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INSTITUTE OF SOCIAL ANTHROPOLOGY— PUBLICATION NO. 3 



the country, keeps poultry— chickens, ducks, and/or 

 turkeys. Eggs are a common article of diet among 

 the Mocheros, and poultry flesh also is consumed, 

 although not so frequently. Both products are also 

 sold. Poultry is frequently kept in small houses m 

 the yard, made either of fotora matting {est eras) or 

 of caiia brava. Sometimes houses of the latter are 

 built on small platforms 4 to 5 feet off the ground 

 as a protection from weasels and dogs. The birds 

 roost in these shelters at night, but usually have 

 their laving nests either in corners of the human 

 dwelling or about the hucrta. Ordinary chickens are 

 called "jira clmzca raza." A mottled gray-and-white 

 type is called carioca chnzca. Fighting cocks are 

 not bred here as a general rule. There is no cock- 

 fighting arena in the community and little interest 

 is shown in the sport: except in the event of an 

 occasionally arranged local affair, the followers of 

 the sport must go to Trujillo to follow their interest. 



Swine are kept by some Mocheros, although com- 

 paratively rarely. Most of the swine in the com- 

 munity are the property of forasteros. Sheep are 

 also kept on a comparatively small scale mainly by 

 those who own or have access to the natural pasture 

 land near the river. 



Dogs are the only other regularly kept domestic 

 animals. These are numerous, and each household 

 is guarded by two or three at least. They seem to 

 be mongrels, with houndlike smooth-haired varieties 

 in the majority, although large hairy brutes, derived 

 from something like an English shepherd dog are 

 not uncommon. Not a few households have "Chinese 

 dogs" (perros dc los chinos), a practically hairless 

 breed of dog about the size of a terrier, with black 

 skin, ratlike tail, and thin, spindly legs. Although 

 the Mocheros stoutly maintain that only the Chinese 

 eat these dogs, I am not above the suspicion that 

 certain natives have consumed them. The larger 

 dogs, aside from serving as noisy announcers of the 

 approach of strangers, also aid in herding cattle 

 when they are being driven along a road or lane. 



Some households keep cats, but these animals are 

 by no means as universal as dogs. 



It is said that guinea pigs {cuyes) were formerly 

 kept in Moche as house animals. So far as I could 

 discover there are none now, and even curing 

 briijos, who use the animals in divining, say that 

 they are forced to obtain the guinea pigs from out- 

 side the community. 



Goats, so far as could be determined, are raised 

 even less frequently than sheep, and they also are 



maintained on the natural grazing grounds near the 

 river. Both of these animals are raised mainly for 

 meat, rather than for wool or hair. Although kid, 

 and to a lesser extent, mutton, is a favorite food of 

 the Mocheros, the major part of the meat is bought 

 in the Trujillo markets. The lack of emphasis upon 

 sheep and goat raising is ex])lained by the fact that 

 pasture suitable for these animals is scarce and that 

 maintaining them on the alfalfa pastures would be 

 uneconomical. 



HUNTING AND TRAPPING 



Hunting has practically disapf)eared except as a 

 sport. Occasional forays are made into the moun- 

 tains, but very few Mocheros have guns, which have 

 to be licensed by the police. Opossums, weasels, 

 and rodents are trapped in box traps with figure-4 

 triggers of wood and a drop entrance door, a Euro- 

 pean or North American pattern. The only animals 

 extensively trapped for food are, I believe, the small 

 lizards (cahancs). These are hunted by small boys, 

 who kill them on the run with sticks. It is also 

 said that they are trapped according to the Mochica 

 method. This consists of standing up a long roll 

 of matting in the form of a fence across a field and 

 with an inward curl of the matting at each end. The 

 lizards are stopped by the barrier and are too stupid 

 to go backward or around the curled ends to escape. 

 The cahan lives near algorroba trees because he 

 eats the seeds (faiqttes). The caiianes are not to 

 be confused with other small lizards called largartijas. 



During the moist winter season occasional expedi- 

 tions are made to the nearby mountains to the east 

 to gather large ground snails, which appear there 

 at that season. They are steamed and eaten. 



RELIGIOUS ASPECTS 



A certain amount of superstition and religious be- 

 liefs is involved in agricultural and horticultural 

 activities, of which the following are given : 



It is believed that every huerta has a serpent 

 guardian. This serpent is called a "culambra" (this 

 word does not occur in Spanish dictionaries, includ- 

 ing that of the Royal Academy). If a stranger 

 enters the huerta, the culambra wraps itself around 

 him until the master of the huerta arrives. When 

 the master arrives, he must beat or otherwise punish 

 the snake. If he does not do so, the snake will 

 wrap itself aroimd him also. These snakes are 

 not poisonous, but are said to reach a length of a 



