QUIROGA: a MEXICAN MTXNICIPIO — BRAND 



49 



(much as are brick walls in the United States) 

 with adobe mud used instead of a calcareous 

 mortar. There is a slight range in the dimensions 

 of the adobes most commonly used, but the aver- 

 age size is 48 by 28 by 10 cm. (19 by 11 by 4 

 inches). The walls of older houses have adobes 

 of about the same width and thickness but the 

 length is about 56 cm. As mentioned previously, 

 a majority of the houses have a protective coating 

 of calcareous whitewash or mud plaster. Most 

 of the buildings (541) have a 2-shed or gable roof 

 {techado de dos aguas), although 153 houses have 

 shed roofs, and 31 houses have a combination of 

 1 and 2 sheds. There are no flat roofs or azoteas 

 because of the considerable rains in the summer. 

 A framework or armadura of pine plates, posts, 

 rafters, purlins, and ridgepole or cabaUete is tied 

 in to the top of the walls, and upon this armadura 

 is placed the roofing material. Practically all 

 (711) of the houses are roofed with red tiles, and 

 only 9 have roofs of tejamanil or shakes, and 5 

 roofs are of zacate or grass thatch. Up to the 

 1860's all of the roofs were of tejamanil. Probably 

 a combination of increasing scarcity of timber, 

 the need to reduce the fire hazard, and a desire 

 to eliminate one of the hallmarks of Indian iden- 

 tity caused the drastic change from shake to tile 

 which was nearly complete by the 1880's. The 

 tiles used are the small 47-cm. curved tiles made 

 locally in the iejerias on the northwestern out- 

 skirts of town. These are laid vertically with 

 alternating concave and convex upper surfaces 

 which overlap or interlock along a horizontal row 

 which begins at the bottom of the roof. The 

 next row up is laid in a similar fashion but projects 

 somewhat over the lower row. This process is 

 continued until the ridgepole is reached from both 

 sides, and then the projecting tops are covered by 

 tiles laid horizontally. As there are no fireplaces 

 with chimneys or stoves with smokestacks, there 

 is no need to provide exits for those items. Ceil- 

 ings ai'e present in a number of the houses, but 

 they are definitely in the minority. This ceiling 

 and the space above it commonlj^ constitute a 

 tapanco or attic or half story which is used for 

 storage of maize and other items. 



About half (350) of the buildings have 1 or 

 more windows that give onto the street. These 

 windows are commonly small and are closed by a 

 single wooden panel. Only 50 of the houses have 

 glass windows, and the majority of these are 



protected by either iron or wooden grates or 

 grills (rejas). Some 10 or a dozen of the houses 

 have small balconies. The number of exterior 

 windows per building ranges from only 1 (206 

 houses), through 2 (85 houses), 3 (29 houses), and 

 so on up to 1 house with 17 windows. The 

 majority of the buildings (467) have but 1 door 

 that gives onto the street. There were 2 doors in 

 117 houses, 3 doors in 71 houses, and so on to 

 1 house that had 16 exterior doors. The door- 

 ways commonly have jambs and lintels of wood 

 and sills or thresholds of stone or brick flush with 

 the floor surface. A few of the houses have door- 

 ways and windows with stone jambs and lintels. 

 All the doors are of wood, and commonly thej' con- 

 sist of several loosely fitted planks held together 

 by cross pieces nailed on the inside. However, 

 the houses in the downtowoi or central section 

 have carpentered and fitted doors which in a few 

 instances are handsomely carved. Most of the 

 doors are held in place by metal hinges, although 

 a few have leather hinges. There are no door- 

 bells of any description, but about 120 houses have 

 simple ring knockers of iron or brass, and perhaps 

 8 or 10 have knob knockers of metal fashioned like 

 paws, fists and simple clappers. Usually the 

 front door opens into a room, but in perhaps 50 or 

 60 houses the 1 front door, or the central door if 

 there are several, opens onto a zagudn or hall 

 which goes through to the patio. Several of 

 these zaguanes are paved with mosaic or colored 

 glazed tiles. The majority of the doors have a 

 metal lock which is operated with a very large 

 key. In the poorer homes the door is closed from 

 the outside by a cord or thong which is tied 

 through the door and looped over a nail or peg 

 projecting from the jamb. Practically all doors, 

 including those with locks, are barred or double- 

 barred on the inside when it is time to retire or 

 when visitors are not desired. There are some 18 

 or 20 houses, aU in the suburbs or peripheral 

 areas, which are set back a way from the street and 

 which are approached through a covered gateway 

 known as a porton. These portones, which usually 

 consist of an ordinary swinging gate of poles and 

 withes or thongs, flanked by two posts which are 

 surmounted by a small roof of tile or shake, are 

 more common in Michoacdn and Guerrero than 

 in any other portion of Mexico although their use 

 is increasing throughout the Republic. The 

 function of the roof probably is to provide shelter 



