398 ANNUAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 1956 



cases of adults and children whose blood he examined. His picture of 

 the tiny struggling village is indeed pessimistic : 



San Martin, with its innumerable puddles, ditches, and foul house yards is a 

 prolific breeding ground [of the malarial mosquito], and, owing also to the 

 existence there of an especially virulent form of malaria which the rubber-col- 

 lectors and muleteers bring in from the adjoining swamp district, the town has 

 a notoriously and deservedly bad reputation. The town carpenter, whose most 

 lucrative business is the making of coffins, and who thus serves as the only avail- 

 able bureau of vital statistics, assured me he made from two to three a week, but 

 added, with a grim smile, that many have no pesos with which to pay and are 

 buried without boxes. ( Loc. cit, p. 142. ) 



San Martin has experienced rapid growth during the past genera- 

 tion. It would not be recognized by those who saw it 30 years ago. 

 The best-selling item in the large drugstore is face cream, closely 

 followed in importance by nail polish and lipstick! Safety-razor 

 blades are sold at the rate of slightly over 3,000 a month. Many 

 migrants pass through here on their way south and west, to areas 

 as yet unsettled, particularly around Boca de Monte, 8 miles south 

 of San Martin (pi. 2, fig. 2). This village, only a few years ago a 

 cluster of palm thatch huts literally at the edge of the forest, as the 

 name implies, is now a thriving center, owing largely to the arrival of 

 some 300 people from Armenia (Caldas). These settlers told of the 

 grim struggle for existence in their former locale, where land is scarce 

 and hopelessly subdivided into plots so small as to be uneconomical, 

 and where wages are pitifully low ; they have brought with them their 

 seasoned habits of frugality and hard work, and have carved farm- 

 steads out of the public lands on which corn, yuca, and plaintains are 

 grown for home use, and rice for the market (pi. 3, fig. 1). As the 

 edge of the forest recedes the name Boca de Monte will have a signifi- 

 cance more historical than actual (pi. 6, fig. 1). 



The Ariari River southwest of Villavicencio is the boundary line 

 between conservatives and liberals, who have a fierce and deadly hatred 

 of each other. To quote a normally mild-mannered bus companion : 

 "It is necessary to kill a lot of people, but those who should be killed 

 are the ones who are ordering people killed." The conservatives on 

 the left bank have the road, but the liberals on the other side have the 

 good land. These enemies are trying to cooperate enough to put up 

 across the river a cable, which can be used by both factions. Perhaps 

 if the federal government built a road and a bridge the political 

 hatred, reminiscent of the religious intolerance and intervillage feuds 

 of the Near East, would die down somewhat. The serious workers do 

 want peace and work, rather than fighting and revolutionary activity. 

 Everyone was happy that the coup d'etat (June 1953) of President 

 Rojas Pinilla put an end temporarily to fratricidal strife and opened 

 the way for productive effort again. Some there were who had ac- 



