MOCHE: A PERUVIAN COASTAL COM^fUNITY— GILLIN 



13 



that this has been true since Mochica times. How- 

 ever, at present, various accretions ("acculturations") 

 have appeared in farming techniques, and, with the 

 gradual increase in population, an increasingly larger 

 I roportion of the younger generation go out of the 

 community to seek work as laborers on the roads, on 

 haciendas, and in factories in Lima, with a few even 

 entering the learned professions. 



The farming and fishing of Moche are carried on 

 both for subsistence and in order to produce income, 

 either through money exchanges or barter. In fact, 

 one of the changes of recent years has been an increas- 

 ing emphasis upon cash "crops," such as alfalfa and 

 milk, which are sold in Trujillo, while the fishing in- 

 dustry, although at present small, sells practically all 

 of its production, other than that consumed by the 

 fishing families themselves, to the Trujillo market, 

 where the remaining Mocheros must go to purchase 

 it. Although the Mocheros, or, more properly, their 

 women, are actively engaged in trade in the sense of 

 disposing of their production commercially, neverthe- 

 less trading, as an occupation in itself, seems to hold 

 little interest for the people. All retail establishments 

 in Moche pueblo itself are in the hands either of 

 jorasteros or of extanjeros, and I am not aware that 

 any Mochero has left the community to set up or take 

 part in a strictly trading or commercial enterprise 

 elsewhere. 



In this section no attempt is made to give a 

 thoroughgoing description of agriculture in Moche 

 from the point of view of an agronomist or other type 

 of agricultural specialist. This is a task requiring the 

 collaboration of a competent authority in this field. 

 Our main interest in this report is to consider the 

 place of agriculture and other economic activities in 

 the cultural life of the community, with particular at- 

 tention to the trends of cultural change. The orienta- 

 tion is cultural or ethnological rather than economic 

 or agricultural in the full ac^i.demic implications of 

 those words. Certain omissions may occur, since I 

 was working with the community only about 6 months 

 and therefore was unable to observe the full yearly 

 cycle. 



SKETCH OF MOCHE AGRICULTURE 



OF THE CAMPINA 



The most charming part of the Moche District is 



the campina, or rural farming area, which surrounds 



tlie town on all sides, as can be seen from the aerial 



, photographs (pis. 1 and 2). This is a region of 



sandy lanes shaded by willow trees overhanging the 



acequia (irrigation) ditches alongside, of small fields. 



quaint houses with cool outdoor arbors, and a quiet 

 peasant country life somehow out of the world. In 

 the campina the quaintest and most primitive aspects 

 of the culture are best developed, and sophistication 

 lies low. A single lane (pi. 18, tipper (left) ) is suf- 

 ficiently passable to permit automobiles to drive 

 through a part of the campina, although in an exceed- 

 ingly bone-shaking and axle-breaking manner. It 

 branches off from the Pan-American Highway to the 

 right about 800 m. from the pueblo, proceeds through 

 the holdings of the Haciendita, passes through the 

 small rural center of Sun, and on northward to the 

 base of the Huaca del Sol. Leaving the Huaca, it 

 fords the river and leaves the Moche District, pro- 

 ceeding northwestward through the Hacienda de 

 Santa Rosa, to enter the city of Trujillo via the barrio 

 of Chicago. This sole means of modern intrusion 

 into the isolation of the campina is traversed by only 

 a very occasional automobile carrying intrepid tour- 

 ists or visiting archeologists bent upon seeing the 

 ruins, and, to date, has had no practical effect upon 

 the quiet life of the Moche countryside, most of which 

 is accessible only afoot or by donkey or horseback, 

 traversing the willow-shaded sandy lanes. 



On one or both sides of the lanes are irrigation 

 ditches, tapped at frequent intervals by branches lead- 

 ing into the various land holdings. During the dry 

 season the water is turned into any given ditch only 

 once every 9 days, but the major ditches, when they 

 contain water, are veritable small rivers or creeks, 

 practically always shaded by overhanging trees. The 

 fields, usually green at all times of the year, are 

 bordered, as a rule, by solid-looking fences or walls 

 of tapia (mold-laid mud; see p. 38), frequently par- 

 tially hidden by bushes and small trees growing in the 

 field borders against the inside surfaces. A tapia wall 

 or fence is practically invariably found on the side 

 of a holding which borders a lane. The houses are 

 located at frequent intervals and are usually well 

 shaded by large shade and fruit trees in their huertas 

 (surrounding garden orchards). As a rule they are 

 situated in the comers of the land holdings, sometimes 

 so well surrounded by vegetation as to be almost in- 

 visible from the lane. 



As one passes along, one sees quiet groups of cattle 

 tethered by neck ropes or horn ropes, grazing in small 

 alfalfa pastures inside the tapia walls, and often 

 guarded by small boys and girls. In the mornings, 

 if it is not planting or harvesting season, men working 

 with shovels either singly or in pairs are seen in the 

 cultivations, and from about 10 a. m. onward through- 



