro load in this case) : the rest of the year it is $0.25 a carga. 

 Some people in Angahuan make a business of taking firewood to 

 Mestizo Zamora : similar cases occur in villages near Mestizo 

 towns. Ocote (pitch pine), used principally for light, is also 

 produced by the householder in Cheran. A long vertical cut is 

 made on one side of a tree, which is gradually cut away as pitch 

 accumulates. The tree is rarely cut through, but it usually dies 

 from the operation. In Chilchota, where ocote (pitch pine) is sold. 



