408 ANNUAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 1956 



was again in desperate financial circumstances, leading a precarious 

 existence in his struggle to support a growing family with wages 

 lagging far behind soaring costs. By 1953 he was anxious either to 

 return to his former holdings or to go somewhere else where settle- 

 ment was active. His old farm was not for sale, and he had no money 

 with which to buy it, so he was glad to enter into an agreement with 

 the owner of 80 hectares of land near Cupiagua, whereby he could 

 establish his home, clear land, and harvest crops on the halves. 



He came out again in '53 to build a shelter and get his food crops — 

 corn, yuca, and plantains — planted (pi. 4, fig. 2). He has a 4-year 

 contract with the owner of the land. Everything produced on the 

 farm, not including what is consumed by the family, is on the halves. 

 However, one-third of the value of permanent improvements on the 

 farm, such as coffee bushes and improved pastures, belong to the renter. 

 He already has 20 acres or so of pastures cleared and has about five 

 times that amount to clear. It is slow work because he and his brother- 

 in-law, without money to hire men, must do it alone. Coffee will be 

 planted next year. He talked the language of a poet and seer as he 

 described the dense forest which he must first dominate in order that, a 

 few years hence, fine, sleek cows could pasture where now grew only 

 an impenetrable tangled mass of trees and vines and shrubs. 



He had come out to this land without any previous knowledge of 

 soils, rainfall conditions, or other physical factors he must cope with. 

 He is experimenting steadily in his kitchen garden to find out what 

 food crops will do best. He grows onions, lettuce, tomatoes, cabbage, 

 squash, carrots, and other vegetables. Use is made of cow manure 

 gathered in the nearby, recently cleared pasture. Around the house 

 40 mango trees are just coming up from seeds. This is the type of 

 farmer who would and could benefit from technical assistance, prefer- 

 ably on a county agent basis. However, Colombians, like Latin Amer- 

 icans generally, have learned the hard way to distrust those who proffer 

 assistance. Before farmers will be receptive to a technical aid pro- 

 gram, even one of, by, and for Colombians, they would have to be 

 convinced that it was really to their interest to cooperate. This might 

 prove to be a formidable task. 



An important factor in the success of this pioneering venture is 

 family solidarity. Husband and wife and children form a closely knit 

 unit working toward a common goal. Dora and Soe de la Cruz do the 

 house cleaning and cooking. They are up at about 5 o'clock in the 

 morning, to build the fire in the cook shed next to the house and start 

 breakfast. Wood is brought in from the forest by the boys and is cut 

 into usable lengths and split into smaller pieces by fond, easy-going 

 Uncle Marco, brother of Maria, who also helps in clearing the forest. 

 House-cleaning tasks are performed after the menfolk have gone to 



