LAND OWNERSHIP AND PRACTICES 



77 



at 2 silver pesos; 50 pesos (paper for clotliing); 

 50 sheep; images of San Francisco, a Christ, and 

 the Holy Ghost; anil 6 debtor peons, 3 each of 

 San Andres (owing a total of Q% pesos) and Santa 

 Catarina (14)2 pesos) who, if they returned to 

 woi-k, were to servo Coronada. 



Jose Gil (the eldest) was left more than the 

 othei's "because, since the death of her husband, 

 he had taken care of his mother's and his sisters' 

 exiK'Uses." Three pieces of land came to him: 

 a 41.7 acre piece of the delta (now virtually all 

 part of the river bed) that had been bought by 

 Manuel and Antonio and was worth 75 silver pesos; 

 a pi(>cc of ecjual size in the municipio of San Andres, 

 worth 100 silver pesos; and a 27.8-acrc piece on the 

 cast hill, bordering lands of Santa Catarina and 

 coming down to the lake, worth 50 silver pesos. ^° 

 Ho also received images of San Antonio and San 

 Sebastian, and 50 sheep. 



Antonio was left one piece of land, of 8.9 acres. 

 Bernadino was left two pieces of land. One, the 

 remainder of the parcel already received, now 

 totaled 2.8 acres. The other, also in the delta, 

 was the same size. 



Shortly after Antonia died, Tomasa married 

 Jesiis Choguaj and took possession of lier land. 

 Jos6 Gil bought her sheep for three reales each, 

 and, since the couple had no place to keep them, 

 he also kept Tomasa's tlu'ee images. Soon after 

 son Caspar was born to the couple, Jesiis died. 

 A few years later Tomasa married Ventura Ton6n, 

 at which time Caspar went to live at the house of 

 a local Ladino, where he learned to read and write 

 and eventually married an Indian servant of the 

 house, Francisca Castro, by whom he had two 

 sons, Valeriano and Narciso Castro, who now live 

 and work in Guatemala City. 



Meanwhile, because of sickness, Tomasa gradu- 

 ally sold to Jose Gil all three pieces of land, after 

 which she and Ventura remained on one of them 

 by arrangement with her brother. When Tomasa 

 died, Ventura became a laborer in Jose Gil's house. 

 The blind Coronada was still living with her 

 brother, and when he discovered that she was with 

 child by Ventura, he gave them Coronada's in- 

 heritance and they lived together openly. Coro- 

 nada's one child died at the age of 8, when she 

 began to sell her sheep to Jos6, followed (when her 

 husband died) by the land. 



" Contradictury information says it was only 3.6 acres in size and worth 

 but (j pes<»s. 



So, finally, Jose Gil cann' into possession of all 

 but three pieces of his parents' lands, all five of 

 their images, and all of their sheep. ^Meanwhile, 

 he had himself bought a large amount of land. 

 His wife brought him no land, for she was of a 

 poor family, her mother having been a servant in 

 the Rosales home. But by the time he died in 

 1906, he was (on local standards) fabulously 

 wealthy, owning some 700 acres of land, as well 

 as numerous domestic animals and a hoard of 

 silver money, and having many laborers in debt 

 to him. His lands, as nearly as they can be re- 

 constructed with data available, consisted of at 

 least the following: 



1. Cliimucun, 41.7 delta acros worth 75 po.sos " (in- 



heritance). 



2. Chilocon, 41.7 hill acres worth 100 pesos (inheritance). 



3. Tzansiguanay, 27. S hill acres worth 50 pesos (in- 



heritance). 



4. Chisoloyd, 0.0 delta acres W(jrth % peso (bought from 



sister). 



5. Chuarrainos, 1.4 delta acres worth Hi pesos (bought 



from sister). 



6. Panaj, 1.1 delta acres worth 1 peso (bought from 



sister). 



7. Chimatzar, 2.2 delta acres worth 2 pesos (bought from 



si.ster). 



8. Chitonon, 2.5 acres for 7 pesos (purchased). 



9. Chisanto, 4.4 delta acres for IG pesos (purchased). 



10. Chuichiniila, 0.7 delta acre for 4 pesos (purchased). 



11. Chialindn, 1.2 delta acres for 50 pesos (purchased). 



12. Chigertrudis, 1.1 delta acres for 200 pesos (purchased). 



13. Pachichiyut, 53.4 hill acres for 150 pesos (purchased). 



14. Tzampetey, 400 acres near San Lucas (purcha.sed). 



15. Tzantzajcap, 100 acres near San Lucas (purchased). 



No Indian m Panajachel today o^vns nearly 

 that amount of land. Nor, in fact, does any 

 Ladino own as much Panajachel land as did Jos6 

 Gil Rosales. If the present study had been made 

 40 years earlier the figures on the distribution of 

 lands would have been c[uite different, largely be- 

 cause of the extraordinary extent of the lands of 

 Jose Gil Rosales, many of which have now passed 

 into Ladino hands. 



Jose is recalled as a miser who spent little on 

 himself and liis family. He died there clutching 



" Values and purchase prices arc given in silver pesos, not the paper money 

 of lower value that came into use later. The valuations put on the inherited 

 land are seen to be much lower than purchase prices of other land. A partial 

 explanation is the time factor: the valuations put on inlierited land came down 

 from previous generations when prices may have been much lower, while 

 purchases occurred when Ladinos were already in Panajachel (some of the 

 land was bought from Ladinos) and land had increased in value. JosS Oil 

 Rosales was the first coHee planter in Panajachel, and the coming of coffee 

 may also have sent land prices up. 



