HIGHLAND COMMUNITIES OF CENTRAL PERU—TSCHOPIK 1] 
called, is characterized by undulating grassland, 
cold and bleak, and rimmed on all sides by barren 
hills. Above these, in the far distance, occasional 
snow peaks glisten. 
Crossing the pampa to the town of Junin the 
railway passes the battlefield where, in 1824, 
Bolivar defeated the army of the Viceroy. Beyond 
the historic town, the line approaches a broad, 
marshy tract of meandering streams and ponds 
which mark the southern edge of Lake Junin. 
The lake proper is so extensive that its western 
shore is barely visible from the train which skirts 
thick growths of totora reeds bordering the open 
water (pl. 2, 6). Countless waterfowl—ducks, 
grebes, and geese—feed in these marshes while 
ibis and occasional flamingo wade in the shallows 
at the lake edge. The meadows surrounding 
Lake Junin afford pasturage to large flocks of 
llamas and sheep, and the entire pampa is dotted 
with corrals and scattered groups of round, low 
huts which have conical thatched roofs (pl. 16, 0). 
Beyond the railway junction of Shelby to the 
north of Lake Junin, the main line continues 
across the pampa to Ricrdin where the track once 
again climbs through stony, treeless hills. Here 
evidences of mining activities are apparent on 
every side. Winding past dumps, shafts, and 
old workings, the railway passes the old smelter 
site at La Fundicién and arrives at the Cerro de 
Pasco terminal. 
At Shelby station, a branch railway and motor 
road lead off to the west in the direction of Huarén, 
headquarters of the French mining company, 
Compagnie des Mines de Huarén. En route to 
these mines the road continues across the pampa 
past large flocks of grazing livestock, clusters of 
shepherds’ huts, and numerous corrals. Grad- 
ually the pampa gives way to barren, rolling hills, 
covered with ichu grass, mosses, and lichens. 
To the north of the road the hills are crowned by 
great, weathered pillars of basalt which rise in the 
distance like castles. A few kilometers beyond, 
and surrounded by rocky, treeless hills, are 
located the company’s smelters and concentrators 
at San José. Continuing to climb through the 
dreary puna, the road then descends to a small 
glacial lake on the shores of which are situated the 
principal copper mines of Huarén. 
THE POPULATION 
INDIAN AND MESTIZO 
It is impossible to write a paper of this nature 
without making frequent use of the words “Indian” 
and “Mestizo,” or their equivalents, with refer- 
ence to segments of the populations of the com- 
munities visited during the course of the survey.® 
It should be made clear at the outset, however, 
that these terms, as applied to so large and 
diversified an area as that under consideration, 
are used only in a very general sense and in fact 
represent abstractions of a high order. The 
writer is aware of the dangers inherent in an 
over-simplification of the problems relating to 
classes and to class structure; nevertheless, some 
6 In general in Peru ‘‘cholo”’ is used rather than ‘‘Mestizo’”’ to mean “‘half- 
breed.”” The usage of this word, however, is complex. The few whites 
of Puno refer to the half-breeds of that city as ‘‘cholos,” while the Mestizo 
upper class of such a village as Chucuito employ the word when speaking 
of the Indians. In the Highlands of Central Peru the word is often usedina 
derogatory sense and as an insult as well as to mean “‘servant’’ from the 
Point of view of the employer. For these reasons ‘‘Mestizo,”’ since it carries 
fewer emotional connotations and overtones and is less ambiguous in mean- 
ing, has been employed throughout the present paper. 
conceptual scheme is necessary if only for purposes 
of description. Itseems advisable, then, to preface 
the descriptions of the present-day communities 
with a few very general remarks about the question 
of class in the Highlands of Peru.’ 
As elsewhere in Latin America, the problems in 
Peru relating to class structure are at once both 
extremely complex and of considerable interest to 
the present-day inhabitants of the country. And 
again, as in other parts of Hispanic America, these 
problems may be resolved into three principal 
aspects: race, language, and culture. 
The 1940 Peruvian census gives the total popu- 
lation of the country as an estimated 7,000,000 
(actually counted 6,200,000) inhabitants, of which 
some 2,850,000 are listed as Indians while 3,300,000 
7 At a later date we hope to document the analysis of these problem smore 
fully with the field materials from Sicaya and with the writer’s unpublished 
field data on Chucuito, a small and predominantly Aymara Indian village 
in the Department of Puno in southern Peru. In addition to the data 
obtained in these two towns, it should be stated that Escobar is a native of 
Cuzco, Muelle of Lima, and the writer has resided in Arequipa for 24 years. 
The following remarks about class, therefore, represent the inductions from 
our collective experiences. 
