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INSTITUTE OF SOCIAL ANTHROPOLOGY — PUBLICATION NO. 1 2 



FiGUBE 12. — Monjolo, or large mortar and pestle driven by water power. 



fall into the trough. As the trough fills, the 

 weight of the water pulls this end of the beam 

 down, automatically raising the head at the oppo- 

 site end, and simultaneously spilling the water 

 out of the trough, which thus releases the head 

 so that it drops with considerable force into the 

 mortar. Tliis action, repeated over and over, 

 eventually pounds into a relatively fine powder 

 whatever is in the mortar. 



The monjolo seco, or "dry" monjolo, and the 

 pHdo (Pag'u-a, both once used in the community, 

 have disappeared. The moiijolo seco was similar 

 to the mechanism described above except that it 

 was operated with the foot instead of water power. 

 The operator stood on an elevation at the end of 

 the beam opposite the head while alternately step- 

 ping upon the beam and releasing it, thus auto- 

 matically raising and dropping the wooden head. 

 "It wasn't so hard to work," recalls a local resi- 

 dent. "Someone would take it for a while, some- 

 one else would relieve him, and so on." 



The pilao d''agua,, or tutuca as it was also called, 

 consisted of from two to six walking beams similar 

 to that of the monjolo except that each was consid- 

 erably smaller and lighter. The beams were lined 



up side by side, and each set to have its hammer al- 

 ternately raised and dropped into a mortar. At 

 right angles, a wooden cylinder several feet long 

 was turned by water power. Into the cylinder, 

 some inches apart and at varying positions on its 

 surface, were driven as many lugs as there were 

 walking beams, each of which, as the cylinder 

 turned, would, in succession, catch the end of a 

 beam, push it downward and then release it, thus 

 alternately raising and dropping, one after the 

 other, the wooden heads into their respective mor- 

 tars. "You couldn't get enough maize," said a 

 local farmer, "to keep a good tutuca going." 



Also used in manufacturing processes are the 

 m.6s, or grinding stones; the forno, or oven for 

 baking bricks or pottery, making charcoal or 

 toasting maize flour; the alambiqiie, or still, for 

 making pinga; the mold and the hodoque, used in 

 making brick; the skimmer used in making 7'apa- 

 dura; the wooden rake used in making charcoal ; 

 and the water wheel. These instruments are all 

 described elsewhere."^ One villager and a few 



"' See sections on Grinding Maize, p. 86 ; Sugar Maliing, ii. 87 ; 

 Brickmalting, p. 89 ; Pottery, p. 84 ; Distillation of Plnga, p. 90 : 

 Maliing of Cliarcoal, p. 90. 



