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INSTITUTE OF SOCIAL ANTHROPOLOGY PUBLICATION NO. 13 



clothing may be colored with it as protection 

 against an infirmity known locally as alferecia 

 (not epilepsy, as dictionaries indicate). Red 

 muitle also serves to color coyol palm nuts, some- 

 times sold on the streets of Papantla. 



Strangely, the famous red dye plant, Bixa orel- 

 lana L. (No. 78), is not used in Tajin as such, but 

 is cultivated because of its medicinal properties. 

 One informant, of experimental turn of mind, 

 claims to have noticed that sangregado (No. 239) 

 exudes a red sap, when cut. He reports having 

 tried unsuccessfully to dye clothing with it (cf. 

 Standley, p. 615), but found it satisfactory as a 

 wood stain. 



A color variously described as blue or green was 

 obtained in former times from a wild shrub called 

 limastakan (No. 314) ; unfortunately, our speci- 

 men is not determinable. Maria Loreto remem- 

 bers that years ago, in Talaxca, her mother boiled 

 the leaves of this plant with clothing ; or she boiled 

 them and smeared the color on the exterior of 

 home-made clay pots. The result, she says, was 

 fast color, and varied between blue and light green. 

 Precisely the same procedure is described, from 

 hearsay, by a Tajin informant. 



It is interesting to note that the Totonac name 

 for the zapote reventador (No. 167) is translated 

 as "thing for painting or writing." The inform- 

 ant who called this to our attention suggests that 

 it should produce a "dye or ink." Today, the tree 

 is regarded as of no utility, but the native term 

 is suggestive. 



One informant speaks longingly of anil (in- 

 digo), which was used as a dye in her youth. 

 However, she claims that it was available in three 

 colors — red, blue, and black. Upon questioning, 

 it would appear that she calls any fast-color dye 

 anil; the latter has no Totonac equivalent. 



Several different adhesives are in current use in 

 Tajin. A "cement" is made by mixing three in- 

 gredients: (a) lime; (b) nejayote (liquid drained 

 from the maize, which has been steeped with lime, 

 to produce nixtamal) ; and (c) cachaza (the froth 

 which forms on the surface of boiling cane juice). 

 This mixture is used to mend local pottery, par- 

 ticularly a piece which is damaged during firing ; 

 it does not serve for the glazed vessels imported 

 from the highlands. 



Any receptacle which is not to be used on the 

 fire may be repaired with atakawite, the hard, 



black gum with which the native bee seals the 

 apertures of its hive. The gum is softened against 

 a coal and then is smeared over the break. 



To stick papers together, the milky sap of three 

 local plants commonly is employed: chaca (No. 

 228), higuera (No. 222), and bejuco sarnoso (No. 

 305). A small incision is made and the sap col- 

 lected in a leaf. These local "pastes" are greatly 

 in demand when altar decorations are being made, 

 and at Christmas, when it is popular to make 

 fancy lanterns of tissue paper, over a cane frame. 

 The sap of the chaca also is used to apply bits of 

 green leaves to the temple, to cure headache. 



METALLURGY 



All along the Gulf coast, from Tabasco to San 

 Juan de Ulua, Cortes met Indians who were pro- 

 vided with a certain amount of worked gold, 

 although, in no case, were the Spaniards over- 

 whelmed with the value of the booty. As a matter 

 of fact, Diaz del Castillo (1: 85) states flatly that 

 in "the province of the Rio de Grijalva" and all its 

 vicinity, there was no gold, except for "very few 

 jewels" which the Indians had from their predeces- 

 sors. He also notes (1:91) ruefully that in the 

 general vicinity of Coatzalcoalcos, the Spaniards 

 traded enthusiastically for copper axes, in the fond 

 belief that they were of gold. 



The Totonac may not have been lavishly sup- 

 plied with gold in pre-Cortesian times, but it is 

 said that certain coastal pueblos, including "Cem- 

 poala" and "Quiahuixtlan," gave gold (dust) in 

 canes to the Tlaxcalans for their promise of aid 

 against the Mexicans. Moreover there is the de- 

 scription of an extravagant gift sent the Mexican 

 ruler, Axayacatl, from "Cempoala" : 



They gave [the messengers] a fly chaser (amosqueador) 

 of very rich feather [s], long and wide, for their king; it 

 had in the center a sun of gold, surrounded by rich stone- 

 work of emeralds [sic], and above the head of the sun, 

 like a hat, a diadem of amber which shone ; and an armlet 

 of gold, with much rich feather work ; and a hair piece. 

 The arch was of tortoise, and the hair braided with a 

 gilded thong, with borders of small gold bells [Tezozomoc, 

 p. 218] . 



At the time of the Spanish contact, the Totonac 

 embassy sent from "Cempoala" to greet Cortes is 

 said to have worn gold ornaments : 



And they bore large perforations in the lower lips, 

 and in them some disks of stone delicately tinted blue, 



