84 THE ANDES OF SOUTHERN PERU 



work a certain number qf days each year on the owner's planta- 

 tion. In many cases a small money payment is also made to the 

 planter. The planter prefers labor to money, for hands are 

 scarce throughout the whole eastern valley region. No Indian 

 need work on the planter's land without receiving pay directly 

 therefor. Each also gets a small weekly allotment of aguardiente 

 while in the planter's employ. 



The scene every Saturday night outside the office of the con- 

 tactor (treasurer) of a plantation is a novel one. Several hundred 

 Indians gather in the dark patio in front of the office. Within 

 the circle of the feeble candlelight that reaches only the margin 

 of the crowd one may see a pack of heavy, perspiring faces. Many 

 are pock-marked from smallpox; here and there an eye is missing; 

 only a few are jovial. A name is shouted through the open door 

 and an Indian responds. He pulls off his cap and stands stupid 

 and blinking, while the contador asks : 



"Faena" (free)? 



"Si, Senor," he answers. 



"Un sol" (one "sol" or fifty cents gold). The assistant hands 

 over the money and the man gives way to the next one on the list. 

 If he is a laborer in regular and constant employ he receives five 

 soles (two fifty gold) per week. There are interruptions now and 

 then. A ragged, half-drunken man has been leaning against the 

 door post, suspiciously impatient to receive his money. Finally 

 his name is called. 



"Faena?" asks the contador. 



"No, Senor, cinco (five) soles." 



At that the field superintendente glances at his time card and 

 speaks up in protest. 



' ' You were the man that failed to show up on Friday and Sat- 

 urday. You were drunk. You should receive nothing." 



"No, mi patron," the man contends, "I had to visit a sick 

 cousin in the next valley. Oh, he was very sick, Senor," and he 

 coughs harshly as if he too were on the verge of prostration. The 

 sick cousin, a faena Indian, has been at work in another cane field 

 on the same plantation for two days and now calls out that he is 



