WHOLE VOL. ARAUCANIAN CHILD LIFE — HILGER 45 



should. In the absence of men, women were quite talkative and 

 intelligently so. 



Men were seen showing consideration for their wives and being 

 helpful when needed. For instance, a man was seen doing such things 

 as tightening the saddle for her when she was mounted on her horse ; 

 handing her baskets or sacks which she was about to transport on 

 horseback; holding a baby or taking turns carrying it when walking 

 distances ; arranging her silver hair ornaments before she was photo- 

 graphed ; fetching things for her while she was preparing food at 

 fiestas ; building a fire for roasting meat or heating water for yerba 

 mate. Men made the arrangements to have a wife photographed "in 

 her old Mapuche ornaments; she has nice ones you know." A non- 

 Araucanian herbalist observed, "I have been in homes where a sick 

 wife was treated to yerba mate by her husband and where he prepared 

 the meal for the family." 



The impression that the literature gives, that the Araucanian women 

 were slaves to the men, was not substantiated by observations made 

 during the present study. Neither did Araucanian women nor non- 

 Araucanian informants consider it to be the truth. 



Conflicts between husband and wife to the point of quarreling, or 

 worse, occur but are rare, as in former times. Current cases were 

 discussed in each area, but each case was cited as an exception. Quot- 

 ing two Alepue informants : "Our neighbor and his wife had a serious 

 quarrel every few weeks for several years until a woman in their 

 neighborhood was finally married ; the wife accused her husband of 

 having affection for this woman. Whenever she accused him of this, 

 he whipped her with a lasso. Often her back had wales from the 

 beatings. One time her husband pulled her out of the ruka by her 

 hair. The wife came to us to complain ; she pointed toward the other 

 woman's ruka and yelled, 'There she lives, that devil !' The husband 

 came to explain that he had merely talked to the woman." "One 

 married couple here is known to quarrel much — something that is 

 not a Mapuche custom. The wife tries to give orders that the husband 

 thinks he should give ; that is why they quarrel. I was there once, 

 when a quarrel was on, and I told them that they were acting like 

 Chileans ; that such conduct was not customary among the Mapuche, 

 and that ended it — at least for then." 



Parents are fond of their children. One mother sat by, holding 

 their 2-year-old baby in her lap, while her husband gave information. 

 She cuddled the child, stroked its hair, repeatedly looked fondly at it, 

 and gave it a prolonged kiss saying, "Ellaken !" — the equivalent of 

 "You sweet thing ! I could eat you up !" A father, too, was often seen 



