WHOLE VOL, 



ACKNOWLEDGMENTS XVU 



Molinari (San Martin de los Andes and Buenos Aires) ; Federico 

 Graef, geologist and surveyor (San Martin de los Andes) ; Emelio 

 Frey (Bariloche) ; Jaime F. Wood (Estancia Huechahue) ; Victor 

 MuUer and Enrique Korn (Buenos Aires) ; Horacio Fernandez 

 Beschtedt (Rio Negro) ; and to Dr. Alberto Anciano and Ig. 

 Alexandro Cane (Museo de Bariloche). 



To Margaret Mondloch, my field assistant in both Chile and Argen- 

 tina, I owe the greatest debt of all for her intelligent and gracious 

 help in planning fieldwork and making contacts, and for her untiring 

 and unselfish work in taking and transcribing field notes. The success 

 of the study is in no small degree due to her alertness, patience, and 

 perseverance. 



To Mother Rosamond Pratschner, Prioress of St. Benedict's Con- 

 vent, St. Joseph, Minn., I am indebted for granting leave-of-absence 

 from my duties of teaching for the duration of the fieldwork in Chile, 

 and for encouragement of the study from its very beginning; to 

 Mother Richarda Peters, subsequent Prioress, for leave-of-absence 

 for the research in Argentina. The writer is also indebted to Dr. 

 Alfred Metraux, Director of the United Nations Educational, Scien- 

 tific, and Cultural Organization in Paris, for his supporting interest, 

 especially during the fieldwork, and for his letters of introduction 

 to persons in key positions in Chile ; to Dr. Margaret Mead, American 

 Museum of Natural History, for valuable leads, particularly in con- 

 nection with the study of the mental development, behavior, and play 

 life of the child ; to Dr. Matthew W. Stirling, Director of the Bureau 

 of American Ethnology, for letters to customs officers, police, and 

 transportation authorities in the South American countries visited 

 regarding accessories for the study ; and to Wilson D. Wallis of the 

 University of Minnesota and the late Father John M. Cooper of 

 Catholic University for their unfailing interest and advice. 



I am sincerely grateful to Elsie Lelonek for typing the manuscript 

 and to Mary Lou Larson Braun for proofreading it. And I wish to 

 thank members of the Smithsonian scientific staff, particularly Dr. 

 A. C. Smith of the United States National Herbarium for checking 

 the scientific names of plants and animals ; and the editorial staff for 

 assistance in publication of the paper. 



I also acknowledge my indebtedness and express my gratitude to 

 my brother, W. P. Hilger, for financial assistance in the fieldwork in 

 Chile ; to the American Philosophical Society for grants-in-aid for the 

 research in Chile (Grant No. 805, Penrose Funds) and Argentina 

 (Grant No. 1341, Penrose Funds) ; to the Wenner-Gren Foundation 



