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INSTITUTE OF SOCIAL ANTHROPOLOGY PUBLICATION NO. 13 



trees to facilitate burning. These procedures are 

 described in detail in the following section. 



Planting takes place on a bed of ashes, dotted 

 with odds and ends of burned timber, and with 

 charred stumps still standing. Manifestly, a plow 

 would be of little use, and holes for the seeds are 

 punched in the ground with a substantial stick 

 (espeque, li-can), pointed at one end. As he 

 plants, the farmer may extract with this dibble the 

 roots of particularly undesirable weeds. 



if this is used, the dibble may be of any kind of 

 wood. 



The coa (cana) 42 is the implement used for cul- 

 tivation. It is a broad, flat metal blade (figs. 10, 

 11) made in one piece with a sheath into which 

 a long wooden handle is fitted, in the same axis as 

 the blade. 



Figure 10. — Coas used in cultivation. Both of poor quality steel; purchased by us in Papantla. Light dotted line of 

 a indicates division between blade and upper parts, latter painted black. Heavy broken line shows where the Totonac 

 have the coa cut, for local use. Height of a, 35.5 cm.; b, same scale. 



For a man, the dibble is about 3 yards (varas) 

 long ; for a woman, 2. So that the wood may dry, 

 the pole is cut about 2 weeks before planting. It 

 is a straight sapling of hard wood — generally of 

 zapote chico, guayabillo, kuesiUo, or pimienta 

 (Nos. 191, 208, 330, 30). Sometimes the stick is 

 salvaged from the field which has been burned for 

 planting; the whole instrument thus is fire-hard- 

 ened, but it is said that the point alone is not 

 treated by fire. Some protect the point with an 

 iron casing, made to order by a smith in Papantla ; 



Coas sold today in Papantla are of two general 

 forms. One is a broad blade, with an almost 

 straight line from sheath to point (fig. 10, a) . This 

 type, known as the tarpala (palkacana), must be 

 cut down considerably before it can be used locally, 



42 Ansel Palerm has noted a suggestive resemblance between 

 the native terms for coa and scapula. For the former, Patino 

 (p. 33) gives ehanat ; for the latter, chana. An informant whom 

 we asked, says that coa is Cana ; the human scapula mak cana 

 (mak from niakni, body). This suggests that the prototype of 

 the metal coa may have been a hafted scapula, such as is known 

 from native groups farther north. 



