MODIFICATIONS BY THE SPANIARDS 7 



and reaping the crops. This, and the similar service rendered on 

 the imperial lands, seems to have constituted the principal 

 taxation imposed by the Inca upon his people. After the prepa- 

 ration of the land set aside for the Sun, that of widows, orphans, 

 the infirm, and the wives of soldiers on duty was next cultivated 

 in the same manner. The individuals' sayafias 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 task. 



In spite of 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 

 3^ear. The better lands may be planted yearly. Sefior Alfredo 

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

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

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

 Forbes, in his excellent study of the Aymara Indians,^ 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 

 Fuiropeans. The land hunger of the Spanish conquerors caused 



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

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



' David Forbes: On the Aymara Indians of Bolivia and Peru [communicated, 

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



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