84 



LAND OWNERSHIP AND PRACTICES 



in all recent transactions, range between S112.50 

 and $187.50. Perhaps overinfluenced by the 

 roundness of the ligure, I have set the value of 

 truck land at the average of these extremes, or 

 $150 an acre. 



Records of money lent with pa^\aied land as 

 security indicate that this is at least not too low. 



1 have 25 cases of the pa\\^nng of truck land. The 

 amounts were at the rate of: 



Pit !l'T(^ Per acre 



2 cases *22. .'jO lease $02.55 



4 cases.. 2S. 12 lease 07.42 



3 cases.. 37. .')0 lease 7<). 68 



lease 43.00 lease 93.03 



Teases 5(1.25 4 eases 112.50 



The cash rental price of truck land has been 

 noted as between $22.50 and $33.75, with the 

 norm near the higher figure. If we consider the 

 usual rental price as $30, it is seen that — using tlie 

 valuation of $150 an acre — the proportion of 

 annual rental to land value is 1 to 5, not far from 

 that of hill land. 



I have only one case by which to judge the \alue 

 of delta land that is useful onlj' for milpa. In that 

 case, the figure given comes to $28 an acre. Com- 

 paring this with the value of hill milpa land, it 

 seems about right. The yield on such land is 

 considerably higher than on the less level hill laud, 

 it lasts much longer (if not indefinitely) without 

 fertilizer, and, being closer, such land requires less 

 work time than do hill lands. If this delta land is 

 thought of as potential coffee land, it should 

 probably be valued even higher. 



COFFEE LAND 



Land on which colfeo is already growing should 

 be worth more than truck land, depending on the 

 condition of the coffee. One informant set the 

 value of coffee land as double that of vegetable 

 land, but he also set the value of vegetable land 

 unusually low. Other informants estimated coffee 

 land to be worth from $85 to $187.50 an acre. I 

 have but two cases of sales of coffee land, one at 

 $215 and the other at $225 an acre. In both cases 

 sales were to non-Indians, and it would probably 



be safer to set the value of delta coffee land at 

 about $175 an acre. 



Recorded are only 10 cases of money lent on 

 pawTied coffee land. In one case the sum was 

 $28.12, in iliree cases $37.50, in two cases $50.25, 

 and in one case each, $75, $84.37, $93.75, and 

 $112.30. The amounts tend to run, therefore, 

 about the same as for truck lands. (From one 

 point of view they should run higher, since the 

 money lender witliout much labor is alile to 

 harvest al)out $34 worth of coU'ee each year he has 

 the land; but for the same reason the pawner 

 ought not to ask for more, so that he can redeem 

 the land f|uickly.) 



Since the land on which Indian houses are built 

 is un|)roductive, it has no value comparable to 

 that of coifee and truck lands. But since before 

 it became a house site, and after it ceases to be 

 one (if it does) it was or will be good truck land, 

 it may be given the same value — $150 an aci-e, not 

 including the improvements. 



The total value of lands recorded as belonging 

 to resident Indians in 1930 may therefore be 

 summarized as follows: 



Hill lands (at S8 per acre): 



In Panajachel, 68 acres .$544.00 



Elsewhere, 20 acres 208. 00 



Delta lands: 



Coffee (at .5175 per acre), 39..3S acres. 6, 891. .50 



Truck (at SJ.50 per acre), 78.52 acres. 11, 778. 00 

 House lots (at S150 per acre), 5.08 



acres 762. 00 



Other (at .$28 per acre), 8.35 acres... 233. SO 



Total 20,417. 30 



Of these totals, 0.45 acre of coffee land, 1.8 acres 

 truck land, and 1.0 acres hill land — with a total 

 value of $301.55 — were pawned to Ladiuos or 

 others outside the local Indian community. The 

 value of the land owned and controlled by the 

 resident Indians in 1930 was, therefore, $20,045.75. 

 In addition, they had on pawn at least $80.18 

 worth of hill land and about $150 worth of truck 

 land in Santa Catarina. Tbey therefore controlled 

 land with a total value of about $20,282. This 

 figure takes no account of lands borrowed or 

 rented from Ladinos or others. 



