WHOLE VOL. ARAUCANIAN CHILD LIFE — HILGER 33 



were badly crippled," she said, " I massaged them, and also his head, 

 for his fontanels were far apart, I kept a band tied about his head. 

 He would not nurse until he was two days old. To wean him I gave 

 him solid foods — he choked on these. In fact, he choked on food until 

 he was seven years old. Whenever he did so, I reached into his 

 throat with two fingers [indicated third and fourth] and removed the 

 food. Some women used to chide me for not having poked my 

 fingers down his throat when he was a baby and thus cleared his 

 throat for always, then. But it was not our custom to do that." 



In Chan Chan of Alepue area, children were born with soft bones, 

 a condition non-Araucanian herbalists believed due to calcium de- 

 ficiency. Four such children were born to one couple; two to each 

 of three others; and one to another. All but one of the ii children 

 died when two or three years of age ; one lived to be six. 



A non-Araucanian herbalist told of a child, who was then one year 

 old, whose parents kept it hidden from view because they were 

 ashamed of its deformed face. The child, when a few njonths old, 

 had fallen into the fire while tied to its cradle, the mother having left 

 a small child to tend the baby while she went to fetch water. Because 

 of a scar the child's lower eyelid was drawn out of position. 



No crippled children or adults were seen during the present study. 

 A non-Araucanian who had lived 50 years among the Araucanians was 

 certain that no crippled child had been killed in recent years, but he 

 knew with certainty that formerly a child born crippled or one thought 

 mentally so weak as to leave no hope of normal development was 

 killed. Cooper's source states that deformed children were thrown 

 into the water or were suffocated with mud, as were children born 

 out of wedlock (1946, p. 733). 



A sick child is given herbal decoctions made of household remedies 

 of the kinds given to adults, only in smaller or diluted dosages. 

 "Every mother knows what to give," If these fail, an Araucanian 

 woman herbalist is sent for. Formerly, if the remedies of the Arau- 

 canian herbalists were not effective, parents called in a machi to per- 

 form a machitun. In recent years a non-Araucanian herbalist is 

 usually called in before the machi is, but if no cure is forthcoming, 

 the machi is invited to take over. A machitun had been performed 

 over 3 of 53 school children in Alepue area, A baby's first and subse- 

 quent baths are thought to insure good health. 



No Araucanian was known to have been born blind ; nor was a case 

 of blindness known to non-Araucanian herbalists except an Alepue 

 woman who lost the sight of an infected eye when she was 2 years 

 old. Wall-eyed children and adults were frequently seen in all areas. 

 Deafness is very rare ; no case of total deafness was known. 



