THE TAJIN TOTONAC PART 1 KELLY AND PALEBM 



61 



Most parcels are exploited by several house- 

 holds related in the male line : 96 by several 

 brothers, by their respective sons, and perhaps by 

 a widow of one of the brothers or sons. These 

 relatives, who might be said to have a moral claim 

 on the lands, have been considered by us as "own- 

 ers," although the property is not legally in their 

 names. In questionable cases, the criterion has 

 been whether or not they pay rent. If a family is 

 related to the official owner and uses the land free 

 of charge, it appears on map 8 and in table 4 as an 

 owner. If there is no relationship or if it is remote 

 and rent is charged, the family appears among the 

 renters. 



For this reason, the total number of owners 

 exceeds the total number of parcels. According 

 to our count, 136 families live on parcels of which 

 they may be considered owners or part owners; 

 only 81 live on lands to which they have no claim, 

 except as renters. These figures include the To- 

 tonac families who give communal labor in Ojital 

 centers, some of whom own lands in Taj in. They 

 do not include the 35 families of the fundo, be- 

 cause whether or not they own parcels, they do 

 not live on them. 



To a certain extent, the Taj in Totonac spill over 

 onto the lands of adjacent communities. One fam- 

 ily (map 8, parcel No. 148) plants on lands ad- 

 ministered from Coatzintla; another (parcel No. 

 200) plants in Gildardo Mufioz; several, who live 

 in the fundo, use Tlahuanapa lands; and, along 

 the northern and northeastern limits of Tajin, a 

 number of plantings are made, on land which 

 belong to various Ojital centers. To a lesser de- 

 gree, there are intrusions in Tajin. Two individ- 

 uals of Papantla rent Tajin lands (Nos. 79, 87) 

 for their fields; and one resident of Tlahuanapa 

 plants on two Tajin parcels (Nos. 169, 201) which 

 are, incidentally, his own property. 



Our count shows a total of 238 plantings, of 

 which 6 lie outside the limits of Ojital y Potrero. 

 Of the 232 with the subdivision, 158 are on lands 

 owned by the planter; 74 are on rented lands. 

 Forty-three families — roughly one-fourth of the 

 Tajin households — plant on more than one parcel. 



Most plant on lands relatively close at hand. 

 Fortunately for the residents of the fundo, over 



06 Of the 27 parcels and 2 half parcels Inhabited by a single 

 household, 14 contain multiple plantings ; that is, they are ex- 

 ploited by more than one family, although only one residrs within 

 the parcel. 



half of whom do not own outlying lands, there are 

 several parcels in the immediate environs whose 

 owners are willing to rent on large scale (Nos. 88, 

 120, 123, and 126). However, one fundo dweller 

 travels a very considerable distance to his own land 

 (No. 195) to plant. Perhaps because of the dis- 

 tance, the field is not properly tended ; in any case, 

 it is notably not productive. 



A few parcel owners have their fields far from 

 their dwellings. Two residents of No. 71 travel 

 practically the full north-south stretch of the com- 

 munity, to plant in No. 199. There they have only 

 vanilla plantings, which require a minimum of 

 care, except as harvest approaches. Parcel No. 73 

 is overcrowded, and some years ago, one of the 

 owners purchased an additional parcel, No. 194, 

 which is far-removed. His milpa is in the newly 

 purchased parcel, and when the corn requires par- 

 ticular attention, he moves temporarily to No. 194. 

 This is, however, an exception, and maize gener- 

 ally is planted closer home. 



On the whole, Tajin is provided with ample land 

 (p. 54), for which reason the current agricultural 

 pattern functions successfully. However, in some 

 cases — when a man has left several sons who ex- 

 ploit a given parcel — the pinch is becoming evi- 

 dent, and, in time, with a normal increase of 

 population, land shortage is inevitable. There are 

 several instances of families who have moved to 

 communities to the west, where monte alto still is 

 abundant, simply because the Tajin parcels were 

 insufficient for all the heirs. 



At present, 23 of the 107 Tajin parcels (table 5, 

 a, b) are in the hands of "outsiders." Two are 

 held by local residents who, because they give pub- 

 lic labor in Ojital, are considered members of that 

 community, not of Tajin. The remaining 21 par- 

 cels are owned by nonresidents, hence are available 1 

 to Tajin only through loan or rental. Petroleos 

 Mexicanos clings to two parcels (Nos. 7G, 126), 

 apparently on the chance that it may want to re- 

 sume drilling for oil. Nine parcels are in the 

 hands of non-Totonac owners, who have bought 

 (he land as an investment. The remaining 10 are 

 owned by Totonac, scattered in various nearby 

 communities. 



Of Tajin families, or clusters of related families. 

 16 own more than an entire parcel of land : 1 has 

 4; 5 have 3; and 10 have 2 (table 5, c). In addi- 

 tion, one family has an entire parcel and fractions 



