12 SMITHSONIAN MISCELLANEOUS COLLECTIONS VOL. I33 



In Alepue area, also, a pregnant woman must not eat apples, honey, 

 or chili ; not at any time are she and her husband to eat the double 

 yolk of an egg, for "it will make them the parents of twins." Coharipe 

 informants were interested and amazed to know that Araucanians in 

 Alepue area had the above beliefs. "We have no such beliefs here 

 and I have no faith in them," said one. "I know, for instance, that I 

 have eaten two yolks of one egg, and so has my husband, and we have 

 no twins." 



A pregnant woman must not look about too much, for she may 

 happen to see something that will frighten her and may cause her to 

 have an abortion or a premature delivery. An expectant mother will 

 have a difficult delivery if she lifts the cover off a boiling kettle or 

 places it on one. The unborn child will adhere to her uterus. She 

 may, however, put prepared food into a kettle of boiling water and also 

 stir boiling food. If no one else is around, she will ask even a small 

 child to lift or replace the cover. She will also have a difficult delivery 

 if she sits on anything made of wood, such as a bench, chair, or log — 

 her child's head will grow out of proportion if she does. According 

 to Cooper's sources she must not stand on the threshold of the ruka 

 (1946, p. 732). 



CHILDBIRTH, AND CARE OF MOTHER AND NEWBORN BABY 



PLACE OF BIRTH, ATTENDANTS, PERSONS PRESENT, PROCEDURE, 

 CELEBRATION, FUMIGATION, RECORDING THE BIRTH 



Birth is spoken of as "to have a baby" or "to have a new baby." 

 Both Araucanian and non-Araucanian informants were certain that 

 the child was always born in the home ruka and not in a temporary 

 shelter. According to Cooper's sources (1946, p. 732), the woman 

 retired to a temporary shelter near a stream or the sea when labor 

 pains began ; to give birth within the family ruka was thought to bring 

 evil upon those who lived there. 



Persons present at a birth are the woman's husband and children 



Plate i 



Views of Araucanian country in Chile 



I, Alepue area: Burnt-over lands, plowed field at right, ruka with adjoining 

 fenced-in garden and nearby fenced-in potato patch, grazing land, and wheat 

 field ; Rio Mehuin and its valley in the distance, and the Pacific Ocean beyond. 

 2, Conaripe area: Pasturelands of an Araucanian in the foreground. Catholic 

 mission buildings in the distance, and the Andes in the background. 3, Pangui- 

 pulli area, the western end of Lago Panguipulli in the Andes : Pastureland in 

 the foreground. Catholic mission, wheat fields on the hill at the right, and 

 Volcano Shoshuenco in the distance. 4, Boroa area, looking north toward Rio 

 Cautin: Pasturelands, plowed hills, and river bottom. 



