WHOLE VOL. ARAUCANIAN CHILD LIFE — HILGER 9 



varied from 3 to 11. One informant had 6 children (3 boys and 3 

 girls) ; another, 10, of whom 4 were boys ; another, 8, 3 of whom had 

 died. A 51 -year-old man had 11 children living and i dead: the 

 oldest was 25 ; the youngest, i year and 8 months. One woman had 

 given birth to 20 children, many of whom had died when small. One 

 informant had delivered 9 children of whom 2 were stillborn, i pre- 

 mature, and I aborted. 



PRENATAL PERIOD 

 PERIOD OF GESTATION 



An expectant mother is spoken of as "being pregnant" or as "hav- 

 ing been left pregnant." The month of delivery is known. "By count- 

 ing the moons we know when the child will be born : the mother carries 

 a boy 9 months ; a girl, less time than that." The day of delivery is not 

 reckoned, even approximately. "She [pointing at a listener-in] went 

 into her yard to get wood ; her baby was born while she was out there ; 

 it came so unexpectedly. One woman here who enjoys dancing those 

 Chilean dances gave birth to a girl while she was dancing at a get- 

 together in her ruka." 



Most informants had not thought about the question as to when the 

 fetus becomes human ; all agreed that the child was human at birth. 

 "Why else treat it like a human being at once after birth ?" One woman 

 reasoned that it might be human earlier, "for if it is born prematurely 

 we treat it like all babies are treated, and if it is born dead we bury 

 it in the cemetery just like other people." 



ABORTIONS 



An occasional expectant woman today, as formerly, is known to 

 induce an abortion. If she is married, the reason for an abortion is 

 usually that her family is large and no additional children are desired ; 

 if she is unmarried, it is because of the disgrace attached to giving 

 birth out of wedlock. "I do not believe, however, that abortions are 

 induced to any extent today," said the interpreter, a non-Araucanian 

 herbalist, "for most families are large, and many illegitimate children 

 are born." According to Araucanian women, the abortifacients have 

 to be taken during the first month of pregnancy. Abortifacients 

 spoken of were water in which powdered alum and soap used in wash- 

 ing had been dissolved, water into which the setting of a grindstone 

 had been stirred, and a powerful plant (unidentified) from which a 

 decoction was made. Cooper (1946, p. 733) notes that Gusinde lists 



