WHOLE VOL. ARAUCANIAN CHILD LIFE — HILGER I3 



and her mother. Usually a midwife is present also, and on occasion 

 some of the woman's relatives and women friends. Any woman who 

 is a nearby neighbor can always be relied on to assist, if needed. A 

 machi is not present but is called in if the mother or child takes sick. 



Until very recently, midwifery was practiced exclusively by women ; 

 at the time of the present study several middle-aged men in Alepue 

 area were doing so, one being assisted by his wife. "Both he and his 

 wife were present last week when my sister's child was born. That 

 man certainly knows how to deliver a baby !" A midwife is called 

 datuchef e or domo kimdatukutranlu ; there is no word for a male 

 obstetrician, an indication that midwifery for men is not an old 

 custom. 



To quote one of the men who assists at deliveries : "My part in 

 helping is to examine the woman to make certain that the baby is in 

 the right position, especially that the head is lying in the right position, 

 for that is important. If it is, then all goes well and fast. When the 

 first four of my children were born, I had a man deliver each — we call 

 him a partero ; we have no Mapuche name for such a man. I lost those 

 four children ; each died when about two months old. I watched that 

 man deliver these children. Because these four died as infants, I de- 

 livered my wife myself of the next children. There were four more 

 and they all lived." A PanguipuUi woman was annoyed when asked if 

 men assisted at deliveries: "What are you thinking about! It is 

 always a woman who does so, a sensible woman, one who knows how !" 

 Her husband interjected : "If a family is so poor that it cannot pay the 

 midwife what she asks for a delivery, then the woman's husband will 

 deliver his wife. Only then will any man help." 



In some areas the midwife is paid for her services. In Alepue she 

 asks for 30 pesos (one U. S. dollar) ; if the woman is a relative, she 

 accepts no pay. In Conaripe area the midwife receives no pay; her 

 compensation is the privilege of calling each child that she delivers 

 "my child." "And later on when the child is old enough to compre- 

 hend, its mother will say to it, if the midwife happens to come around, 

 'This is your mother.' This pleases the midwife ; it is done in grateful 

 recognition." 



It is a custom for all members of a family to stay around home 

 when anyone in the family is sick ; it is for this reason that a woman's 

 children are present when she gives birth to a child — their mother is 

 thought of as being sick. Teachers related instances when a relative 

 or a neighbor of a family requested that children be allowed to leave 

 school and go home because there was sickness in their family. The 

 day following, the children would tell of the birth of a brother or a 



