INVESTIGATIONS IN CENTRAL AND SOUTH AMERICA. 49 



the other half for the government. In former years they had also to give, as pri- 

 micia, every first-born animal. 



The consequence of this system is that the greater number of the laborers are 

 in debt to the proprietor of the estate, and some to the large amount of twenty 

 dollars and more, which is almost equal to two years' wages, at one dollar a month. 

 From this indebtedness he is never able to extricate himself. A further consequence 

 is the general thieving, principally of the ripening crop, and especially of potatoes. 

 In spite of all tliese unfavorable conditions there are families who possess sheep, 

 swine, one or two cows, and even horses, as proof of their industry and frugality. 

 It was such a horse I had to get for my journey, as the mayor dotno refused to 

 hire any belonging to the estate. 



As I mentioned before, I spent three days in this hacienda ; and the only nourish- 

 ment I had during that time was that of the family of the mayor domo, consisting 

 of broken barley boiled in water and seasoned with some leaves of the wild turnip. 

 There was absolutely no other food on the place except milk, which the mayor 

 domo was forbidden to sell, having to send the fresh cheese as soon as curdled to 

 the lower hacienda, where it could be sold. The elevation of tlie hacienda is so 

 great that nothing besides potatoes and barley ripens; and the ground is principally 

 used as pasture for cows. The building in which the mnyor domo lived had three 

 apartments. The middle one was the family room, containing no other furniture 

 whatever except a bedstead ; its floor being the uneven soil, as dirty and dusty as 

 the road. The second apartment was used as a kitchen, and in the third the hogs 

 made their home. Notwitlistanding this abject poverty the infant had on a lace 

 shirt ; true enough, it was ragged and dirty as the soil, having probably not left its 

 body since the day of the baptism, when it was put on. Eleven emaciated, starving 

 dogrs were round the house, for which there was not the slightest occasion. I could 

 not comprehend how these dogs kept alive, receiving only the scanty remainder of 

 the family's meals, unless by eating herbs, which I saw them do. 



The work on the haciendas near Quito is performed by three classes of laborers. 

 The first are Gananes, that is, those who live as settlers on tlie estate under similar 

 conditions as those above given ; with the exception that their pay is a full half 

 real, and that the women likewise receive pay for their work, as milking, etc., a 

 quarter of a real a day. The second class of laborers are called Yana pcrrofi, black 

 dogs ; they are men wlio likewise receive a piece of land to cultivate, for which 

 they are obliged to work two, tliree, and even four days every week, according to 

 the size of the land they occupy, without any pay. Last are the Peons, laborers 

 that do not live on the estate, and who, when at work, receive a real a day. 



It can be seen from these indications that the condition of the laborers on a 

 hacienda is nothing better than a kind of slavery. One of the consequences of 

 this condition is, as already stated, general thieving. The following facts, which I 

 have observed, show how profitable this system is to the landowners. In the valley 

 of Machache I have seen twenty-two ploughs at work on a piece of land about ten 

 acres in size ; at another place ten ploughs were going in a lot of five acres ; and 

 near Guamote, on an acre, eight men Avith two overseers and the mayor domo of 

 the hacienda were engaged in digging the potatoes. The three last-named persons 



7 October, 1878. 



