CHERAN: a sierra TARASCAN village — BEALS 



77 



believed to be more resiatunt to the illnesses of 

 tierra caliente, and tales are told of women who 

 saved their husbands by nursing them or by 

 bringing them back to the healthful highlands. 

 For this reason, traders rarely go alone, al- 

 though large parties are rare. The major 

 disease appears to be malaria. Insects, espe- 

 cially one attacking the feet, are mentioned as 

 a great bother. 



Robbers are also a source of danger; how- 

 ever, the most traveled route — that to Guerrero 

 — is said to be entirely safe. Some of the 

 greatest dangers on the route to Coalcoman or 

 Colima seem to have been in Tarascan territory. 

 The village of Capacuaro had a particularly 

 evil reputation at one time. 



Goods are ordinarily transported by burros. 

 A poor man may have to carry goods on his 

 back. The arrieros never ride except when 

 seriously ill. An exception is that journeys to 

 Celaya are made on the train, while nearby 

 trips may sometimes be made by bus since 

 construction of the highway. 



The first step in a trading expedition is the 

 assembling of goods for the trip. These may 

 consist of pears from Chen'in; apples from 

 Pichataro; wooden products {"toi-nillo") from 

 Paracho; sweetpotatoes from San Francisco; 

 fine pottery (not cooking ware) from La 

 Caiiada, Guadalajara, or Quiroga; oils and 

 spices from Patzcuaro ; dolls, pottery, and other 

 goods from Celaya. Most of the goods carried 

 by Cheran traders, however, are local in origin, 

 i.e., within the Tarascan area. In such cases, 

 trade goods either are assembled by one or 

 more short preliminary purchasing trips or 

 are bought en route. Guadalajara pottery re- 

 quires a 7- or 8-day trip each way with burros. 

 Celaya goods, as stated, involve a trip by train. 



On the return trip various products are 

 brought. From Guerrero come dried fish, dried 

 beef, gourds, gourd containers, coconuts, and 

 cheese, the last being most important. Few 

 data were obtained on the products brought 

 from Coalcoman, as few Cheran traders make 

 this trip, but cheese and dried beef are prob- 

 ably the most important items. However, the 

 one trader to give specific information bought 

 beeswax. Chiles are brought from Colima. 



Generally the goods brought back are not 

 sold until Cheran is reached. Then they are 



sold locally (usually a minor part) or taken to 

 the weekly Paracho market or to fiestas in 

 nearby towns. Often goods are kept some 

 weeks if there is a prospect of a scarcity devel- 

 oping, or an important fiesta is scheduled. 



The majority of the long trips are to Guer- 

 rero, usually to Petatlan, where the fiesta of 

 Holy Week attracts the greatest number of 

 Cheran traders. The length of the trip taken 

 depends to some extent on the rapidity with 

 which goods are sold ; once stocks are ex- 

 hausted, traders turn back. One trader re- 

 ported having reached Acapulco on one of his 

 trips. 



Some typical trips follow : 



M. F. goes on Sunday to Paracho, where he 

 awaits his trading partner from another town. 

 Monday the two go to San Francisco and buy 

 sweetpotatoes. Thursday they arrive in Tepic 

 (Colima) and sell the sweetpotatoes. Friday 

 they go to Guajuya (Jalisco) and buy chiles. 

 Monday they return to Tepic and Saturday 

 M. F. reaches Cheran. The trip involves 12 

 days' traveling and 2 days' resting, buying, 

 and selling. 



The schedule in detail is as follows: 



Sunday Paracho 



Monday San Francisco 



Tuesday Periban 



Wednesday Buena Vista 



Thursday Tepic 



Friday Guajuya 



Monday Tepic 



Tuesday Buena Vista 



Wednesday Periban 



Thursday San Francisco 



Friday Paracho 



Saturday Cheran 



Some traders go to Colima proper by way of 

 Zaragoza, but details were not obtained. It is 

 17 days' travel each way. 



M. F. also goes to Coalcoman, carrying pot- 

 tery from La Cafiada which he buys in Cheran 

 or Paracho. The route is the same as far as 

 Tepic. Thence he stops at Obregon, Las 

 Parotas, and Coalcoman. The round trip takes 

 3 weeks, of which 18 days are spent in traveling. 



On his trips to Petatlan, Guerrero, M. F. 

 buys wooden toys from Paracho and pottery 

 from Santo Tomas. Starting on a Thursday, 

 he goes to Pichataro. On Friday (market day) 

 he is in Patzcuaro and buys garlic, oils, and 



