Page:Bolivia (1893; Bureau of the American Republics).djvu/38

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BOLIVIA.

native tongue of Paraguay, the same as do the Chiriguanos, Samucos, Chamacocos and other tribes in the province of Cordillera, to the south of the department of Santa Cruz. The Chiquitos, of the provinces of Chiquitos and Sara, in the central and western sections of this same department, speak Chiquitana. The Yuracares, in the northern districts of the department of Cochabamba, speak a dialect bearing the name of their tribe.[1]

CLASS DISTINCTIONS.

As constituent elements of society, the four general divisions of the population of Bolivia, viz, white, aymara, quichua and chuncho, are separated into three classes: the higher classes, of European descent; the middle classes, or Cholos, in whose veins flow European and Indian blood; and the lower classes, or Indians.

The higher classes are engaged in the professions, in mercantile business and in the higher grades of the military service; the middle classes, or Mestizos, better known in the country under the general name of Cholos, are the tradesmen, the small shopkeepers, and the soldiers of the country; while the lower classes, or Indians, are the farmers, the miners and the day laborers, although many of them are expert masons, bricklayers and plasterers.


  1. The fierce tribes of the Chaco, as the Tobas, Noctenes, Chorolis, Guisnas, and others of the southern districts of the Department of Chuquisaca, speak special tongues not met with among the other tribes of the Republic.