68 



INSTITUTE OF SOCIAL ANTHROPOLOGY— PUBLICATION NO. 



assumptions " and calculations are correct, represents 

 the number of Mochero men between the ages of 19 

 and 60 and therefore a group which might be consid- 

 ered the adult male labor force available in Moche. 

 We shall take 650 as a usable round number. Of this 

 number 92 were definitely known to be working out- 

 side of the community on a more or less permanent 

 basis in 1944. Taking into account 12 others said to 

 be working outside, but whom I could not identify by 

 name, we may assume that 100 is a safe figure for the 

 number of men who gain the major part of their 

 livelihood outside the community, while still maintain- 

 ing their homes within it. This does not take into ac- 

 count Mocheros who have moved their homes and 

 families to other localities. The outside workers are 

 distributed as follows: 17 work as stevedores and 

 cargo handlers in the port of Salaverry ; 40 work as 

 road laborers for the Government, being shifted about 

 to various jiarts of the Department ; 20 work as 

 masons, masons' helpers, and carpenters for private 

 constructors in Trujillo; 8 are emjiloyed as masons 

 and laborers on the Government building project, the 

 Barrio Obrero (Workers' Housing Project) in Tru- 

 jillo; 2 are peons on the Haciendita and 2 are chauf- 

 feurs for the same establishment ; 3 are professional 

 arricros (pack-animal drivers) ; and the occupations 

 of the others are unknown to me. 



In other words, at the time of this investigation 

 about 15 percent of the resident true Mocheros of 

 working age were employed outside the community. 

 Some of them are landless men. but most have a 

 small plot of ground or a small interest in a piece 

 of Moche land (usually through inheritance), but 

 too small to support themselves and their families. 

 The number of outside workers fluctuates and those 

 that have land sometime have time to work it. If 

 they are busy on their jobs, however, they hire 

 stay-at-home Mocheros to do the work for them. 

 Work for the Government on the roads and build- 

 ing projects is the best paid and steadiest. During 

 1944 the men working in the port of Salaverry were 

 said to average only 10 to 12 soles per week, owing 

 to the scarcity of ships calling during wartime. The 

 Salaverry workers are required to be on hand every 

 day, but are paid on a piece-work basis. The work 

 is regarded as good and the pay desirable when 



"Tlie unknowns are: (1) The exact number of fomstcrns: our 

 figure, .IS explained on \\ S, is based on a count of households, not 

 of individuals; (2) the exact proportion of the total population which 

 is aged 20 to .SO inclusive and which is male; we are assuming tliat 

 this proportion in Moche is the same as in the Department of La 

 I.ibertad as a wl'.olc. namely, 21 percent. 



there is steady movement of ships, as in normal 

 times. The work consists of handling bags of sugar 

 shipped to the port from the haciendas by railroad. 

 Since Salaverry is an open roadstead, the sugar must 

 be lightered aboard ship, and when the traffic is 

 heavy additional recruits are brought in from Moc.e. 



It would be interesting to have more precise da.a 

 of a statistical nature concerning the actual land 

 holdings and average amount of land worked per 

 man. On the basis of the above calculations it would 

 appear that about 550 men between 19 and 60 are 

 left to devote their time to 976 hectares of cultivated 

 land (after subtracting the Haciendita holdings). 

 There are about 50 Mochero specialists in the com- 

 munity, but we leave them out of account since they 

 devote part of their time to agriculture and the por- 

 tion of their time devoted to specialties may be re- 

 garded in a rough way as balancing with the occa- 

 sional agricultural activities of the outside workers. 

 On this basis then, we would have the labor of one 

 man available for each 1.77 hectares (about 4.37 

 acres). If we subtract the areas occupied by house 

 lots and for other unproductive uses, this figure 

 might well be reduced to about 1.60 hectares. It 

 should be emphasized that these calculations are at 

 best only tentative. It must be left to agricultural 

 scientists to say authoritatively whether or not this 

 represents an oversupply of labor, taking into ac- 

 count the methods used, the emphasis on dairying, 

 and the fact that a considerable amount of labor is 

 forthcoming from women, children, and men over 

 60 years of age. To me it appears to be excessive. 



The primary interest of an anthropologist in a 

 matter of this sort is to gage the situation from the 

 point of view of cultural adaptation and probable 

 future changes. Unless the irrigated area of Moche 

 is considerably increased by the construction of new 

 irrigation ditches which would water the desert to 

 the southeast (and this is unlikely in view of the 

 present shortage of water in the Rio Moche), it 

 would seem that an increasingly large proportion of 

 the economically active elements of the population 

 will have to seek livelihood outside the community. 



Flourishing handicraft industries — weaving, hat 

 making, calabash working — bring in a sizable income 

 to the people of the northern Mochica village of 

 Monsefii and seem to have protected that community 

 from the results of land hunger. But, as we have 

 seen, the native industries of Moche have practically 

 all died out — completely so from the export point of 

 view — and show no signs of reviAal. Wh.ether or 



