(a loanword from Spanish)
a load; also, a measure of maize seed, which also translates into a certain amount of land (e.g. a field into which can be planted one carga of maize)
"...until the present day it is the custom among some of the Indians, and even others, in the city of Mexico to sell firewood by zontles of four hundred pieces. Twenty zontles, or eigth [sic] thousand make one xiquipilli, and three xiquipillis are equal to a carga or load, the which has twenty four thousand grains of cacao. To evade the trouble of counting so many when the merchandize was of considerable value, sacks of certain dimensions were used." (late nineteenth century, Mexico City)
ce huey tlalmilli yn canin motoca ce carga tlaolli = un pedazo de tierra de sembradura a donde cabe una carga de maíz (Tepotzotlan, 1653)
"...para la cuenta de mantas, una carga correspondía a 20 unidades, y para el cacao el mismo término equivalía a 24,000 granos, o sean tres xiquipilli. Por último, anoto la posibilidad de múltiplos y submúltiplos de la carga, ya que en Bernal Díaz se advierte que 'dos cargas' pueden ser equivalentes a 'una gran carga.'"