The milpa was enclosed by a fence, and was overgrown with taje.
On the other side of the milpawas another edifice, holding aloft a high wall, like that we had seen at Zayi, extraordinary in its appearance and incomprehensible in its uses and purposes.
Beyond this we reached the rancho of Choop, and came into a good road, different from the usual milpa paths, and like a well-beaten camino real, made so by the constant travelling of beasts with water kegs to the aguadas.
It added to the effect of the ruins scattered in this region, that they were not on a camino real, but on a little-frequented milpa path, in some places so overgrown that we found it difficult to force a passage.
At a short distance from the rancho we saw in an overgrown milpa on our left the ruins of a mound and building, so far destroyed that they are not worth presenting.
Leaving the camino real, we turned again into a milpa path, and in about an hour came in sight of another ruined city, known by the name of Ytsimpte.
It stood alone, and an Indian had planted a milpa around it.
There was no view from the top; beyond the milpa all was forest, and what lay buried in it I had no means of ascertaining.
At the distance of a league we turned off from the main road to the left, and, following a narrow milpa path, in fifteen minutes reached the field of ruins.
Mr. Cook is, however, inclined to see in this the destruction of forests and their conversion into grass-lands by the primitive process of cultivation which he terms Milpa agriculture.
By milpa roza,[5] the first clearing of a field by felling trees, cutting and burning undergrowth, etc.
Milpa roza is, literally, field cleared of underbrush and ready for planting.
The virgin bush, in which the milpa is made, is cut down about December or January, only the large and hardwood trees being left standing.
The milpa system of agriculture involves clearing the forest by fire, destroys valuable humus and forces the farmer to seek new fields frequently.
If the savages have extended their milpa clearings since our visit, the falling trees have probably spoiled these walls by now.
In the little chacra, cassava, coca, and sweet potatoes were growing in haphazard fashion among charred and fallen tree trunks; a typical milpa farm.
The above list will hopefully give you a few useful examples demonstrating the appropriate usage of "milpa" in a variety of sentences. We hope that you will now be able to make sentences using this word.
