QUIROGA: a MEXICAN MtTNICIPIO — BRAJSTD 



183 



is not enough work to go around, and most of them 

 engage in other part-time occupations such as 

 chair making and farming. Current wages m 1945 

 were $4 a day for a maestro, $2.75 to $3 for a 

 media cuchara, and $2.50 for a peon. Standard 

 equipment includes a trowel {cuchara), hammer, 

 plummet, level, square, rule, cord, chalk, brush, a 

 container for mixing mortar {mezclera), ladder, and 

 scaffolding (andamios) . 



TILE MAKERS 



Since nearly all of the buildings are roofed with 

 curved tiles, and because replacements are needed 

 as well as tiles for new buildings, the making of 

 tiles (fejas) is an important industry. There are 

 five tile works {tejerla, tejera, tejar), all of them in 

 cuartel II in the northwestern sector of town where 

 there is a combination of appropriate clays and 

 ample water supply. All of the tejerlas are small 

 one- to three-man establishments excepting one 

 which employs up to six professional fejeros and 

 two peones. There are five master tejeros, three 

 apprentices, and eight journeymen tUe makers in 

 Quiroga. If working on wages the apprentices 

 earn $1 a day, the jom-neymen $1.50, and the 

 master operators $2 a day. However, they often 

 work by the piece, which seems to figure out 

 about the same as day wages. A tejerla consists 

 of the piece of ground out of which the clay or 

 earth is dug, an open shed or roof to provide shade, 

 a drying yard, and one or two ovens or kilns. The 

 ovens (hornos) vary considerably in size, but most 

 of them seem to have a content of from 900 to 

 1,200 tUes at one firing. The tools include shovels, 

 picks, cudgel, two-man screen with handles, water 

 cans or buckets, rasps, iron tile mold (gradilla), 

 wooden forms {burros de madera or moldes) upon 

 which to place the freshly made tile, a strickle 

 (rasero), and tables. The first steps in making 

 tile are to dig up the clay with pick and shovel, 

 dry the clay clods in the sun, pulverize the clods 

 with a cudgel, screen the earth to remove sticks 

 and stones, and mix the clay with water and burro 

 dung. The mixing is done in a pit by men who tread 

 the mixture with bare feet. The mixed clay is 

 applied by hand to the gradilla; excess mud is 

 removed with the rasero. The shaped tile is 

 smoothed by hands dipped in water, and then the 

 tile is placed in the drying yard to dry for 2 to 4 

 days in the sun. When the tiles have dried suffi- 

 ciently irregularities left by the mold are rasped 



off, and the kiln is loaded with the tiles and pine 

 wood (at about $5 a charge). The firing takes 

 one day and is normally done on Friday or 

 Saturday. One unit of operatore (one to three 

 persons) usually turns out about 1,000 tUes and a 

 variable number of other terra-cotta products in 

 a week. It is evident that the tQe-making 

 industry accomphshes most of its work during the 

 dry season, and the rest of the year the tejeros work 

 sporadically at tile making and at other occupa- 

 tions. The 47-cm. tile (which sells for $30 to $35 

 a thousand) is the chief product, but other sizes 

 are made occasionally. Usually several other 

 terra-cotta goods are made and fired together 

 with the tiles. The most important of these are 

 square brick {ladrillo) 20X20 cm., square tile 

 {baldosa) 25X25 cm., and a thin oblong brick or 

 tile {tabique) 28X14X5 cm. There is some 

 manufacture of eccentrically shaped pieces {citari- 

 llas) for balustrades, small stoves or furnaces for 

 the cooking hearths {hornillas para fogones), 

 flowerpots, tubing, etc. 



To complete the list of constructive trades we 

 should mention the one "plumber" and two elec- 

 tricians in Quiroga. However, none of these 

 has much to do with budding construction or 

 equipment. The "plumber" makes practically no 

 installations, and his chief job is to look after the 

 terra-cotta conduits and metal pipes which consti- 

 tute the town's water-supply system. In the last 

 few years there have been very few electrical 

 installations, and when these are made they 

 usually consist of running wire from the nearest 

 post that carries a live wire to the house or build- 

 ing and carrying the wire on the surface of floor, 

 wall, or ceiling to the point or points where out- 

 lets are desired. All of the outlets are for electric 

 lights excepting in the few mills and shops which 

 use electric power. 



CANDLE AND SOAP MAKING 



Among the minor manufactures only the mak- 

 ing of candles and soap are worthy of mention. 

 Candles have been of great importance ever since 

 the coming of the Spaniards and Christianity. 

 Although formerly the predominant source of 

 illumination, along with ocote torches, candles are 

 now little used for domestic illumination, and 

 the chief use is religious. The aimual consump- 

 tion of candles in the church and in the household 

 shrines must be enormous, but we were unable to 



