14 INDIAN COMMUNITIES OF BOLIVIA 



On the peninsulas of this northeastern shore are located some 

 of the strongest Indian communities in the country. In this 

 isolated environment they have held their own for centuries 

 against any encroachments. A description of one of these will 

 suffice, as a type of the community in its least modified forms. 



On the peninsula of Achacache that reaches far out into the 

 lake to meet the opposing peninsula of Copacabana, thus forming 

 the Strait of Tiquina, there exists the strong independent com- 

 munity of Calaque. Composed of some three hundred families 

 who occupy several small villages of neatly thatched adobe 

 houses, they hold and cultivate this land in common, as in ancient 

 times. An area of some fifty square miles is included in their 

 possessions, and their well-tilled fields are estimated to be worth 

 about 500,000 bolivianos ($200,000). As chief, or alcalde, they 

 have an ex-service man from the Bolivian army, a pure Indian, 

 one of their own number. Under his leadership they have been 

 able to resist all attempts to encroach upon their land. Though 

 legally each member of the community holds his own sayana, so 

 strong has been the cohesion in this group that few have dared to 

 part with their holdings. On one occasion when a member of the 

 community yielded to the inducement of a flattering offer for 

 his sayana, the Indians en masse took up arms and, attacking the 

 adjoining farm whose owner had bought the parcels, they forced 

 the return of the deed of sale, only, however, after a stubborn 

 fight in which a number of the farmer's Indians were killed. On 

 another occasion some "jaimas" (tax-free holdings of a former 

 Indian noble) were sold, also with the result of a battle, in which 

 the community regained its land. 



The Community of Collana 

 Another community where political control remains almost 

 entirely in the hands of the Indian ayllu is that of Collana, not 

 far from La Paz. Though within some ten miles of the city this 

 little community has seldom been seen by any of the white 

 inhabitants, for it lies high up among the hills that close the 

 southeastern end of the La Paz gorge. Consisting of only a few 



