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INSTITUTE OF SOCIAL ANTHROPOLOGY — PUBLICATION NO. 13 



lates in many parts of western Mexico and which 

 is as yet unproved by any critical eye witness. 



DOGS AND CATS 



In 1579, it is said that the Totonac of Misantla 

 "do not have and never have had a larger animal 

 than a dog, and this is very small" (Relacion de 

 Misantla). 21 The following year, "perros de Cas- 

 tillo," are reported among the Totonac of Coacoa- 

 tzintla, near Jalapa (Paso y Troncoso 5 : 110) . 



In Tajin today, dogs are relatively numerous. 

 Out of 38 families, 14 keep no dogs, but the re- 

 maining 24 have a total of 68, plus 15 pups. As a 

 matter of fact, these figures assuredly are low, 

 because most of the families of our census live 

 within the fundo legal, that is, in the most settled 

 zone of the community. If one lives close to his 

 neighbors, the latter's dogs will set up an alarm 

 when anyone approaches, but if one lives in an 

 isolated house, he must depend upon his own 

 watchdogs. Two families of our census, who live 

 removed from the fundo, have 7 and 12 dogs re- 

 spectively ; another has 4. 



Theoretically, the dogs set up a great hue and 

 cry when anyone approaches the house, and the 

 progress of a traveler at night can be followed for 

 miles, by the barking on all sides. However, one 

 day, I effectively ran the gamut of several hounds 

 at the house of Pablo Gonzalez, and to the undis- 

 guised surprise of the hosts, reached the kitchen 

 door unannounced. Don Pablo thereupon ex- 

 plained that his dogs barked only at people who 

 wore "Totonac" clothing, and those in city garb 

 were unmolested. To reinforce his point, he 

 added complacently that only the week before, the 

 son of the house had been bitten, presumably be- 

 cause he was wearing calzones. 



Dogs guard not only the house, but the poultry 

 as well, and many an opossum meets its fate be- 

 cause the dogs give the alarm. Ana Mendez has 

 her two little hounds so trained that they help 

 "herd" the chickens. If one escapes, she calls the 

 dogs ; they chase the bird until it is so exhausted 

 that Dona Anita is able to catch it without undue 

 effort. 



Dogs are used for hunting (pp. 74-75) ; prob- 

 ably few really are trained. Nevertheless, in- 



21 This is the only mention we have found of the native dog 

 among the Totonac. The sixteenth century Maya are said to 

 have small domesticated dogs, "which do not know how to hark," 

 and which are eaten upon festive occasions (Landa, p. 251). 



formants speak casually of hunting dogs, but 

 apparently refer to professionally trained animals 

 known through contacts with Papantla. A dog 

 "of good race, already trained," is worth from $100 

 to $300 pesos; pups, from $25 to $50 pesos; need- 

 less to say, these are Papantla prices. In Tajin, 

 Santiago Simbron is said to have a fine dog ; Bar- 

 tolo Simbron reputedly paid $100 pesos in Pa- 

 pantla for a bitch with a vague resemblance to a 

 setter; Felipe Santes is said to have bought a 

 hunter for $200 pesos ; and Jacinto Garcia also has 

 "several." 



Local dogs are quite differently priced. At most, 

 one brings $5 pesos in cash, and Vicente de Leon 

 sold one litter at about $2.50 each. Manuel de 

 la Luz recently traded half a fanega of maize to 

 Juan Castro for two attractive, better than average 

 pups which he hopes to train as hunters. A To- 

 tonac who sells a dog generally lops off the tip of 

 the tail — as usual, "so that the strain will not 

 die out." 



About all that can be said concerning the local 

 canine race is that it is, on the whole, long-legged 

 and short-haired. Males are more popular be- 

 cause "they do not attract other dogs." However, 

 young Erasmo Xochigua prefers a female, remark- 

 ing that when his bitch accompanies him to a 

 strange house, the watchdogs are so interested in 

 her that they pay scant attention to him. 



Dogs are fed tortillas and kitchen scraps. They 

 are catholic in their tastes and eat various fruits 

 (papaya, oranges, limas, bananas, zapote chico) ; 

 some will eat sugarcane and most like brown sugar. 

 As a fine bit of rationalizing, dogs are not given 

 broth with the tortillas, "because later, if there 

 were no broth, they would not like the dry tortilla 

 and might die of indigestion." 



If a hunting dog is injured while attacking a 

 peccary it is treated by magical therapy (p. 75). 

 Otherwise, Totonac pay scant attention to a sick 

 dog, even if it has a simple infection which could 

 be cured with readily obtainable creolina. 

 Through carelessness a wound may become in- 

 fested with "worms," as a consequence of which 

 the animal generally dies. Dogs sometimes eat, 

 with fatal effects, the spoiled meat of some dead 

 animal picked up in the forest. "Because they 

 have fleas," dogs generally sleep outside, and oc- 

 casionally die of the cold. The owner of two who 

 demised last winter lamented; but she explained 



