QUIROGA: a MEXICAJSr MUNICIPIO — BRAND 



27 



of the houses was conditioned by the terrain prin- 

 cipally, and the dirt roads or alleys wound around 

 so that every house had an exit onto a public 

 road. There were no cuarteles, barrios, streets 

 with names, or houses with numbers. To find 

 a given person or house it was necessary to use a 

 guide. Although only 4 houses had what might 

 be termed a flower garden, about 40 of the houses 

 had a scattering of flowering plants which testified 

 to the loving care of the women who had to pack 

 the water for the plants as well as for the house- 

 hold. The most popular flowers were, in order, 

 various kinds of "geraniums," rue, roses, carna- 

 tions, petunias, and herbs popular in folk medicine. 

 There were no truck or vegetable gardens, but 

 about a thLrd of the families cultivated a few 

 chayote and chile plants near the houses. Neither 

 were there any fruit orchards, but scattered fruit 

 trees constituted the chief source of ornament 

 and shade in the community. Peaches dominated, 

 with 184 trees scattered over the solares of 42 

 houses; and the other introduced trees were 4 

 quinces, 2 pears, 2 cherries, and 1 mulberry. 

 Agaves led the list of native plants, and 97 of 

 these magueyes punctuated the landscape, along 

 with 65 hawthorns (tejocofes), 50 clumps of culti- 

 vated edible cactus (nopal manso), 48 native 

 cherries (capulines), and but 1 white zapote. 

 The more conmion of the purely ornamental 

 trees and shrubs were 50 oaks, 22 large yuccas, 

 16 ash trees, and a scattering of elder, pine, 

 cypress, floripondio, and tree tobacco, down to a 

 lonely eucalyptus planted by the chapel. 



All the houses are of one story and are made of 

 local materials. Hewn pine planks, unshaped 

 stone, and sun-dried adobes are the materials 

 used in the walls (.31 houses of planli walls; 9 of 

 plank and stone; 4 of plank and adobe; 1 of 

 plank, stone, and adobe; and 5 of stone — of the 

 50 houses other than the chapel, whose walls are 

 constructed of plank, stone, and adobe). Only 6 

 of the 46 inhabited houses were whitewashed. 

 The roofs are commonly of grass thatch (28 of 

 grass; 12 of grass and tile; .3 of grass and shakes; 

 6 of tile; and 1 of tile and shakes) arranged in two 

 slopes {dos aguas) from a center ridgepole (42 of 

 the houses), but 8 houses appro.ximated the pre- 

 sumptive ancient form ^vith four slopes from a 

 central peak. Ten of the houses were of the 

 Sierra Tarascan troje type in general appearance, 

 but only 4 had the typical tejamanil or shake 



835847—50 3 



roof. The houses ranged from 1 to 7 rooms 

 (1 house), but 24 had but 2 rooms, 11 had 3 

 rooms, and 9 had but 1 room. Usually there were 

 as many e.xterior doors as there were rooms, and 

 only 2 houses had windows (1 with 1, and another 

 with 2), which were small rectangular openings 

 without glass. The floors were principally of 

 earth (29 houses), although 19 houses had wooden 

 as well as dirt floors, and 2 houses had only wooden 

 floors. There were no privies or backhouses of 

 any description. There is no piped water, and all 

 of the water is packed in ollas or jars from the 

 'several weUs and sumps, as long as these have 

 water. Most of the people sleep on petates (mats) 

 on the floor, although 10 families possessed a total 

 of 12 wooden beds which were used in addition to 

 petates. The only fuel used is lena (cut sticks) in 

 the open hearths or cooking places. Twenty- 

 three families used pitch-pine splinters or ocote 

 for lighting, 16 families could afl"ord kerosene 

 (petroleo) in lamps, 4 households commonly used 

 candles, and 3 famihes relied on the light from the 

 cooking fire. In all the rancho there was no radio 

 or even phonograph, and but 2 hand sewing 

 machines. In aU Icuacato there was no wheeled 

 vehicle, excepting 1 small handcart. AU of the 

 above describes a poor but rather typical isolated 

 Michoacan rancho. 



SANAMBO 



In most respects San Diego Sanambo was the 

 superlative rancho, being farthest from Quiroga, 

 largest in area and population, and highest in 

 elevation. Its location on the rather steep slopes 

 that descend from the base of the Cerro de Sa- 

 nambo (Cerro de Buenavista) to the hanging vaUey 

 of El Tigre-Caringaro-Atzimbo-La Noria, at a 

 mean elevation of 2,450 meters, affords a magnifi- 

 cent view southwest over the northern portion 

 of the lake basin. Most of its lands occupy the 

 middle crests and slopes of the undulating ridge 

 which extends eastward from El Tzirate through 

 the Cerro Chino, Cerro Azul, and Cerro Irauco, 

 toward Capula and then bifurcates toward the 

 Cerro del Aguila and the Cerro Quinceo. Like 

 Icuacato, deforestation and erosion, together with 

 the elevation which throws all of it into the tierra 

 jria, have made Sanambo a submarginal area, but 

 the soils are somewhat more retentive of moistxrre 

 and there are a number of permanent springs and 

 artificial ponds (jagiieyes). Although between 6 



