THE TAJIN TOTONAC — PART 1 — KELLY AND PALERM 



65 



from the original sheets of the 1940 Federal cen- 

 sus, which are in the archives of the Direccion 

 General de Estadistica. The second (table 8; 

 fig. 2) is based on our own census, which was 

 started in 1947 and completed in 1948. The 1947 

 data were corrected to include births, deaths, and 

 marriages which took place through the early 



children have been excluded (see explanation to 

 table 8), and both table and figure are based on 

 1,097 individuals. Obviously, an increase of 50 

 percent between 1940 and 1948 is not natural. Al- 

 though, by and large, we find the Federal census 

 accurate, undeniably it is incomplete. It was taken 

 by the local school teacher, who apparently over- 



AGE. 



85.89 



6Q.6H- 



20.2if 



/7ALFS 



( nunbm or pzqsohs ) 



- T~ 

 60 



—\ — 



SO 



~1 



20 



TIMALIS 



( fiunbiQ. or persons). 



T7WM 



~I — 

 zo 



50 



<+Q SO 



Figure 1. — Composition of Tajfn population. Age, sex, and speech are indicated, according; to data given by the 1940 

 Federal census (see table 7). For the youngest group (0-4 years), language has been disregarded. For other age 

 groups, the key is as follows: light stipple, Totonac monolinguals; heavy stipple, Totonac-Spanish bilinguals; diagonal 

 hatch and solid black, Spanish monolinguals. For Spanish monolinguals two symbols have been used. The indi- 

 viduals represented by solid black are definitely intrusive in Tajin, and the census records indicate that they were 

 associated with the local oil camp. Of the remaining Spanish monolinguals, represented by diagonal hatch, it is diffi- 

 cult to say how many are intrusive. Presumably, most are temporary residents, because 7 or 8 years later, the oc- 

 currence of Spanish monolinguals in Tajfn is negligible (cf. fig. 2). 



spring of 1948, but no effort was made to correct the 

 age of individuals. As will be seen below, there 

 must be such a wide range of error in the ages that 

 a change of a year did not warrant the clerical 

 work involved. 



The 1940 census credits Tajin with a population 

 of 718 persons. Our count, taken some 8 years 

 later, yields 1,102. However, of this total, five 



looked a good many families which did not have 

 children of school age. 



Both figures 1 and 2 exhibit the expectable 

 pyramidal form, despite a certain amount of un- 

 evenness. Foster (1948, p. 28) has noted that in 

 Tzintzuntzan age is reckoned in current, not in 

 lapsed time; but in Tajin, an individual generally 

 thinks of his age in terms of anos cumplidos (com- 



