WHOLE VOL, ARAUCANIAN CHILD LIFE — HILGER 6/ 



structed gate in the fence of his neighbor. (A gate in a bridle path, 

 according to Chilean law, must be so constructed that a rider on 

 horseback need not dismount to open it.) The Araucanian replied, 

 "That family of Mapuche does not even know how to construct a 

 gate; it never did and never will. As to the law: they would not 

 comprehend it if they heard it!" 



There is pride in appearance, as previously stated. Also, men are 

 proud of their possessions: "Make sure that my three houses will 

 show on the picture" (kitchen house, sleeping house, and storage 

 place). 



During instructions by non-Araucanians in contact making and in 

 establishing rapport with Araucanians, I was warned not to speak of 

 or to Araucanians as "indios," but as "indigenas." "Indios" was a 

 term used by Spaniards during the period of attempted conquest and 

 is much disliked by Araucanians. 



A tit-for-tat attitude exists when pride is hurt. A man had not 

 been to the wake of his nephew. When chided by a non-Araucanian, 

 he retorted, "I am going after sundown this evening. When my boy 

 died last year, that family treated us the same way; they were not 

 present at his death and did not come to the wake until sundown the 

 following day." The non-Araucanian remarked, "I know of other 

 instances where hardly anyone attended a wake ; people were merely 

 getting even." 



Patience is one of the virtues of the Araucanians, especially of the 

 women. Complaints are seldom heard. "A man will leave home to 

 get flour, wheat, sugar, and yerba mate," said a non-Araucanian who 

 knew every home in the area, "just about the time the family's food 

 supply is depleted. He may be gone two weeks. Never will there be 

 a complaint from his wife regarding it, although she and the children 

 will have had little else to eat but meat." The 1947 harvest was poor 

 throughout the Araucanian country. On many occasions one heard 

 Araucanians expressing their disappointment or their worry about 

 the year's food supply, but always it ended with a remark of having 

 to adjust to it. "For two sacks of wheat that I sowed, I am harvesting- 

 only three. We shall have to adjust our living accordingly. After all 

 we have our health and are able to work and that is a great advantage." 

 In time of sickness mothers show infinite patience. "I have known 

 mothers to sit up with a sick person continuously two, three, or more 

 days and nights. Completely overcome by exhaustion, their heads nod, 

 but only a few minutes at a time," said a non-Araucanian herbalist. 



Obviously there are standards of modesty. Adults bathe some dis- 

 tance apart, a woman always keeping herself covered with a shawl 



