COMMUNAL ESTATES 61 



obtained in the nineteenth century by purchase or by 

 concessions of pubHc lands which belonged to the 

 provincial Government. They were allotted in very 

 large estates, and these, intact or broken up, are the 

 actual ranches. In approaching the foot of the range 

 one passes estates in the mercedes. The name indicates 

 concessions that date from the colonial epoch, and they 

 are, in all parts of South America that were early 

 colonized, the source of land- ownership. But what 

 is peculiar to the mercedes of the Llanos is that they 

 have never been divided amongst the heirs of the 

 first owner. I Sometimes the number of co-proprietors 

 is small. They are conscious of their relationship to 

 each other and know the value of the rights of each. 

 The merced is in that case only an undivided property 

 held in common. Sometimes, however, the numbers 

 of comuneros is so great that they have lost count of 

 the exact share of the merced which belongs to each 

 of them. The merced feeds a whole population, legitimate 

 heirs and usurpers mixed together. In these cases it 

 is a real communal property, and one might compare 

 it, in spite of its different origin, with the Indian 

 communities which exist in Argentine territory as 

 well as that of most of the other Andean States. 



The economy of the Llanos is less simple than that 

 of the Chaco Saltefio. There is agriculture as well as 

 breeding. There is not much rain, and it is confined 

 to the summer months. The mean rainfall is, no 

 doubt, higher than what we find at La Rioja (about 

 30 centimetres), but it is not good enough to dispense 

 with irrigation. The aguadas, springs and brooks at 

 the foot of the range, are the only provision of permanent 

 water, and it is very limited. The oases watered by 

 these springs and brooks cover only a few acres at 



» The title of the merced often shows clearly the attraction which 

 the springs at the foot of the Sierra had for colonists. The land of 

 the merced of Ulapes is defined thus : " The spring and the land 

 within two leagues of it in every direction." The spring is the centre. 

 There its protecting deities live. 



