THE TAJIN TOTONAC PART 1 KELLY AND PALERM 



73 



are any," to "help the wood burn." Never, so far 

 as we know, is reliance exclusively on corncobs. 



Sometimes brush and small trees are cut in an 

 old, abandoned maize field (known as an acahual) ; 

 once dry, they serve as fuel. However, most fire- 

 wood is gleaned from current milpas. When the 

 latter are cleared for planting, the trees are felled, 

 allowed to dry, and fire is set to them. Trunks 

 and heavier branches seldom burn completely. 

 Later, they may be dragged to the edge of the 

 clearing; sometimes they are left unmoved, and 

 the maize is planted about them. This half- 

 burned firewood is collected from one's own corn- 

 field or from that of a friend, who has given 

 permission. 



Certain types of wood burn better than others. 

 The zapote chico (No. 191) is of little use; so also 

 is the chaca (No. 228) . The popularity of the lat- 

 ter is not enhanced because of a local saying, "He 

 who burns chaca becomes poorer than ever." 

 Laurel (presumably No. 130) and akasHi (No. 

 218) burn rapidly but are considered good. Other 

 acceptable firewoods include : ojite (No. 98) , chijol 

 (No. 176) , alzaprima (No. 206) , at least two of the 

 three capulines (Nos. 21, 41, 85), and quince (no 

 specimen). 



The collection of firewood generally is a chore 

 for the man ; he cuts the wood with a machete and 

 hauls it to the house, using a head tump. This 

 often is an early morning task, although when a 

 man works in his milpa, he usually brings the fuel 

 in the evening, when he returns home. Women 

 who gather firewood usually carry it on the head, 

 without the aid of a tump. A moth larva (of the 

 family Psychidae) 6 known as carga-palitos (wood- 

 bearer; maksakna) produces a long, slender sack, 

 which incorporates odd bits of stem, fiber, etc. In 

 the bag is placed tobacco and a clove of garlic, or 

 an avocado leaf, garlic, and mineral tar (chapo- 

 pote). It is tied to the wrist or the neck of a 

 small boy, so that when he is grown "he will be 

 able to find firewood, even if there is none." Ac- 

 cording to another account, the bag is tied to the 

 lad's waist, in the belief that, once adult, he will 

 be able to carry wood without injury. 



Firewood often represents a very handy means 

 of augmenting the cash income. Wood sold in 

 Papantla helped provide working capital for the 



construction of the new Tajin school. Each 

 week, the family of Magdaleno Mendez takes 

 a load of wood to town, to help defray the board 

 of a young son who attends school there. And 

 almost every Sunday, two or three men from Tajin 

 head for Papantla with donkeys laden with fire- 

 wood. The latter brings about $4.00 pesos a load. 



Ordinarily, a man cuts the wood for his own 

 household, but occasionally he engages someone to 

 do it in his stead. The price is $4.00 to $6.00 pesos 

 the tarea (8 cubic varas, or yards) ; and since the 

 latter measure is the amount generally cut in a 

 day, the price is roughly equivalent to a daily wage. 

 Lands of virgin forest almost never are rented, 

 but one who rents a plot with second-growth tim- 

 ber has the right to cut what he likes, provided he 

 has paid the rent in advance. Ordinarily, the 

 renter clears the land and sells the firewood. 

 Eduardo Nunez lets his lands of monte bajo on a 

 different basis; he retains the wood and charges 

 no rent. In this case, the renter clears the land 

 and the owner sells the wood. 



Firewood is stored in a highly characteristic 

 manner. The sticks, cut to uniform length, are 

 stacked between the outer wall of the house and a 

 pole set vertically in the ground, something less 

 than a meter removed (pi. 13, c), its tip tied by a 

 short length of rope or liana to one of the uprights 

 of the house wall. 7 



OTHER EXTRACTIVE ACTIVITIES 



Stone is scarce, except about archeological sites. 

 It is little used, although occasionally a flagged 

 path may be laid across a muddy house clearing. 

 There is no quarrying as such, and stone for the 

 masonry school was fished out of an archeological 

 mound, on the eastern fringes of the fwtido legal. 



At present, the entire supply of lime (cal, kasta) 

 comes from outside the community, and the small 

 amount required by every household for the prep- 

 aration of certain maize foods (p. 151) is provided 

 by occasional vendors who come from the little 

 village of El Chote, on the outskirts of Papantla. 



Idpntification through the kindness of Dr. Candido Bolfvar. 



' Similar disposition of firewood probably is common in the 

 Huasteca. We observed it occasionally in the Taniazuncliale Tan- 

 canhuitz area, and it is suggested by an indistinct photograph 

 taken years ago at Tancoco (Starr, facing p. 284, largest house, 

 in center). The Maya may also have a parallel manner of stack- 

 ing fuel, although from one photograph, the wood is piled not 

 against the exterior of the house, but inside the kitchen, between 

 the wall and a vertical post (Wauchope, pi. 31, a). 



