62 



INSTITUTE OF SOCIAL ANTHROPOLOGY PUBLICATION NO. 13 



of 2 others ; another has 2 parcels and part of an- 

 other (table 5, d). Thirty-four parcels each are 

 held by a single family or group of related fami- 

 lies (table 5, e). Eight parcels are fractioned. 

 Of these, one family holds two half -parcels, hence 

 has the equivalent of an entire one. Two families, 

 noted above, hold one and two entire parcels re- 

 spectively, plus parts of others; the latter are 

 counted among the fractions. The balance of the 

 divided parcels is distributed among families 

 whose total holdings are less than a full parcel. 



Table 5. — Parcel oiwiersMp 



Number of 

 Owned by "outsiders" : parcels 



a. Entire parcels, owned by local residents, who 



give communal labor in Ojital, hence are 

 considered non-Tajin 2 



b. Entire parcels owned by nonresidents : 



Petroleos Mexicanos 2 



Papantla residents, non-Totonac 8 



Tampico (?) resident, non-Totonac 1 



Totonac non-residents, living in Ojital, Tla- 

 huanapa, Papantla, Plan de Palmar, Vista 



Hermosa 10 



Subtotal 23 



!i9 



d. 



Owned by Tajin Totonac: 



c. Entire parcels, each family or group of re- 

 lated families having 2 to 4 parcels 



Entire parcels, each owned by a family or 

 group of related families having, in addi- 

 tion, fractions of other parcels (see text) ; 

 fractions included below, under f 3 



Entire parcels, each owned by a family or 

 group of related families with no other par- 

 cel holdings 34 



Fractioned parcels (see text), including resi- 

 due from d 8 



Subtotal 84 



f- 



Total 107 



SETTLEMENT PATTERN 



We have seen in the preceding pages that a rel- 

 atively small proportion of the population of 

 Tajin lives within the fundo legal and that most 

 of the families are dispersed, on outlying parcels. 

 Obviously, this particular scheme of settlement 

 cannot be regarded as indigenous, since it was 

 planned by Federal Mexican authorities in rela- 

 tively recent years; the Totonac merely have oc- 

 cupied the plots of ground laid out by Govern- 

 ment survey. 



However, it appears that the combination of 

 an urban center with a widely scattered rural pop- 

 ulation approximates an old Totonac settlement 

 pattern. xVt the time of the Conquest, the Totonac 

 had a number of sizable towns, of which "Cem- 

 poala" and "Quiahuixtlan" are best known. Ac- 

 cording to Torquemada ( 1 : 249) , the Totonac and 

 "Meztitecas" had large and important centers, 

 about which the "king" and "principal" people 

 and "nobles" lived — "although not in formed 

 streets, 97 at least in concerted order." The rest 

 of the populace lived scattered "in hills, moun- 

 tains, valleys, and ravines." 



At the time of the Conquest, Papantla evidently 

 was an urban center, and its population has been 

 calculated at 60,000 persons (p. 9). Although 

 we cannot be certain that the ruins of Tajin are 

 to be identified with the Totonac, if so, it is evi- 

 dent that some centuries before the Conquest there 

 was at least one large Totonac center in the Pa- 

 pantla area. However, in the latter part of the 

 sixteenth century, it is said that the Indians of Pa- 

 pantla lived "far from one another, on the slopes 

 of hills" (Relacion de Papantla), and this essen- 

 tially disperse settlement pattern still holds for 

 close to four-fifths of the modern Tajin popula- 

 tion. 



MODERN POPULATION 

 PROVENIENCE 



It is difficult to identify the individuals who 

 purchased lands in 1876, but our census gives a 

 good idea of the provenience of the modern pop- 

 ulation. The first column of table 6 indicates the 

 birthplace of the heads of families, together with 

 that of their wives. 98 Clearly, most are natives 

 of Tajin itself or of other communities in the gen- 

 eral Papantla area. The intrusion from zones of 

 intermediate and high elevation is negligible. If 

 we consider Papantla as Totonac rather than mes- 

 tizo, then it may be said that, without exception, 

 all heads of families and their wives are from 

 Totonac settlements. 



396) credits "Cempo- 

 ; 170) mentions streets, 



07 However, elsewhere, Torquemada (1: 

 ala" with streets ; and Diaz del Castillo (1 : 

 as well as "the great plaza" and patios. 



98 In some cases, the head of the family is a lone man, or, more 

 frequently, a lone woman. In cases of plural marriage, the 

 birthplace of the several wives is included in the count. The 

 record is almost complete for the entire community, although 

 information is wanting for a few families. 



