The early date of the colonization may be traced in a special system of tenure, though this is also found in parts of the provinces of Catamarca and Santiago del Estero. On the plain the right of ownership was obtained in the nineteenth century by purchase or by concessions of public lands which belonged to the provincial Government. They were allotted in very large estates, and these, intact or broken up, are the actual ranches. In approaching the foot of the range one passes estates in the _mercedes_. The name indicates concessions that date from the colonial epoch, and they are, in all parts of South America that were early colonized, the source of land-ownership. But what is peculiar to the _mercedes_ of the Llanos is that they have never been divided amongst the heirs of the first owner.[31] Sometimes the number of co-proprietors is small. They are conscious of their relationship to each other and know the value of the rights of each. The _merced_ is in that case only an undivided property held in common. Sometimes, however, the numbers of _comuneros_ is so great that they have lost count of the exact share of the _merced_ which belongs to each of them. The _merced_ feeds a whole population, legitimate heirs and usurpers mixed together. In these cases it is a real communal property, and one might compare it, in spite of its different origin, with the Indian communities which exist in Argentine territory as well as that of most of the other Andean States. [31] The title of the _merced_ often shows clearly the attraction which the springs at the foot of the Sierra had for colonists. The land of the _merced_ of Ulapes is defined thus: "The spring and the land within two leagues of it in every direction." The spring is the centre. There its protecting deities live.