ATTACHMENT TO SOIL 3 



strong attachment to the soil and well-estabHshed forms of land 

 tenure. It is no surprise to find that to the Bolivian aborigine 

 "land is the very breath of life." If he holds it as free property it 

 is his "pearl of greatest price." So dear is it to him that, in time of 

 famine, he will sell his child rather than part with his diminutive 

 parcel of ground. He fences it with a wall of stones or mud. He 

 carefully guards the boulders that mark its bounds. He looks 

 upon every traveler with a suspicious eye for fear the stranger 

 may covet his tiny holdings. If, as is usually the case, the land 

 belongs not to an individual, but to a group of persons who hold 

 it collectively, it is no less dear. Every member of the body is 

 per se a defender of its holdings. No greater perfidy can be 

 committed than to violate or fail to support the ancient custom of 

 guarding the common holdings. 



The Indians not only love their land; they cling to it genera- 

 tion after generation. Most of the families have lived on their 

 present holdings from time immemorial. Nothing will induce 

 them to move. There is far more fertile soil in the valleys east of 

 the Cordillera. A milder climate may be found in the valleys 

 which the Indian traders visit from time to time. But these facts 

 do not entice them to abandon the lands upon which their 

 fathers lived. Even the inducement of good wages in the cities, 

 at mines, or upon the railroads can seldom uproot these devoted 

 farmers from their little plots of ground. Even if, as often 

 happens, the land be absorbed by an adjoining hacienda and 

 passed repeatedly from one owner to another, the Indian remains 

 on it, being transferred with the soil. Only by the use of violence 

 and by the demolition of his humble cottage, the destruction of 

 his sheep corral, and the appropriation of his fields can he be 

 driven from the place. Centuries of occupation have fixed him 

 fast to the soil. 



It is easily seen that only the most meager subsistence can be 

 secured from such diminutive plots of land as those held by the 

 community Indians. To supplement the scanty living obtained 

 from the soil they must engage in various other pursuits. Those 

 who live on Lake Titicaca or the Desaguadero River build boats 



