LAND OWNERSHIP AND PRACTICES 



73 



Nicolas married Rosaria Xingo, the daughter of 

 Lucas Xingo who owned considerable land, long 

 distinct from the holdings of his brothers, not 

 divided between liis two children. Nicolas and 

 Rosaria had been long married, and had a family 

 when Lucas (who had drinking debts) sold to 

 Nicolas a piece of land (IK acres, mostly hill) at 

 the foot of the east hill for 40 silver pesos, a bargain 

 "because he did not wish to leave his daughter 

 without any remembrance of him (i. e., in- 

 heritance)." Lucas' brothers competed to buy 

 the land; Lucas refused them because "they were 

 already rich." Nicolas, though poor, obtained the 

 money and gave it to his father-in-law in the 

 presence of the brothers and thus avoided later 

 quarrels. Nicolas was grateful to his father-in- 

 law for selling him land cheaply which might have 

 come to him later by inheritance, and when he 

 died, Nicolas showed this gratitude by furnishing 

 the cofRn. Cousin Tomas later inlierited a piece 

 adjoining the land that Lucas had sold to Nicolas. 

 Tomas pawned this land for 300 pesos (paper) 

 (now $5). The boundary between Nicolas' and 

 Tomas' land was not well marked. A boundary 

 dispute arose between Nicolas and the pawnee of 

 Tomas' land. Then "since they were relatives," 

 Tomas permitted Nicolas to redeem the land for 

 him and take deed to it. 



Nicolas thus in his lifetime acquired four pieces 

 of land: the two parcels of hill land, now con- 

 sidered one, had come in some measure through his 

 wife, another was his inlierited paternal house 

 site, and the last had been pm-chased by his father 

 with his help. \^Tien Jose, the eldest, married, he 

 and his wife stayed with Nicolas for the few years 

 until he died. His widow married again, and their 

 daughter did not live to matiu-itj'. Jos6 had not 

 owned land; there was no problem of inheritance. 

 Nicolas died suddently in the midst of negotiations 

 for his second son's marriage to Petrona Quiche, 

 and Rosaria survived him by only a few months. 

 Santiago, his wife, and his young sister Agustina 

 were thus left with undivided house and lands. 

 Petrona died in a few years; a young son did not 

 long survive her. Petrona's father had not 

 divided his land, which went on the death of 

 Petrona and her son to Petrona's only sibling, a 

 boy. Santiago gainetl no land by this marriage. 



While Petrona still lived, Augustina married 

 (against Santiago's wish) a drinker who soon sold 

 all of his own land ; the couple lived with Santiago 



and Petrona without working until made to move. 

 After Petrona died Agustina brought action in 

 court for a division of the inheritance. Santiago 

 claims that Agustina virtually bribed the Ladino 

 judge; whatever the reason, the settlement forced 

 on Santiago was nearly an equal division. Agus- 

 tina obtained half of the house site (but not the 

 part where the house stood) and the whole of the 

 quarter-acre piece near the river; Santiago kept 

 the 1%-acre piece at the foot of the hiU, including 

 a quarter-acre of delta land.°* Agustina immedi- 

 ately sold or pawned to an Indian for 600 pesos 

 the river land (since eroded completely away), 

 and her half of the house site land for 350 pesos. 

 She and her husband then left, and (with their 

 only child) died. 



Not until years after his second marriage did 

 Santiago discover that his wife, Andrea Quiche, 

 owned land. Andrea had a brother Esteban and 

 a sister, Petrona. Their father had divided all 

 his land among the childi-en on condition that 

 they treated him well for the rest of his life. 

 Petrona later quarreled with her father, and he 

 sold her portion and left her nothing. Andi-oa's 

 share consisted of a piece of coffee land and a piece 

 of truck land, each about 0.18 acre. When he 

 was ill before he died, the father pawned the coffee 

 land for GOO pesos ($10) and Santiago had supposed 

 that it had been sold. The truck land had been 

 used for years by Esteban, who claimed the right 

 to use it because — he said — he had lent his father 

 200 pesos. After a quarrel with Esteban, Andrea 

 told Santiago about both pieces of land; they 

 then sold the coffee land for 1 ,000 pesos, repaid the 

 debt on it, paid Esteban the 200 pesos he claimed, 

 and took possession of the piece of truck land. 



Santiago and Andrea thus own tliree pieces of 

 land: the house site udierited by Santiago, which 

 is half of the "original" house site left by his 

 father; the land at the base of the hill which his 

 father was able to buy because of its connection 

 with his mother's inheritance; and the piece re- 

 maining of Andrea's mheritance. They were 

 never able to buy land. On the contrary, in 1936 

 Andrea's land, a coffee-planted piece of the house 

 site, and haff of the hill land were all pa\vned, and 



" Santiago argued in court tbat this settlement was unjust because h^ had 

 in effect bought the land by paying for the burial of his father, mother, and 

 two brothers, and by assuming his father's financial obligations when he had 

 died daring his term as a religious oificial. Had .\gustina helped at all (he 

 added) he would give her some land. If Indian custom rather than Ladino 

 enforced law had ruled, Santiago might have won his point. 



