344 ANNUAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 1957 



which it is difficult to make a living, or in which the political climate 

 is unfavorable, then there tends to be a flow of population away from 

 the poorer area toward the more highly developed one. This trend 

 has been marked in the Guajira, which has been a kind of human 

 reservoir in which the pressure of population upon the physical 

 resources has been greater than it has been elsewhere in the nation. 

 When such a region is tapped by a road, pressure is released by the 

 migration over it of a part of its population. Witness the great 

 exodus of Guajiros to Maracaibo, to the cattle ranches of the foothills 

 of the Sierra de Peri j a, and toward other parts of the republic. The 

 French in North Africa constructed magnificent highways into the 

 great desert of the Sahara, thus facilitating the migration of hun- 

 dreds of thousands of Bedouins into the Atlas Mountains and even 

 into the cities of Morocco, Algeria, and Tunisia. Be it noted that 

 these liberty -loving nomads have proved to be some of the most vig- 

 orous fighters against French colonialism. 



The Guajiro equivalent of the old saying that "all roads lead to 

 Rome'' would be that "all trails lead to Paraguaipoa." Over the 

 entire peninsula there is a ceaseless coming and going, both diurnally 

 and seasonally, on the part of shepherds in search of water and pasture 

 for their flocks of sheep and goats, but when animals are ready for 

 sale, they move gradually toward the brisk market in Paraguaipoa, 

 as inevitably as water runs down hill, in response to the pull of the 

 high prices obtaining there. Flocks vary widely in size from those 

 of two, three, or five animals to flocks containing scores. Animals 

 are sometimes taken "in trade" by the owners of the little stores scat- 

 tered around the peninsula and are by them driven or shipped by 

 truck to Paraguaipoa. At other times the owners themselves drive 

 their flocks to market. Setting out with their entire families, on foot, 

 on horseback, on burros, they may take days or even weeks to arrive, 

 camping each night on the way where darkness overtakes them, for 

 they allow the animals to browse leisurely as they move along. On 

 the outskirts of Paraguaipoa, all through Saturday afternoon and 

 Sunday, flocks continue to arrive, and the picturesque shepherds and 

 their families establish themselves on the windswept plain in prepara- 

 tion for the big Monday market day. At night for a radius of several 

 kilometers west of Paraguaipoa the sand is dotted with campfires, 

 around which families and friends gather to eat and drink and gossip. 

 Early Monday morning merchants from Maracaibo come in by truck, 

 buy up animals in lots, and return with them to the city the same 

 afternoon. After selling their flocks, the Guajiros wander around 

 in little groups; they buy yard goods and foodstuffs — panela, 

 crude sugar, cooking oil, and other necessities — and by late afternoon 

 they are ready to begin the long trek back to their homes in the bush. 



