30 SMITHSONIAN MISCELLANEOUS COLLECTIONS VOL. 1 33 



I have known Mapuclie herbalists to stay eight days with a crying 

 baby or a sick child, and boil decoctions for it." 



A child is always nursed until it is a year old, unless the mother is 

 again pregnant, but it is seldom nursed when older than two years. 

 (PI. 3, 2.) It is nursed tied in its cradleboard, resting in its mother's 

 arm, sitting on its mother's lap, or standing near its mother. During 

 an interview of an hour, a mother nursed her baby whenever it began 

 to fuss, which was about every lo minutes. The baby was then tied 

 to its cradleboard to be photographed, but immediately after the pic- 

 ture was taken the mother sat on a low bench and again nursed the 

 baby still strapped to the cradle, which stood in an upright position. 



During an interview with another mother her 20-month-old boy 

 became bothersome. She then nursed him lying in her lap until he fell 

 asleep. When he awoke, she again nursed him ; this time he rested 

 on his knees in her lap. When he began to move about in her lap, 

 she let him slide off and nursed him standing at her side. 



When the mother cannot satisfy the child with her own milk, she 

 gives it soup, and/or commercially condensed milk mixed with water, 

 and/or boiled milk of a fresh cow. "We put this in a bottle w^ith a 

 nipple. One can buy these in Chilean stores. We learned this from 

 the Chileans." 



The child is weaned by gradually accustoming it to a series of solid 

 foods, "the same foods that everyone else eats. It is best, however, to 

 begin with cow's milk, so that it gets used to new tastes gradually." 

 Following this, it is fed toasted wheat, catuto (made of cooked wheat), 

 new potatoes, and later meat. After the child is completely weaned 

 it may be given anything to eat except apples and plums. "We believe 

 that a weaned child still has mother's milk in its body and that these 

 fruits will sour the milk." 



Weaning is accomplished by mother and baby living apart. Either 

 the baby may be placed with a neighbor or relative, "like its grand- 

 mother or an aunt," and left there two or three days, or it may be left 

 in the care of an older sister at home while the mother visits a few 

 days away from home. If the child is not weaned when it is again 

 with its mother, it is separated from the mother once more. The 

 mother does not use a repellent, such as a peppery or a bitter substance 

 on her breasts. According to Cooper's source, the child w^as weaned 

 when all its teeth w^ere cut, or a year after its birth; or if the child 

 was weak, not until it was 18 months, or older (1946, p. 733). 



Only an occasional child sucks its finger. Two instances came to 

 the writer's notice : one was two years of age ; the other, nearly three. 

 Both sucked the first finger of the right hand. 



