CULTURAL AND HISTORICAL GEOGRAPHY OF SOUTHWEST GUATEMALA—McBRYDE "99 
(though more appeared to go up than down) ; 
superior beans, avocados, jocotes, and maguey come 
down; cotton, rice, cassava, and tropical fruits go up. 
Soap and candles are reportedly made (1936) in 
Cutzan as in San Pedro la Laguna. Costumes and 
language are the same in both places. The spinning 
of cotton thread as well as of rope, stick-loom weav- 
permission obtained from the local authorities, for 
cutting firewood, grazing livestock, and for cultiva- 
tion if additional acreage is needed. 
The amount of land owned or available for tillage 
by resident Indians varies with different sections. 
Some rough estimates by random informants are 
given in table 5. 
TaBLe 5.—Amount of land owned or available for tillage by resident Indians, as estimated by residents 
Number of cuerdas! of milpa per Indian family 
Municipio 
Maximum 
Pacific Lowlands: 
Santo: Tomasi la, Unidr 16 ;sje10. 0 «/s1s/sieie «slele sie(elore 2200 
are edro. Cutzan) </2.5 ocsepe.eie cle claelateroiaisiers slelevei|mevese)e\cieiste e/e.e7s pees 
Lake Atitlin Basin: 
SAMIMIICAS: 1.52 50:5 citicjsisrayayelaterets o/ssate isle stalaleratetele 
Santiago Atitlan 
Sane Pedro. ..cteeccee 
Quezaltenango Valley: 
Sarre uany O)StunCalCOviate.ctetarclajotetsveleis’acejave alevetetenel lrkeveie/cietaxtitate;s’ sce aie 
Muezaltenango: ((Chiguilaja) id 2. fe. s\ceresecitileletell ie sie" vic 1.0 cicieesiee 
MAM eATIGHES FNCECUI! .«, aie,a'areissi<:shajeieyeta/e/a}elelerevatenete 1S 
1A cuerda is about 1/5 acre. 
21 finca has more than 1,000 cuerdas. 
ing, distinctive men’s dress, and the few temescales 
(stone sweat baths) all are Highland traits, rare in 
the Lowlands, where they apparently are almost 
always indicative of recent introduction. 
LAND TENURE 
The lands within a municipio are generally owned 
in large part by the municipal government (munici- 
palidad), except in the regions of great plantations. 
Land may be sold to those who have enough capital 
to purchase it and pay taxes on it, and much land is 
privately owned by Indians throughout the High- 
lands. But the usual procedure in the case of much 
of the population—Indian peasants and others with- 
out estates—is for the local government to grant 
residence and tillage rights to men reaching the age 
of 18 years. Title is given for plots of land, pro- 
portional to the size of the family, and this is tanta- 
mount to ownership during the life of the individual 
tenant. Land so granted is not transferable, nor is 
it inheritable property. Home lots are generally 
owned by individuals or families, and are inheritable. 
In some municipios, such as certain ones on Lake 
Atitlan, milpa land is granted for the period of its 
fertility, usually 8 to 10 years. Upon the death of the 
tenant, the land reverts to the municipio. No accurate 
data on land ownership are available. 
Many municipios have large amounts of communal 
land which may be used by the inhabitants, through 
Number of cuerdas, according to crops 
grown (average and maximum range). 
Average Minimum 
{ Coffee, 20-30; 80-100. 
Milpa, 50-80; 200-300. 
The estimates in table 5, though not based upon 
any actual measurements, are not incompatible with 
population densities. Apparently, large landholders 
are to be found mainly in the high basins and valleys 
and in the Lowlands, with the Lake villagers having 
land more evenly divided among them. In some cases, 
notably the south-shore municipios, Santiago and San 
Pedro in particular, a number of Indian landholders 
have local Indian laborers who work for them. In 
the piedmont, especially around Pueblo Nuevo, In- 
dian finqueros are said to own tracts as large as 2,000 
cuerdas (about 400 acres), which are planted mainly 
to coffee and are cultivated by Indian laborers. In- 
dian owners of large plantations are rare, however. 
The natives of Guatemala generally have not ex- 
pressed such great demands for land as the Mexican 
peasants have. Large finca owners, who depend upon 
cheap Indian labor, have discouraged the Govern- 
ment from granting land to the Indians on the 
grounds that it would reduce commercial production, 
and hence the national income, because of the Indians’ 
indifference to the development of plantations. The 
fincas appeal economically to the Indians, both tem- 
porary and permanent colonists, largely through the 
loan to them of land for corn, beans, and other sub- 
sistence crops. Formerly, through money, liquor, 
and goods, indebtedness of the Indians was encour- 
aged, to hold them in “debt bondage,” but this was 
abolished by law in 1934, 
