72 



INSTITUTE OF SOCIAL AA^THROPOLOGY — PUBLICATION NO. 11 



From the 1940 census and from our census of 1945 

 it is possible to obtain a break-down into families 

 based on individual marriages; e. g., the household 

 mentioned above would represent three families. 

 This is different from a true immediate family 

 which comprises a married couple and all of their 

 living children, whether they are married or not 

 or whether the children live with their parents 

 or elsewhere (table 10). In 1940 Quiroga and 

 its ranchos averaged 4.47 persons per family, and 

 the average in 1945 was virtually the same — 4.46. 

 Slight local differences are manifest in family size. 

 In 1940 the averages were (by quarters or cuar- 

 teles): Cuartel 1—4.46; Cuartel II— 4.20; Cuartel 

 III— 4.30; Cuartel IV— 4.59; and the ranchos— 

 4. SO. Within the six ranchos the averages 

 ranged from 4.30 for Atzimbo, through 4.70 for 

 Icudcato, 4.80 for Zirandangacho, 4.90 for Carin- 

 garo, and 5.10 for Sanambo, to 5.50 for La Tiri- 

 micua. In general the wealthiest and most urban 

 quarters (II, III, and I) and the richest and closest 

 large rancho (Atzimbo) have the smallest families; 

 while the poorest quarter (IV) and the smaller or 

 more remote and rural ranchos have the largest 

 families. There seems to be a slight correlation 

 between wealth and urban situation and a ten- 

 dency toward smaller families. Our 1945 census 

 returned approximately the same situation, the 

 sequence of family averages being as foUows: 

 Cuartel 1—4.23; Cuartel II— 4. 26; Cuartel III— 

 4.47; Cuartel IV — 4.52; and the ranchos — 4.88 

 persons per farmly. In 1940, families ranged in 

 size from 1 person to 1 1 persons, with a median of 

 4, a mode of 5, and a mean of 4.47. Nearly the 

 same conditions obtained in 1945 excepting that 

 the modal size was 2 and the mean was 4.46. 



Table 10. — Households in Quiroga, 1940 and 1945 ' 



Another picture of the family in Quiroga can be 

 obtained from the 1940 census statistics which 

 show, for every woman who had been married, age 

 at time of first marriage, total munber of children 

 born alive, and number of children still alive at the 

 time of the census. A total of 830 women had 

 been married at some time in their lives. Of this 

 number we had no data on 4; 28 had had no 

 children but had been married less than 3 years; 

 59 had been married for more than 3 years but had 

 had no children and consequently were considered 

 barren or sterile; and the remaining 739 women 

 had given birth to one or more live children. 

 Subtracting the 4 with no data and the 28 married 

 less than 3 years from the total number of married 

 women, we obtain the number of 788 women 

 married 3 years or longer for whom we possess 

 data. The 59 barren women constitute an 

 exceedingly small 7.3 percent of this number. In 

 other words, only 7 out of every 100 married 

 women do not bear children, for some reason. 

 Considerbig the cases of early widowhood and the 

 theoretical probability that at least half of the 

 husbands of barren women are impotent, we can 

 conclude that probably fewer than 3 percent of the 

 women in the Quiroga area are sterile. This is in 

 line with the traditional fertility of Indian and 

 mestizo women in Latin America as a whole. The 

 fertility of married women in the divisions of 

 Quiroga is shown in table 11. 



Apparently life in the ranchos tends to reduce 

 the factors which cause sterility. We are assum- 

 ing that in a Eoman Catholic and unsophisticated 

 community there is very little use of contracep- 

 tives. We have heard that there is some use of 

 herbs which are supposed to thwart conception, but 

 presumably (according to hearsay) their use is 

 restricted to older women who have borne a 

 number of children and to a few uimiarried girls. 



Table II. — Fertility of married women in Quiroga 



' H represents the number of households or occupied houses or census 

 units; F, the number of families; and P, the number of persons. 

 2 Assumedly the same number of households as family groups. 



The age of women at the time of first marriage 

 or union ranged from 12 to 50, with 18 years being 

 both the median and the modal age. Approxi- 



