THE TAJIN TOTONAC PART 1 KELLY AND PALERM 



local school. And following the dance, the Negritos again 

 performed, in honor of St. Joseph. 



For Agapito, this meant constant violin playing most 

 of Friday and all of Friday night and Saturday morning. 

 Saturday afternoon, he slept a few hours, then walked to 

 Papantla to buy new strings for his violin. He returned, 

 to play all of Saturday night. 



As a matter of fact, two nights a week, Agapito ordi- 

 narily does not go to bed, for he has one all-night practice 

 with the orchestra and another with the Negritos. If 

 either of these groups is committed to a public perform- 

 ance, he may be up a third night during the week. He 

 regards this program casually and when he returns at 

 dawn, goes directly to his fields to work. 



This is not standard routine for all Taj in resi- 

 dents, but by and large the group exhibits marked 

 physical stamina — the more remarkable since to 

 us the diet appears to be quite deficient (see pp. 

 166-171). 



Brachycephaly is marked, especially among 

 children, who sometimes appear almost gro- 

 tesquely broad-headed. Men, in particular, have 

 fine features ; for some obscure reason, the women 

 ordinarily have heavier faces. There is a wide 

 range in skin color ; several people with noticeably 

 yellowish tones may owe this color in part to 

 malaria. 



Ordinarily, the hair is dark and abundant. 

 Generally it is straight, although a few individ- 

 uals have slightly wavy hair. Baldness is un- 

 known. In particular, women have beautiful 

 hair, although often it is red-streaked, owing to 

 the custom of adding lye to bath water. As is to 

 be expected, body hair is scant. One individual 

 is pointed out as meriting special attention in that 

 he has hair on his chest and a relatively heavy 

 beard ; it is said, with considerable pride, that he 

 is like "the tall people of Papantla." 



Naturally, eyes are brown, but there is a small 

 occurrence of light hazel eyes. We have made no 

 consistent observations concerning the Mongoloid 

 fold, although it occurs. The Mongoloid spot 

 frequently is noted among small children, espe- 

 cially in certain families. Little Carmen, the 9- 

 month-old daughter of Filiberta Gonzalez, has a 

 large, irregular blot at the base of the spine, with 

 three smaller spots, more or less circular, above. 

 An elder son, about 3 years old, now has lost his 

 spot. Another son, aged 9 or 10, formerly had an 

 exaggerated case, with markings even on the 

 shoulders. The mother looked diligently, but 

 now could find no trace. All of her eight chil- 



dren, she says, have borne this spot. However, 

 the infant daughter of Doha Filiberta's brother 

 gives no evidence of such marking. 



Although it appears to us that the Taj in To- 

 tonac exhibit considerable racial intermixture, 

 there are extremely few individuals who show 

 noticeable Negroid characters. This is partic- 

 ularly noteworthy, since Veracruz is a zone where 

 there was an early and fairly heavy introduction 

 of Negroes. Papantla, however, appears to be 

 outside the area of strong Negro influence (p. 37). 



SIXTEENTH-CENTURY DISTRIBUTION 



The extent of sixteenth-century Totonacapan 

 is shown in map l. 8 Information is based on 

 sources between 1519 and 1623 9 — that is, from the 

 Spanish Conquest to and including the visit made 

 by Mota y Escobar. 



The area lies along the Gulf coast, roughly from 

 the Rio Cazones, in the north, to the Rio de la 

 Antigua, in the south. Inland, it includes a large 

 section of the eastern slopes of the Sierra Madre, 

 as well as parts of the highlands of Puebla. The 

 westernmost limits are represented by Pahuatlan 

 (map 1, No. 58) ; by several settlements in the 

 vicinity of Acaxochitlan (No. 72), on the present 

 Hidalgo-Puebla frontier; and by Zacatlan (No. 

 69), in modern Puebla. From Zacatlan, the 

 boundary runs almost due east to Jalacingo (No. 

 17) and Atzalan (No. 4), thence southeast to the 

 Gulf, at the mouth of the Antigua. 10 



This southeast extension is well defined by the 

 early records. In the zone of Jalacingo (No. 17) 

 and Jalapa (No. 18), Mexicano is dominant, and 

 southwest of these points, it occurs to the exclu- 

 sion of Totonac. In none of the sources we have 



8 The map is essentially a graphic presentation of the language 

 data which appear in table 14, of Appendix A, where also will be 

 found a discussion of source material. Owing to bulk, it seems 

 advisable to present the basic data in an appendix instead of 

 incorporating them in the main text. 



9 This year, a full century following the Conquest, has been 

 chosen arbitrarily so as to permit inclusion of the first-hand 

 observations on native language made by Mota y Escobar, Bishop 

 of Tlaxcala. There is not the slightest indication that Totonac 

 speech was expanding at this time : in fact, all evidence is to the 

 contrary. Accordingly, it seems likely that a pueblo which spoke 

 Totonac in the days of Mota y Escobar likewise was Totonac 

 during the immediately preceding years. 



10 On the whole, these limits coincide fairly well with early 

 statements. For example, Torquemada (1 : 398) quotes the chief 

 of "Cempoala" to the effect that Totonacapan "almost reached 

 to Panuco." And Antonio de Leon (table xli) writes: "En 

 Totonaca, Provincia, que por la costa de Nueva Espafia se estlende, 

 desde la Veracruz, casi hasta Panuco, i confines de Tututepec ; 

 i llega a la Cordillera, donde naee el rio de Almeria, que desagua 

 en el Seno Mexicano." 



