58 



INSTITUTE OF SOCIAL ANTHROPOLOGY — PUBLICATION NO. 1 1 



(Prontuario de Fincas Urbanas), and the other for 

 rural properties {Prontuario de Fincas Rusticas), 

 The oldest group contains 11 volumes for Fincas 

 Rusticas (and 2 tomes of indices) which cover the 

 fiscal years 1907-08 to 1915-16, and 11 volumes 

 for Fincas Urbanas (and 2 tomes of indices) which 

 cover the fiscal years 1908-09 to 1915-16. The 

 fiscal years are numbered from the end of the 

 French Intervention, and the seventh-eighth fiscal 

 year was 1945-46. From many of the volumes 

 in this group numerous folios are missing, and in 

 other volumes the folios are so torn, crumpled, 

 insect-and-rodent-eaten, and weathered, that the 

 records cannot be deciphered. The second group 

 comprises the two new series (7 tomes of Urbanas 

 and 6 tomes of Rusticas) which were initiated with 

 the mani^estaciones of 1915 when most property 

 owners brought their accounts up to date and 

 presented their titles for inspection. In general 

 this group covers the fiscal years 1915-16 to about 

 1928-32, although a few open accounts were 

 maintained until 1943. In 1926 all the books in 

 the first two groups were checked to help with the 

 starting of the current group of continuation books 

 {Urbanas commence with volume No. 8 and run 

 up to No. 16, and Rusticas begin with No. 7 and 

 run up to No. 13). At the beginning of each new 

 group and series the numeration of accounts begins 

 with 1 and the seriation or numeration is con- 

 tinued until the group or epoch is finished. Each 

 number stands for one account which occupies two 

 opposing pages. The number of years that any 

 given account may stay under a particular number 

 depends upon how rapidly the space on the two 

 pages is used up by movements of property, pay- 

 ments of taxes, etc. As soon as all the space has 

 been used up the accoimt is transferred to the 

 nearest unused number, which usually is in another 

 volume. A notation of the new number is made 

 at the bottom of the finished account pages, and 

 in the new account pages a notation is made of 

 the old number. In this fashion one can trace 

 any given account back through the different vol- 

 umes. We made a careful study of only the recent 

 volumes of Fincas Rusticas, and we found that by 

 the time we had worked back thi'ough volimaes 

 13, 12, 11, and 10 (the numeration actually was 

 in roman figures) we had covered nearly all of the 

 effective and open accounts. There were only 

 nine effective accounts in volume 10. The old 

 numeration of accounts (which carried up to No. 



2163 in volume 11) was succeeded in volume 12 

 by a new numeration which commenced with No. 1 

 in 1941. This was due to a revaluation or tax 

 assessment board {Junta Valuadora de Catastro) 

 which operated from 1940 to 1943. This board, 

 made up of local citizens, circulated a form in 

 1940. On the basis of the information contained 

 in the forms that were filled out and returned 

 (only a minority of landowners did this) the board 

 revalued lands in 1941-43. There no longer is a 

 board in Quiroga, and the tax collector must make 

 the assessment or appraisal of the value of each 

 property himself. However, in actual practice the 

 tax collector never visits any of the properties, 

 and he merely takes the valuation submitted by 

 the owner — which valuation normally has not 

 changed on the books for the whole period of 

 record which may be a matter of 20, 30, or more 

 years. 



The theoretical full account entry contains the 

 name of the owner and his address (if outside of 

 Quiroga) ; the name and location of each of his 

 pieces of property; the metes and bounds of each 

 piece of property or predio; the hectareage, classi- 

 fication, and valuation; the name of the last pre- 

 vious owner and the date of transfer; and the dates, 

 rates, and amounts of taxes paid. In actual prac- 

 tice the cuiTcnt open account contains little more 

 than the name of the owner, the location of the 

 pieces of property, the valuation, and the taxes 

 paid mth dates. In order to obtain the full 

 information it is necessary to run back through 

 several volumes, and even then the information 

 practically never is complete. Every field, slope, 

 hiU, mesa, plain, and other natural or artificial 

 division of the landscape has its own proper name, 

 and quite often the location of a j^^^dio will be 

 given in such terms as Terreno en La Palma (Land 

 or field in La Palma), Fraccion del Cajndin (a 

 fraction or part of El Capulm), Sin nombre en 

 Caringaro (Without name in Caringaro), etc. 

 Unfortunately the same field name may occur 

 several times in the dift'erent parts of Quiroga; 

 e. g., there are five areas with the name La Palma, 

 and El Fresno occurs in Atzimbo, Caringaro, and 

 Sanambo. The metes and bounds seldom are 

 given other than at the time of first inscription 

 of the property. Two inscriptions will servo as 

 illustration (translated rather literally) : 



1916. Property of the Mesa and Top of the Ccrro 

 Azul of Pablo Torres Arroyo. On the east (it borders) 



