l8 SMITHSONIAN MISCELLANEOUS COLLECTIONS VOL. I33 



down her throat — this will cause her to eject the placenta. If gagging 

 is not effective, she is made to vomit by giving her a large drink of 

 lukewarm water mixed with salt and urine. 



The secundines, including the placenta, are "companions" of the 

 child. Immediately after delivery they are folded into the material on 

 which the mother knelt during delivery and buried in the ruka either 

 below the spot where the child was born or near the fireplace. This 

 is true for all areas except Panguipulli. Usually the child's father 

 buries them ; sometimes an older sister of the child does so because the 

 father may be busy. Several informants knew that very recently, on 

 a few occasions, the secundines had been buried outside the ruka, 

 "but that was taking great risks. Some harm can be expected to come 

 to the mother ; indeed, she may take very sick because of it. Or dogs 

 may dig them up. Dogs are not allowed to eat the secundines — they 

 are a part of man !" In Panguipulli area a boy's secundines were buried 

 in a hole near the fireplace, but a girl's were buried out-of-doors under 

 a chupon. It is known that dogs will not dig under a chupon because 

 of its sharp needles. 



No informant knew of an Araucanian child that had been born with 

 a caul. "I am sure if one were so born, the midwife would tear off the 

 skin and throw it in with the secundines. Nobody would pay any 

 attention to it." 



STERILIZING EYES OF NEWBORN BABY 



On the day of birth, or the following day, the baby's eyes are treated 

 with the sap of a plant. Quoting a Panguipulli man : "You will not 

 find a blind Mapuche. This is because the midwife or whoever helps 

 a woman deliver her child squeezes the sap of a plant we call llumiielka 

 [unidentified] * into the child's eyes. It removes the mucus from the 

 eye. Usually she does so immediately after the child is born, but it can 

 be done with good effect the day following. It takes away that skin 

 that is over the child's eye. I do not believe the Chileans use it; at 

 least I have never heard them tell. And there are blind Chileans. The 

 plant grows in damp ground." 



* When translated, llumiielka means to keep from being a blind person. The 

 writer was unable to identify the plant under that name. An Araucanian teacher 

 in Conaripe identified a specimen the Panguipulli informant brought as korekore. 

 Felix Jose (1916, vol. i, p. 95) gives the botanical classification of korekore as 

 Geranium corecore Stend., fam. Geraniaceae, and the Spanish equivalent as 

 corecore. In La salud por medio de las plantas medicinales (Anonymous, 1929) 

 corecore is classified as Geranium berteroanciim. 



