82 THE ANDES OF SOUTHERN PERU 



a harvest of rubber. For more than a decade foreigners have been 

 coming down from the plateau to exploit them. They are an inde- 

 pendent and free tribe and have simple yet correct ideas of right 

 and wrong. Their chief, a man of great strength of character 

 and one of the most likeable men I have known, told me that he 

 placed the skull in the pass to warn away the whites who came to 

 rob honest Indians. 



The Santa Ana Valley between the Canyon of Torontoy and 

 the heavy forest belt below Rosalina is typical of many of the 

 eastern valleys of Peru, both in its physical setting and in its 

 economic and labor systems. Westward are the outliers of the 

 Vilcapampa range ; on the east are the smaller ranges that front 

 the tropical lowlands. Steep valleys descend from the higher 

 country to join the main valley and at the mouth of every tribu- 

 tary is an alluvial fan. If the alluvium is coarse and steeply in- 

 clined there is only pasture on it or a growth of scrub. If fine and 

 broad it is cleared and tilled. The sugar plantations begin at 

 Huadquifia and end at Rosalina. Those of Santa Ana and 

 Echarati are the most productive. It takes eighteen months for 

 the cane to mature in the cooler weather at Huadquifia (8,000 feet). 

 Less than a year is required at Santa Ana (3,400 feet). Patches 

 of alluvium or playas, as they are locally called, continue as far 

 as Santo Anato, but they are cultivated only as far as Rosalina. 

 The last large plantation is Pabellon ; the largest of all is Echarati. 

 All are irrigated. In the wet months, December to March inclu- 

 sive, there is little or no irrigation. In the four months of the dry 

 season, June to September inclusive, there is frequent irrigation. 

 Since the cane matures in about ten months the harvest seasons 

 fall irregularly with respect to the seasons of rain. Therefore the 

 land is cleared and planted at irregular intervals and labor dis- 

 tributed somewhat through the year. There is however a concen- 

 tration of labor toward the end of the dry season when most of 

 the cane is cut for grinding. 



The combined freight rate and government tax on coca, sugar, 

 and brandy take a large part of all that the planter can get for 

 his crop. It is 120 miles (190 km.) from Santa Ana to Cuzco and 



