CHERAN: a sierra TARASCAN village — BEALS 



75 



Materials and prices: Per kilo 



Nitrate $1.70 



Chlorate 5.00 



Sulfur 80 



Fiber string 1.00 



Shakes, cane, etc. Nominal 



(Shakes are $5 a bundle of 400, but the 

 number used is small; 3 or 4 per dozen 

 cohetes, for example.) 



Comment: Cohetes are made to order and sell at 

 $3.00 to $4.00 per dozen. Castillos or set pieces are 

 done on contract. Gross income from this source was 

 at least $400 in 1940. Between times cohetes- were 

 made fairly steadily. Probably the fireworks maker's 

 income is above average. 



DISTRIBUTION 



The problem of distribution affects primarily 

 those goods which are exported from Cheran 

 and those things which are imported. Only a 

 small fraction of the materials produced locally 

 are sold locally; in the main each family pro- 

 duces the local products it consumes and sells 

 its surplus for export. 



The export goods of Cheran consist almost 

 wholly of forest products and farm products. 

 The fir.st are usually sold on contract or arc 

 transported by the producer to market. Rail- 

 road ties, for example, are always cut on con- 

 tract. Charcoal is mostly sold to dealers from 

 Zacapu and is delivered to the nearest spot 

 where it can be picked up by trucks. However, 

 there is some small local sale, mostly for opera- 

 tion of producer gas generators for vixiavial 

 mills, and a little is carried on burros to such a 

 town as Uruapan. Similarly, planks and beams 

 are mainly sold, either to dealers who pick 

 them up in trucks for export or locally on con- 

 tract to someone building a house. In towns 

 close to Uruapan, Zamora, or other centers, 

 much of the sale of such products as charcoal, 

 planks, and beams is direct, the maker carrying 

 the goods to town on market day. 



The major exception to the marketing 

 methods for forest products described above is 

 tejamanil, or shakes. For the local market, 

 the shake maker usually works on order. For 

 the export market he usually takes his product 

 on burros to some nearby Mestizo town. These 

 expeditions may be combined with other trad- 

 ing operations. Thus, shakes may be taken to 

 Turetan via Nahuatzen, Tingambato, and Zira- 

 cuaretiro, a full-day trip with burros from 5 



a. m. to 8 or 9 p. m. As Turetan is considered 

 the source of the best bananas in the region, a 

 return load of bananas frequently is purchased. 

 Tejamanil may also be taken to Uruapan, 

 Zamora, or Zacapu. 



Marketing of farm produce follows several 

 patterns. Bulk crops, such as maize and wheat, 

 are today sold mainly to dealers who come to 

 town with trucks to carry off their purchases. 

 Maize and wheat are sold as far away as 

 Morelia. While large farmers may sell quan- 

 tities directly to such dealers, the storekeepers 

 also play a considerable part by their purchases 

 of small quantities of corn or wheat. Most of 

 the purchases in this case are of one or two 

 abunds at a time when the family happens to 

 need a few centavos. Nevertheless, some wheat 

 is carried to the mills by the owner on burro 

 back, and corn may be taken to one of the 

 larger markets. Individual small-scale buyers 

 also occasionally visit the town, mainly to pur- 

 chase eggs, chickens, or even small pigs. To- 

 day they arrive by bus, as a rule, and put in the 

 day going from house to house, generally taking 

 their purchases to Uruapan for sale. 



Some local vegetables and fruit are also taken 

 for sale to Paracho or, more rarely, to Uruapan. 

 Bread, atole, or tamales may also be carried to 

 market by the women. The most important 

 fruit export, pears, is often carried consider- 

 able distances into Colima or into Guerrero. 

 Sometimes the owner will carry his own pears, 

 but more frequently a regular trader or viajero 

 will buy the fruit. Other exported fruits in- 

 clude tejecote, cherries, apples, and quinces. 



Another aspect of distribution, naturally, 

 is concerned with the supplying of imported 

 goods to the inhabitants of Cheran. Prac- 

 tically all manufactured goods used in the 

 village are imported. This applies not only 

 to machine products but to household indus- 

 tries as well, for the specialists of Cheran 

 in no field supply all the local demand. Three 

 principal agencies of distribution exist: First 

 are the stores, specializing primarily in machine 

 products; second, are the local markets, al- 

 though for everything but foodstuffs the princi- 

 pal occasions are when fiestas occur; third, 

 are the arrieros or viajeros, the traveling 

 traders of Cheran who bring back products 

 from as far av/av as the Balsas Basin in Guer- 



