THE TAJIN TOTONAC PART 1 — KELLY AND PALERM 



Table 2. — Annual precipitation, Papantla ' 



47 



Year 



Jan. 



Feb. 



Mar. 



Apr. 



May 



June 



July 



Aug. 



Sept. 



Oct. 



Nov. 



Dec. 



















76.4 

 95.7 

 67.1 

 81.5 

 120.5 

 15.0 



206.7 

 288.1 

 271.0 

 195.1 

 377.5 

 49.0 



120.6 

 172.1 

 227.5 

 175.6 

 110.0 

 526.2 



65.0 

 35.1 

 15.0 

 211.6 

 118.9 

 62.1 



43.7 





29.5 

 73.9 

 28.1 

 13.5 

 69.5 



10.2 

 37.1 

 52.2 

 21.2 

 38.5 



48.4 

 24.8 

 11.1 

 37.0 

 13.8 



54.8 



27.9 



3.0 



.5 



53.2 



98.0 

 172.9 

 152.7 

 74.6 

 79.5 



300.6 

 218.9 

 236.3 

 266.7 

 92.1 



204.4 

 125.0 

 95.5 

 188.5 

 144.2 



19.3 



1927 - 



71.4 





99.0 





186.0 



1930 - 



58.5 









42.9 



31.8 



27.0 



33.9 



115.5 



222.9 



151.5 



76.0 



231.2 



222.0 



84.6 



79.6 







1931 



45.9 

 27.5 

 49.7 

 72.1 

 C1.0 

 50.4 

 54.0 

 68.0 

 75.1 

 37.8 



61.0 

 27.0 

 31.7 

 22.2 

 22.7 

 30.8 

 43.5 

 93.1 

 29.2 

 5.7 



34.1 

 39.4 

 10.1 

 45.5 

 1.5 

 56.0 

 123.1 

 25.1 

 98.9 

 52.6 



66.7 

 12.0 

 26.9 



185.4 

 61.8 



114.7 

 22.4 

 94.7 

 C6.0 

 56.7 



354.2 



91.2 



7.5 



64.1 



146.4 

 81.5 

 70.8 

 27.0 

 96.9 

 59.5 



204.2 

 82.7 

 73.5 

 48.5 



235.0 

 87.3 

 85.7 

 55.3 



120.7 



139.7 



356.7 



188.5 



335.9 



40.0 



179.9 



294.5 



113.3 



25.8 



91.8 



100.4 



175.5 

 248.0 

 468.2 



77.6 

 151.5 

 181.0 



59.8 

 154.3 



73.8 



23.9 



480.7 

 131.2 

 310.2 

 341.1 

 285.5 

 222.2 

 125.3 

 261.5 

 320.0 

 83.4 



185.7 

 296.0 

 152.2 

 107.7 

 245.7 

 430.0 

 236.5 



68.0 

 165.2 



44.2 



35.5 

 64. 7 



84.5 

 115.5 

 41.8 

 95.5 

 75.7 

 83.3 

 69.6 

 126.1 



74.7 



1932 _ - 



35.7 



1933 



6.2 



1934 _ 



108.4 



1935 --- -- 



86.7 



1936 - - -- 



12.4 



1937 - 



131.3 



1938 - -- -- 



27.5 



1939 



50.3 



1940 -- 



117.0 









54.1 



36.7 



48.6 



70.7 



99.9 



113.3 



172.7 



161.4 



255.1 



193.1 



79.2 



65.0 







1941 -. 



81.6 

 54.1 



54.8 

 32.2 



79.4 

 38.7 



73.7 



126.7 



207.7 



142.3 



94.0 



314.5 



154.1 



116.1 



72.5 



1942. 

























i The record Is In millimeters. 

 Mexicano. 



These figures have been made available through the courtesy of the Tacubaya office of the Servicio Meteorologico 



narrow strip of coast plain and the base of the 

 great escarpment of the central plateau. There 

 are no outstanding peaks, no great scarps, and no 

 deep valleys, yet there is virtually no level land. 

 Low hills succeed one another with few breaks 

 (pi. 1). Papantla itself is huddled among a clus- 

 ter of hills, and most of the land within the limits 

 of Taj in is broken. 



There are no major streams in the immediate 

 vicinity of Papantla and Tajin. The Rio Cazones 

 runs considerably to the north and the Rio Teco- 

 lutla lies well to the south. Tajin has a number 



of minor arroyos which drain south to the peren- 

 nial Arroyo de Tlahuanapa which, in turn, drains 

 to a tributary of the Tecolutla. There are many 

 annual springs, but few perennial ones. Attempts 

 at well digging 84 have been made in Tajin, with 

 little success; the only moderately useful well 

 cannot be relied upon in time of real water short- 

 age. For many years, Papantla has asked for 

 Federal aid to solve her chronic water problem; 

 and during years of scant rainfall, Tajin suffers 

 acutely (pp. 70-71). 



Precipitation is highly irregular — so much so, 

 that averages are misleading (table 2). For ex- 

 ample, April of 1929, had 0.5 mm. of rain; but 

 April of 1934, 185.4 mm. Similarly, in September 

 of 1930, there were 49.0 mm. of rain ; but Septem- 

 ber of the preceding year is credited with 377.5 

 mm. ; and of the succeeding year, with 480.7 mm. 

 It is small wonder that the Totonac farmer is 

 mightily preoccupied with the rainfall and that 

 one year he may have abundant crops, the next, 

 virtually none. 



The bulk of the precipitation falls between May 

 and October, in the form of violent cloudbursts 

 {aguaceros) . These begin in earnest during June. 

 They beat through the walls and roofs of the 

 houses, and they wash out the fields and the trails. 

 Sometimes they leave the latter in such bad con- 

 dition that pack animals mire and perish in the 



Map 5. — The location of Papantla and Tajin. 



81 The sixteenth-century RelaclOu de Papantla says, "y tlenpo 

 de seca no tiene casi agua." It makes no mention of: wells, for 

 which there appears to be no Totonac term. 





