THE TAJTN TOTONAC PART 1 KELLY AND PALERM 



245 



and others with thin leaves of gold ; and in the ears, very 

 large openings, in them other disks with gold and 

 stones . . . [Diaz del Castillo 1:160]. 



There is further mention of gold labrets, which 

 seem to have been common, and of a gift, including 

 "gold jewels" and textiles, which the chief of 

 "Cempoala" had prepared for Cortes, but which 

 Diaz del Castillo (1:171) considered of slight 

 value. However, a contemporary source describes 

 the gift from the chief of "Cempoala" as consist- 

 ing of "a sun, made of gold, as large as a cart 

 wheel and as thick as a fist, and a moon of silver, 

 also as large and thick as the sun, as well as many 

 containers of gold, a gold lobster (cangrejo) , arm- 

 lets, head pieces (cascos), disks, all of gold . . ." 

 (Nueva noticia, p. 9). Oviedo (3:259) likewise 

 describes the two great wheels, one of gold, the 

 other of silver, and mentions "many jewels of gold 

 and silver," which he claims actually to have seen 

 later in Seville. 



In short, it would appear that at the time of 

 the Spanish Conquest, the Totonac had a certain 

 amount of precious metals, although we have 

 come upon no mention of copper. It is not pos- 

 sible to give the source of the metals, but it is 

 evident that there are deposits of gold and silver, 

 and to a lesser extent, of copper, on the borders 

 of old Totonacapan (Ramirez, pp. 545, 546, 589, 

 592, 593). It may be assumed that the Totonac 

 knew how to work metals, because the use of gold 

 ornaments seems to have been too general to have 

 depended upon trade. Nevertheless, as far as 

 we know, metal artifacts have not appeared in 

 archeological sites definitely identified as Totonac. 



Today, in Taj in, there is no knowledge of metal- 

 working. Gold ornaments are esteemed and gen- 

 erally form part of the gift given every bride, 

 but they are made commercially, in Papantla; 

 the Totonac do not wear silver jewelry. 



WEAPONS 



Since Totonac-Spanish relations were essen- 

 tially pacific, the early sources make little mention 

 of weapons. However, in the course of the difficul- 

 ties in which Escalante became embroiled, when 

 left in charge of Villa Rica, the friendly pueblos 

 of the highlands, presumably Totonac, were asked 

 to come with "their arms, which were bows, ar- 



rows, lances, shields" m (Diaz del Castillo 1 : 344) . 

 For Zacatlan, there is a definite statement concern- 

 ing weapons, which included "sharp sticks and 

 bows and arrows" ; warriors fought naked except 

 for "long manias" which covered the genitals 

 (Relacion de Zacatlan). The Totonac of Jonotla 

 claimed that their war weapons were stones and 

 macanas (the well-known Mexican obsidian- 

 studded clubs) (Paso y Troncoso 5: 128). Late 

 sixteenth-century informants at Misantla claimed 

 piously to be a peaceful people who manufactured 

 cotton armor for sale to other pueblos (Relacion 

 de Misantla). 



Papantla warriors fought naked, using bows 

 and arrows (Relacion de Papantla) ; and it would 

 appear that the bow and arrow with stone point 

 were used as late as the early nineteenth century, 

 during the Olarte uprising (Olivo, p. 200; Nunez 

 y Dominguez, p. 54). 



Today, the Taj in Totonac have no weapons of 

 their own manufacture, hence a description of 

 arms is included under technology solely as a 

 matter of convenience. The machete probably is 

 the most widely used weapon, as well as an im- 

 plement of general utility. As a matter of fact, 

 it is carried so constantly by every man that it 

 might almost be considered a standard accessory 

 to the wardrobe. 



The machete is an oversized steel knife, affixed 

 with metal rivets to a handle which, nowadays, 

 apparently is of some synthetic material. There 

 are various shapes, but the curved or hooked 

 form, popular in stony areas, is not used locally. 

 All machetes are purchased in hardware stores 

 in Papantla. Without exception, they appear to 

 have been made in the United States, most by Col- 

 lins & Company, of Hartford. Two informants 

 are unaware that they are using imported mer- 

 chandise and gravely assure us that machetes sold 

 in Papantla are produced in Monterrey, Mexico. 



Different models are distinguished by trade 

 numbers, of which Collins 35 and 460 seem to be 



28 Bows, arrows, anil lances arc reported for the Hunsteca 

 (Sahagfin 8 : 131 ; Dfaz del Castillo 1 : 90). 



For neither Totonacapan nor the Huasteca have we found 

 mention of the blowgun, although the latter is attributed, some- 

 what dubiously, to the Teotihuaean horizon (Linne\ 1939, pp. 

 50-57) ; to the ancient Toltec (Veytia 1 : 194) ; to the Chichlmecs 

 (Ixtlilxochitl 1 : 75), whose sponsor chums the invention for 

 them ; to the Mexiea (Gayangos, p. 101 ; Dfaz del Castillo 1 : 382; 

 Sahagnn 2 : 298-299 ; Torquemada 1 : 292) ; and to the Maya 

 (Ponce 2 : 409). 



