MODIFICATIONS BY THE SPANIARDS 7 



and reaping the crops. This, andjhe similar service rendered nn 

 the imperial lands, seems to have constituted the principal 

 "taxation imposed by the Inca upon his people. AtFT f ^ e prepa- 

 ration of the land set aside ior the Sun, that ot widows, orphans, 

 the infirm, and thgjnvpfi nt nnlrlirrn on fluty wan flpfft riiltivnted 

 in the same manner. The individuals' sayanas were next planted. 

 Even here the spirit of co-operation prevailed, for many worked 

 together voluntarily, helping each other on their respective 

 parcels. Finally the land of the nobles and that of the emperor 



were cultivated, all joining in the Usk. 



In spite ot the demands of a population so great that they could 

 barely subsist upon the products of their lands, the Indians 

 scrupulously allowed certain parts of the ground to lie fallow 

 during much of the time. Opinions differ as to how often they 

 cultivated the individual fields. At the present time Bolivian 

 farmers say about one-eighth of the poorer land is cultivated each 

 year. The better lands may be planted yearly. Senor Alfredo 

 Sanjines, in a report 6 on agricultural conditions in the Depart- 

 ment of Oruro, calculates that in the Province of Carangas each 

 field is tilled only once in twenty or thirty years. Dr. David 

 Forbes, in his excellent study of the Aymara Indians, 7 states that 

 land is cultivated every five years, being allowed to rest the other 

 four. This probably represents a fair average for present as well 

 as ancient times, since much of the land on the mountains and on 

 the altiplano is extremely poor in quality and, being plowed to 

 the depth of only a few inches, would yield little if planted more 

 frequently. 



MODIFICATIONS INTRODUCED BY THE SPANIARDS 



Though during the growth of the Inca Empire some modifi- 

 cations were introduced, it would appear that the basis of the 

 land system remained almost unaltered until the advent of the 

 Europeans. The land hunger of the Spanish conquerors caused 



6 Alfredo Sanjines G.: Seccion de Agricultura: Informes varies, Rev, del Minist. 

 de Colon, y Agric., Vol. 3, 1907, pp. 358-364; reference on p. 363. 



7 David Forbes: On the Aymara Indians of Bolivia and Peru [communicated. 

 June 21, 1870, to the Ethnological Society of London], London, 1870. 



