MOCHE; A PERUVIAN COASTAL COMMUNITi'— GILLIN 



49 



\Mien one sees a Mochero friend and discovers that 

 he is not feeling well that day, the Mochero will 

 frequently say that he believes the cause was that he 

 was "in Trujillo yesterday and drank a bottle of 

 beer." Everyone knows that such a lapse is sufficient 

 cause for illness. I had a persistent cold and cough 

 during the month of June in Moche, and no one ever 

 tired of warning me not to touch any Hght beer. 

 Dark beer for some reason is not regarded as so 

 dangerous. This attitude toward light beer also 

 seems to be tied up with the general classification of 

 all foods into "cold" and "warm" categories. Beer 

 is among the "cold" substances, but light beer is 

 colder than dark beer. 



OTHER DRUGS AND NARCOTICS 



Aside from brewed and distilled alcohol the Mo- 

 cheros are very little addicted to the use of other 

 drugs, except occasionally as medicines. 



Coca is available in the shops, costing 5 centavos 

 the handful, but no Mocheros are habitual coca users 

 in the sense that they have a cud in the cheek all of 

 the time. Many men buy a handful of coca which 

 they chew with lime (a pinch is thrown in with the 

 purchase as a form of "yapa" or good-will extra) to 

 keep them awake when they have to stay up all 

 night. Coca leaves are also used for making a tea 

 which is said to be good for aches and pains, but is 

 not drunk habitually as a beverage. No lime gourds, 

 spatulas, or other implements are used in the con- 

 sumption of coca. A man merely carries his pur- 

 chase in the paper in which the shopkeeper wraps it. 



Tobacco is used only in the form of cigarettes, and 

 there are practically no heavy smokers among the 

 Mocheros. Many men do not smoke at all, others 

 usually only when relaxing. A cigarette is a special 

 treat rather than a daily or hourly necessity. 

 Women do not smoke at all, except as a joke or 

 when drunk. The resistance to the tobacco habit at 

 present is easily explainable superlicially by its cost. 

 Tobacco is a Government monopol}^ and the cheapest 

 package of cigarettes available costs 45 centavos, a 

 high price for Mocheros. It is illegal to roll 

 cigarettes by hand. 



Aside from considerations involved in the psycho- 

 social structure of Moche life, which will be dis- 

 cussed later, the resistance to coca and tobacco seems 

 to be supported by historical tradition. There is no 

 clear evidence that the habitual use of either narcotic 

 was widespread in the Mochica or Chimu cultures ; 

 in fact, it is doubtful that the use of tobacco was 



general even under Inca domination, and the extent 

 to which the Inca introduced the use of coca on the 

 coast remains to be studied. 



PREPARATION OF FOOD AND DRINK 



In the preparation of food, the following items 

 are used. 



Fircf'hces of tiKO tyj^cs.' — (1) E'ircplace consisting of three 

 or more stones for supporting the cooking pot on the ground 

 or floor of the kitchen (iil. 14, /onvr (/<•//)). (2) "Sto\e" of 

 adobe about 36 to 40 inches high oft the ground. Two parallel 

 ridges of adobe run perpcndicidar to the front of the stove 

 on its top; between them tlie fire is laid and on them, or on 

 iron straps or other supports laid across them, stand the 

 cooking pots (pi. 14, middle (left)). 



Fuel of three types. — Wood obtained from the areas near 

 the river and from trees growing on the plot and alongside 

 the irrigation ditclies, charcoal, and manure of domestic 

 animals. 



No ovens are used in household cookery. Bread is not 

 invariably eaten, yuca being the "bread" of .Moche. .All oi 

 those who have acquired a taste for bread buy it in tlie 

 tiendas, from peddlers who visit tlie houses, or from the 

 households which bake it. 



Cooking pots (tallanas) of various types and sliapes 

 (pi. 14, middle and lower (/<■//) ).— Made of earthenware by 

 Indians of the Sierra or of the region about Chiclayo. No 

 pots are made by hand in Moche. 



Water storage :ars (olla iiiaiua) .—Unge earthenware pots 

 (pl. 13, middle (left)), dug up from the .Moche ruins. 



Gonrd :r.o-f/.v of four general lype.^: — Mates, the plate- 

 shaped gourds; potos, the bowl-shaped gourds (small-sized 

 bowls or drinking cups are called cojoditos) ; and porongos, 

 the bottle-shaped gourds. All of these are made to some 

 extent in .Moche, but the better siiccimens come from the 

 region of Chiclayo. The latter carry fairly elaborate, if 

 crude, external designs etched with hot irons or (a new- 

 introduction) with nitric acid and black and red inks. 



Fans (abauicos) for btoieiiig up kitchen fire. — Made of 

 earrico woven to give the fan a diamond shape and a l-,andle 

 of earri.70 ends about 6 inches long. 



Hand )/;i7/,f or grinding stones. — These consist ot two 

 parts, the inano. or movable part, and the baton, or base. 

 Neither is shaped in a regular pattern. The baton is a flat- 

 topped stone of variable shape, but usually approximating 

 18 inches in diameter; it may be w-orn into a shallow depres- 

 sion by use, but does not have a raised rim about the edge 

 as do the Mochica specimens. The immo is a stone of vari- 

 able shape which has a smooth rubbing surface along one 

 side about two handbreadths in length. Some are cylindrical, 

 but others are hump-backed, brick-shaped, etc. In modern 

 times, lliey are selected (like the batanes) for their shape, 

 rather than being worked into shape (pl. 13, middle 

 (center)). 



iVoodcn spoons. 



Chicha containers (botijas). — These have already been 

 described. 



