TIMELESS TRIBE FACES A BLEAK FUTURE : DEVASTATING DROUGHT, MODERN WORLD THREATEN CULTURE OF BOLIVIAN INDIANS.

Byline: Calvin Sims The New York Times

It is harvest season on this barren, windswept plateau, some 13,000 feet above sea level in the Andes Mountains, but Juan Condori Mauani barely can find enough grain to fill his poncho.

In times past, quinoa, a highly nutritious grain that is a staple of the high plain, was so abundant that Condori and other Chipaya Indians hauled it away in large bundles on their backs.

But a severe drought has ruined yet another crop for the Chipaya, the last remaining descendants of the Uru tribe, who were among the first inhabitants of South America.

Although the Chipaya once had the immense Andean plains to themselves, they are now confined to a small parcel of arid land next to a salt lake that is useless for farming and cannot sustain the 2,000 residents of this isolated village.

And if their luck does not change, the Chipaya, who have lived for centuries in this desolate land, virtually untouched by the outside world, are likely to become extinct before long, their distinct language and culture perhaps lost forever.

``What little is here must go to feed the animals, and there will be none left for us to eat this year,'' said Condori, a tribal elder. ``Without better land or some help from the government, we cannot feed our people. I don't know what we will do.''

Despite promises from the Bolivian government to help the Chipaya, and national press coverage of their plight, tribal officials said no government aid had come and that time was running out.

Like their forefathers, the Chipaya live in round adobe huts with thatch roofs. They speak a rare melodic language that few outsiders understand, and practice a religion that mixes pagan and Christian beliefs.

The women dress in elegant woolen ponchos and skirts with matching hats and wear their hair in small tight braids. Tribal members marry only among themselves and are generally suspicious of outsiders. The village cemetery has remains dating back hundreds of years.

But the modern world is encroaching on the Chipaya. Except for tribal officials and the elderly, most of the men have abandoned the traditional woolen ponchos, pants and white knitted hats for what they say are ``more comfortable clothes,'' usually bought from vendors of secondhand American clothes who pass through town.

While women for the most part still prefer traditional attire, they often wear polyester leggings underneath their skirts.

New technology is quickly being adopted. In the past year, the village received its first telephone, and its first electrification when 20 families installed solar panels in the top of their adobe huts. Television and electrical appliances are expected to follow.

In addition, a religious battle for the Chipayas' souls has erupted between Roman Catholics and Pentecostals, who have built new churches in this secluded village and persuaded some Chipaya to abandon their language and rituals and separate themselves from non-Christians.

The Chipaya worship a number of gods, including Christian saints and a host of spirits, but the chief divinity is Pachamama, the earth mother, to whom they sacrifice animals and offer libations and kisses toward the ground, according to Eulogio Mamani Quispe, the tribe's spiritual leader.

The blood and fetuses of llamas and sheep are used as offerings at weddings, housewarmings and other celebrations, Quispe said.

But Condori, the elder, said he fears these traditions soon will be lost, especially since the men of the tribe will have to spend the next six months picking fruit and vegetables across the border in Chile, as they have for the past five years, to earn money to support their families.

In the worst case, Condori said, the entire community may have to move to Chile or disband, steps that the elder said were certain to bring an end to Bolivia's most ancient living culture.

``What we are afraid of is that with the constant migration to Chile, the Chipayas will lose a sense of who they are, their identity and traditions,'' said Gilberto Pauwels, a Belgian anthropologist who is an expert on the Uru culture. ``It would be a great travesty if that were to happen.''

While most Chipaya who go to Chile to work eventually return to the village, a growing number of men are putting down stakes there.

``We met a Chipaya who has his property in Chile, his jeep, his cellular telephone and his workers, many of whom are other Indian groups and Chipaya,'' Pauwels said. ``This is a total change in mentality. Before, it was understood among the Chipayas that Chile was only a place to work. Now, it represents a new life.''