An
additional portion was granted for every child, the amount
allowed for a son being the double of that for a daughter. The
division of the soil was renewed every year, and the possessions
of the tenant were increased or diminished according to the
numbers in his family. *14 The same arrangement was observed with
reference to the curacas, except only that a domain was assigned
to them corresponding with the superior dignity of their stations
*15
[Footnote 14: Ondegardo, Rel. Prim., Ms. - Garcilasso, Com.
Real., Parte 1, lib. 5, cap. 2.
The portion granted to each new-married couple, according to
Garcilasso, was a fanega and a half of land. A similar quantity
was added for each male child that was born; and half of the
quantity for each female. The fanega was as much land as could
be planted with a hundred weight of Indian corn. In the fruitful
soil of Peru, this was a liberal allowance for a family.]
[Footnote 15: Ibid., Parte 1, lib. 5, cap. 3.
It is singular, that while so much is said of the Inca sovereign,
so little should be said of the Inca nobility, of their estates,
or the tenure by which they held them. Their historian tells us,
that they had the best of the lands, wherever they resided,
besides the interest which they had in those of the Sun and the
Inca, as children of the one, and kinsmen of the other. He
informs us, also, that they were supplied from the royal table,
when living at court. (lib. 6, cap. 3.) But this is very loose
language.
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