﻿Vol.2] 
  COMMUNITIES 
  OF 
  CENTRAL 
  PERU 
  — 
  CASTRO 
  POZO 
  499 
  

  

  few 
  reales. 
  They 
  also 
  herd 
  the 
  flocks 
  on 
  the 
  farm 
  for 
  the 
  same 
  

   remuneration. 
  

  

  This 
  depressing 
  socio-economic 
  condition 
  of 
  the 
  farm 
  workers, 
  a 
  

   large 
  part 
  of 
  whom 
  live 
  on 
  the 
  farms 
  and 
  whom 
  the 
  State 
  has 
  not 
  

   been 
  able 
  to 
  protect, 
  results 
  in 
  the 
  enormous 
  figure 
  of 
  76.39 
  percent 
  of 
  

   illiterates 
  in 
  the 
  school-age 
  population 
  in 
  the 
  Sierra, 
  and 
  71.39 
  percent 
  

   in 
  the 
  total 
  population, 
  according 
  to 
  the 
  census 
  of 
  1940. 
  The 
  problem 
  

   is 
  even 
  more 
  startling 
  when 
  one 
  considers 
  that 
  the 
  whole 
  indigenous 
  

   population 
  of 
  the 
  country 
  amounts 
  to 
  2,847,169 
  persons, 
  distributed 
  

   densely 
  in 
  the 
  Departments 
  of 
  Piura, 
  Ancash, 
  Lima, 
  Huanuco, 
  Junin, 
  

   Huancavelica, 
  Ayacucho, 
  Apurimac, 
  Cuzco, 
  and 
  Puno, 
  that 
  is, 
  along 
  

   the 
  whole 
  mountainous 
  spinal 
  column 
  of 
  Peru. 
  This 
  indigenous 
  pop- 
  

   ulation 
  is 
  grouped 
  in 
  the 
  towns 
  of 
  the 
  rural 
  comunidades 
  and 
  in 
  the 
  

   small 
  villages 
  and 
  hamlets 
  of 
  the 
  farms, 
  carrying 
  on 
  the 
  labor 
  of 
  farm 
  

   workers 
  (colonos), 
  yanaconas, 
  herders, 
  peons, 
  and 
  pongos 
  or 
  house 
  

   servants. 
  It 
  is 
  paid 
  between 
  30 
  and 
  80 
  centavos 
  of 
  a 
  Peruvian 
  gold 
  

   sol 
  (about 
  6 
  to 
  16 
  cents, 
  U. 
  S.) 
  for 
  a 
  day's 
  work 
  of 
  8 
  to 
  10 
  hours. 
  

  

  The 
  total 
  population 
  of 
  Peru 
  is 
  a 
  little 
  over 
  7,000,000, 
  which 
  includes 
  

   about 
  3,000,000 
  Mestizos 
  who 
  also 
  live 
  in 
  the 
  country 
  as 
  peons 
  and 
  

   farm 
  workers, 
  and 
  many 
  of 
  whom 
  display 
  the 
  same 
  dejected 
  spirit 
  as 
  

   the 
  Indians. 
  

  

  Peru, 
  then, 
  is 
  a 
  country 
  consisting 
  predominantly 
  of 
  Mestizos 
  and 
  

   Indians 
  who, 
  when 
  they 
  have 
  solved 
  their 
  immediate 
  problems, 
  must 
  

   construct 
  their 
  culture 
  of 
  the 
  future 
  with 
  due 
  attention 
  to 
  their 
  historic 
  

   past. 
  

  

  