16 INSTITUTE OF SOCIAL ANTHROPOLOGY—PUBLICATION NO. 4 
well as a number of others. Figures are based usually 
upon the 1921 census, except where reason has been 
found to revise them, e.g., for boundary changes. 
From the maps it will be observed that the seashore 
centers are mostly villages of less than 1,000 popula- 
tion (under 150 Indians), in every case predomi- 
nantly Ladino. Beyond the thinly settled park- 
savanna of the lower Coastal Plain, villages and 
towns lined up along the piedmont are for the most 
part rather evenly divided between Ladino and 
Indian inhabitants, and they contain, on the average, 
populations of around 1,000 (about half have more, 
and half less; see p. 15, ftn. 8). Where they 
are larger, Ladinos usually predominate, as in the 
instances of Mazatenango and Retalhuleu, having 
over 5,000 Ladinos and from 1,000 to 5,000 Indians. 
Only one sizable Lowland village, namely, Santo 
Tomas la Union, is predominantly Indian (1,000- 
5,000 Indians; under 500 Ladinos). The major con- 
centration of Lowland Indians is in the monsoon cof- 
fee belt, where they have settled permanently in great 
numbers on the fincas. This is not to be thought of as 
a dispersed rural population. The laborers are housed 
in small, compact settlements, much like our factory- 
labor districts or, even more, like the slave quarters 
of the Old South. The tiny, simple dwellings are built 
usually in close, even rows, near the administrative 
center, for convenience. Since many of the colonos 
or rancheros (permanent colonists) as well as the 
temporadistas or jornaleros (migrants) are from va- 
rious parts of the Highlands (map 12), often repre- 
senting several dialects, a finca-belt map of languages 
would look in places like a patchwork quilt. 
Above the elevation of the coffee fincas, predomi- 
nantly Indian villages appear in great numbers. Only 
Santiago Atitlan and Comalapa have over 5,000 In- 
dians and under 500 Ladinos (see p. 85). It will be 
noted that Indian villages are particularly common 
around Lake Atitlan, where every shore settlement is 
of this general type except Panajachel, a tourist cen- 
ter, and the only one having a main highway connec- 
tion (San Lucas has a secondary one). Though the 
tourist trade is fairly recent, the route significance 
here is centuries old. Often Indian villages occur mar- 
ginal to large areas of dense population; e.g., around 
the Quezaltenango Valley there are nine fringing vil- 
lages, consisting almost entirely of Indians. The Ladi- 
nos, on the other hand, live mostly in the larger towns, 
such as Quezaltenango and Salcaja. They prefer this 
habitat, and the company of their fellows, just as most 
of the Indians prefer rural surroundings in their own 
communities. From certain sections Ladinos are 
virtually excluded (except for a small official staff, 
including teacher, garrison commander, etc.) ; e.g., 
Santa Catarina Ixtahuacan and Nahuala Indians, 
though they drink as much rum as any of their 
neighbors, have decreed prohibition of the sale or 
manufacture of intoxicating liquor, apparently to keep 
out the Ladinos who would control its production, 
which is regimented by national law (McBryde, 1933, 
p. 103, ftn. 52; see also Dollfus and Mont-Serrat, 
1868, p. 71). Ladinos feel that their lives would not 
be safe among these ‘‘Xankatales” ; probably they are 
right. Certainly, life would be neither prosperous 
nor pleasant for them. Many exceptions will be seen, 
of course, to both generalizations (Ladinos as town- 
dwellers; Indians as rural) but particularly in the 
industrial Indian towns of Totonicapan and Momoste- 
nango. These are the only two which have the char- 
acter of towns, with over 5,000 Indians, and yet with 
only 500-1,500 Ladinos; the latter, town-building 
element being at a minimum. In every other case, 
centers that have been classed as towns have at least 
as many Ladinos as Indians (p. 86). 
An arrangement of concentric circles has been — 
used on the base maps to indicate towns (as dis- — 
tinguished from villages) of various sizes and ethnic — 
compositions. Most Highland towns, usually De-— 
partment seats, or administrative centers in large 
municipios, are rather evenly divided between Indian 
and Ladino elements. The commonest town tvpe on 
the map is that having 1,000 to 5,000 Indians and 
1,000 to 5,000 Ladinos. Patzim, Solola, and San 
Pedro Sacatepequez (San Marcos) may be cited as 
good illustrations of this type. Salcaja, Zaragoza, 
and the Port of San José are the only towns in which 
the Indian element is almost negligible (under 500). 
In all Guatemala, Quezaltenango is the only town 
besides Guatemala City having more than 10,000 of 
both elements. A map that classifies centers of 
population merely by numbers of inhabitants gives 
little idea of settlement types in Guatemala, for it 
ignores the all-important element of ethnic compo- 
sition of the population. 
AGRICULTURE AND FOOD SUPPLY 
(See also Appendix 2) 
MAIZE CULTIVATION: THE MILPA 
The widely accepted term “milpa agriculture” 
used by O. F. Cook, of the United States Depart- 
ment of Agriculture, retired, to characterize native 
