56 INSTITUTE OF SOCIAL ANTHROPOLOGY—PUBLICATION NO. 7 
picked up by trucks from turpentine distilleries 
in Uruapan and Morelia. Charcoal is a minor 
commercial forest product made by Tarascans 
living near mestizo towns. The latter comprise 
the principal markets for charcoal, which has 
never entered Tarascan culture.’ Other minor 
forest products consist of ocote splinters, used 
for primitive interior illumination; *° softwoods 
(madroiio, jaboncillo, aile, etc.) for lathe work; 
pine and fir for cabinet work; etc. 
Within the last 50 years the commercial saw- 
mill has penetrated into the Sierra. Lumber 
companies purchase cutting rights of standing 
timber from the pueblos and set up a steam- or 
(when near a power line) electric-powered saw in 
the midst of the forest.“! When the suitable 
timber has been depleted (under Federal inspec- 
tion), the mill closes down, and the remnant of the 
forest reverts to the pueblo. Although most 
companies bring in mestizo labor, many Tarascans 
from villages nearby obtain seasonal work in the 
sawmills, thereby supplementing their usually low 
income. Because of their ephemeral character, 
the number of mills in the area varies. In 1940 
there were five mills in the Sierra proper; in 1946 
the number had decreased to three. 
During the last 100 years cutting has exceeded 
natural timber growth in the Sierra. Clearing of 
new plowland to sustain increased population and 
commercial lumbering have been the major 
factors of forest depletion. Moreover, disease has 
recently destroyed acres of pine in the vicinity of 
Tarecuato, and volcanic ash has laid waste the 
forest within a 3-mile radius of Paricutin. Lum- 
bering even by the Tarascan woodsmen is often 
wasteful. Large trees are sometimes cut and left 
unattended for years until rot renders the wood 
useless.“ Improper tapping for resin and 
testing for shakes often kill many trees. The 
sawmills, operating on a much larger scale than 
the native lumbermen, are even more destructive, 
and in former years they depleted large sections 
of Sierra forest. Approximately 50 years ago the 
timberland in the eastern part of the Sierra east 
129 The main charcoal-producing towns in the area are San Lorenzo 
(Uruapan market), Opopeo and Cuanajo (PAtzcuaro market). 
130 The rancheros around Pamatdcuaro gather much ocote, which the 
women market in the large mestizo towns bordering the Sierra. 
131 In 1944 the pueblo of San Felipe sold its forest to an Uruapan company 
for two million pesos. The proceeds were deposited in an Uruapan bank, 
where they remain communal property. 
132 Such wasteful exploitation was much in evidence in the forest lands of 
Pamatdécuaro on the southern slope of Cerro de Patamban, 
of Nahuatzen, Sevina, and Cumachuén was 
almost completely stripped by the mills. Today 
in this area, barren, windswept sheep pastures, 
supporting occasional remnant clumps of pine, 
indicate the extent of forest destruction (pl. 8). 
Throughout the Sierra there is probably not a 
piece of virgin timber, so long and thorough has 
been lumber exploitation. 
HANDICRAFTS 
Among most people lacking modern transporta- 
tion facilities and mass production techniques, 
cottage industries, often termed ‘native crafts,” 
are characteristic of the local economy. Owing 
to the presence of particular raw materials nearby 
and/or to traditional skills, people of one village 
often tend to specialize in one or more crafts. 
Cottage industry and village specialization are 
prevalent in most of indigenous and even mestizo 
Mexico. It is and has been particularly so among 
the Tarascans, whom the early Spanish chroniclers 
described as a skilled and clever people (Beau- 
mont, 1874, vol. 2, p. 165). Moreover, pro- 
gressive exhaustion of originally poor soils and 
population increase have forced many farmers of 
the Sierra to turn to crafts for additional income. 
Today five general handicrafts (ceramics, textiles, 
woodwork, leathercraft, and metalwork) are 
practiced and over 30 types of articles made 
among 54 Tarascan towns and ranchos (map 20). 
Only 10 Tarascan-speaking pueblos lack a cottage 
industry. In 26 pueblos at least 25 percent of the 
“working” population! practice various crafts. 
Some villages specialize in only one industry. 
For example, over 80 percent of the working 
population of Santa Fé de la Laguna make pot- 
tery; nine-tenths of that of Jardcuaro are hat 
makers. Moreover, many towns which carry on 
various handicrafts may concentrate on one. 
Thus, Tarecuaro is famed for agave fiber products, 
Pamatdcuaro and neighboring ranchos for wooden 
spoons and bowls. In most pueblos more than 
one craft is practiced, and in a few as many as 
eight distinct products are made. 
Like so many of his material culture elements, 
the Tarascan’s crafts represent a mixture of 
133 The ‘‘working’’ population in Tarascan towns is estimated by dividing 
the total population by 3.5. The Tarascan family averages about 5 persons, 
but often the wife devotes her spare time to cottage industry and is sometimes 
helped by the older children. Boys over 12 years old usually work in the 
fields as farmers or in the house at the father’s trade. 
