Fig. 55—Map to show the relation of the grasslands of the dry lower portion of the Urubamba Valley (unshaded) to the forested lands at higher elevations (shaded). See [Fig. 54] for climatic conditions. Patches and slender tongues of woodland occur below the main timber line and patches of grassland above it.
Northward from Abra Tocate ([Fig. 55]) the forest is practically continuous. The break between the two vegetal regions is emphasized by a corral for cattle and mules, the last outpost of the plateau herdsmen. Not three miles away, on the opposite forested slope of the valley, is the first of the Indian clearings where several families of Machigangas spend the wet season when the lower river is in flood ([Fig. 21]). The grass lands will not yield corn and coca because the soil is too thin, infertile, and dry. The Indian farms are therefore all in the forest and begin almost at its very edge. Here finally terminates a long peninsula of grass-covered country. Below this point the heat and humidity rapidly increase; the rains are heavier and more frequent; the country becomes almost uninhabitable for stock; transportation rates double. Here is the undisputed realm of the forest with new kinds of trees and products and a distinctive type of forest-dwelling Indian.
At the next low pass is the skull of an Italian who had murdered his companions and stolen a season’s picking of rubber, attempting to escape by canoe to the lower Urubamba from the Pongo de Mainique. The Machigangas overtook him in their swiftest dugouts, spent a night with him, and the next morning shot him in the back and returned with their rightful property—a harvest of rubber. For more than a decade foreigners have been coming down from the plateau to exploit them. They are an independent 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 tributary is an alluvial fan. If the alluvium is coarse and steeply inclined 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 Huadquiña 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 Huadquiña (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 inclusive, 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 distributed somewhat through the year. There is however a concentration 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 it takes five days to make the journey. The freight rate on coca and sugar for mule carriage, the only kind to be had, is two cents per pound. The national tax is one cent per pound (0.45 kg.). The coca sells for twenty cents a pound. The cost of production is unknown, but the paid labor takes probably one-half this amount. The planter’s time, capital, and profit must come out of the rest. On brandy there is a national tax of seven cents per liter (0.26 gallon) and a municipal tax of two and a half cents. It costs five cents a liter for transport to Cuzco. The total in taxes and transport is fourteen and a half cents a liter. It sells for twenty cents a liter. Since brandy (aguardiente), cacao (for chocolate), and coca leaves (for cocaine) are the only precious substances which the valleys produce it takes but a moment’s inspection to see how onerous these taxes would be to the planter if labor did not, as usual, pay the penalty.
Much of the labor on the plantations is free of cost to the owner and is done by the so-called faena or free Indians. These are Quechuas who have built their cabins on the hill lands of the planters, or on the floors of the smaller valleys. The disposition of their fields in relation to the valley plantations is full of geographic interest. Each plantation runs at right angles to the course of the valley. Hacienda Sahuayaco is ten miles (16 km.) in extent down valley and forty miles (64 km.) from end to end across the valley, and it is one of the smaller plantations! It follows that about ten square miles lie on the valley floor and half of this can ultimately be planted. The remaining three hundred and ninety square miles include some mountain country with possible stores of mineral wealth, and a great deal of “fells” country—grassy slopes, graded though steep, excellent for pasture, with here and there patches of arable land. But the hill country can be cultivated only by the small farmer who supplements his supply of food from cultivated plants like potatoes, corn, and vegetables, by keeping cattle, mules, pigs, and poultry, and by raising coca and fruit.
The Indian does not own any of the land he tills. He has the right merely to live on it and to cultivate it. In return he must work a certain number of days each year on the owner’s plantation. 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 contador (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: