Notes chapter 1 1. Etchohuaquila lies on the west bank of the Arroyo Cocoraqui, an ephemeral streambed with its own entry into the Sea of Cortés. 2. For a comprehensive analysis of the partitioning of Mayo and Yaqui lands, see Calderón Valdés 1985, vol. 5. 3. In 1996 it was possible to drive along rural highways from near Huatabampo to slightly west of Ciudad Obregón, a distance of nearly sixty miles, without leaving the fields. 4. Martin et al. (1998) noted 2,865 species in an area 2 degrees square, roughly one-fifth of which is the land of the Mayos. At least 50 more species have been added to that number as of the year 2001. 5. We use the terms “arid” and “semiarid” with caution. For our purposes, semiarid conditions permit the planting of rain-fed crops of corn and beans, while arid climates do not. 6. Unless otherwise noted, all data are from Hastings and Humphrey 1969; however , we advise against relying heavily on these and other published rainfall statistics because of systemic problems with reporting and recording data. 7. This figure is cited from Calderón Valdés 1985, 1:168 8. On first mention of a plant, we will give the Mayo name, if available, with the Spanish name and scientific name and family. Thereafter we will use the more familiar name, usually Spanish. All plants are listed in appendixes D and E. 9. In December 1997, freezing temperatures were reported in various locations, including parts of the Mayo and Fuerte Valleys. Crop and vegetation damage in the Mayo Delta and southward in coastal thornscrub was minimal, far less than the disastrous losses predicted by government officials. Ornamentals in Alamos were heavily damaged. Cumbro (vainoro; Celtis iguanaea), nacapul (nacapulis; Ficus pertusa), and agia (guásima; Guazuma ulmifolia) in Alamos and adjacent arroyos were also damaged. Other areas nearby escaped damage. This was an unusual climatic phenomenon in which a bubble of very cold, dense air spilled over 319 the Sierra Madre from the Mexican Plateau and descended onto the lowlands of extreme southern Sonora. 10. We did, however, note crop damage in the lower Fuerte Valley to the south in Sinaloa. The huge valley’s steep canyon walls upstream appear to act as a funnel for cold air masses. 11. Political factors cannot be ruled out, however. See, for example, Yetman 1995. 12. Even so, crops at Los Capomos produced poorly in 1995 and 1999. After a disastrously dry spring and early summer in 1996, the rains were adequate, producing bumper crops of sesame and corn and an adequate yield of beans. At Nahuibampo the 1996 harvest was below average, and that of 1999 was barely worth the e¤ort. 13. Barranca Candemeña, the deep, sheer-walled gorge below Basaseáchic Falls on the upper Mayo drainage, is apparently the rim of a massive caldera (Robert Schmidt, pers. comm., 1998). chapter 2 1. Conicárit only later came to be identified as a Mayo town. It was inundated by the waters of Mocúzari Dam in 1951. Its dislocated inhabitants moved to Mocúzari or the now mestizo village of Piedras Verdes. 2. Thomas Robertson (1964), writing in 1947 about a utopian experiment begun by Americans on the Río Fuerte, makes no distinction between Mayos of the Río Fuerte and those of the Río Mayo. 3. Almada (1990) claims that the mission of Masiaca was founded by the Jesuit Pedro Méndez in 1612. He provides no archival sources for this claim, which is probably incorrect. 4. That Mayo comunidades indígenas exist is proof that whatever their origin, the comuneros’ ties to their villages can be traced back for generations. 5. O’Connor (1989) lists four indicators of “Mayo-ness”: having a Mayo last name, participating in a fiesta, speaking the Mayo language, and displaying a house cross. The last seems to be dying out, and the first is ambiguous because many Mayos have the same last names as mestizos (although apparently all Moroyoquis, Buitimeas, and Yocupicios are Mayos). Without disagreeing with O’Connor, I have reduced the list to two indicators, use of the Mayo language and participation in fiestas, but even this list must not be applied too diligently. These criteria are more rigorous than in the United States, where tribal membership is determined by a percentage of indigenous ancestry, often as low as one-sixteenth. 6. Because the INEGI (Instituto...