12 INDIAN COMMUNITIES OF BOLIVIA 



drained areas on the plateau, and the tiny, though fertile pockets 

 at the high valley heads. 



Climate was a determining factor, largely because of the 

 penetrating cold at that great altitude. Where a softer, milder 

 temperature was encountered, as in the many valleys that dissect 

 the eastern Andes, the Spaniard not only found that he could 

 better withstand the cold himself but that the European plants 

 and animals which he introduced could more easily become 

 acclimated. So upon the colder heights and the wind-swept 

 altiplano the Indians were usually allowed to retain their land. 

 While rainfall appears to have influenced less the distribution 

 oifinca and community than it has the size of individual holdings 

 in both, categories, the supply of water for irrigation has been an 

 important factor in determining whether a community should be 

 permitted to survive. The easily irrigated lands have generally 

 passed into the hands of whites. 



DEPARTMENT OF LA PAZ 



Though Indian communities exist in all the highland depart- 

 ments of the republic (Figs. 4 and 5), La Paz, with its large pro- 

 portion of Indian population — 75 per cent, according to the 

 census of 1900 — contains the greatest number. In this depart- 

 ment every province, and probably every canton," is represented 

 by aboriginal agrarian groups. Omasuyo's has always been 

 known as the center of all that is aboriginal, and in the number 

 of Indians who belong to these communities it is far ahead. Paca- 

 jes, Sicasica, and Munecas follow. These are all distinctly 

 plateau provinces, few of them having any land below 12,500 

 feet. (The recently created provinces of Camacho and Ingavi 

 from parts respectively of Omasuyos and Pacajes have been 

 ignored as separate units in this study because almost no statistics 

 are available since the date of their establishment, 1908 and 

 1909.) The valley provinces, Larecaja, Inquisivi, Yungas, and 

 Caupolic&n, have far fewer communities. The plateau provinces 



" The territorial subdivisions of Bolivia are designated, in descending order of 

 rank, as follows: departamentos, provincias, cantones. 



