WHOLE VOL. ARAUCANIAN CHILD LIFE — HILGER lOI 



GAMES 



During recesses at school and at fiestas children engaged in group 

 playing. Small boys and girls together played a game of tag they call 

 cholo (mixed-blood). The "it" tags a child and calls "cholo." Then 

 the cholo is "it." Older girls played tag, also, designating a tree as 

 a goal of safety — anyone touching the tree could not be tagged. 



Girls 14 to 16 years of age tossed from one to the other (anticlock- 

 wise) while sitting on the lawn, a handkerchief into which several 

 knots had been tied. Other girls of the same age were often seen 

 sitting in groups in the sun, chatting. 



The favorite pastime of boys 11 to 15 years of age was spinning 

 tops (pi. 16, 2 and 5). Every boy owned a top and the cord with 

 which he spun it — in all probability he had made both, A 12-year-old 

 boy demonstrated the making of a top (pis. 13-15). He whittled with 

 a knife, then chopped down all sides of a 2|-inch cube of luma in 

 line with the grain. *T like luma best," he remarked, "because it is 

 hard wood." All cutting was done away from the body. When the 

 cube showed the shape of a top, he filed it down on a steel file which 

 he supported between his chest and some wires on a post. This done, 

 he inspected the surface for places that would give the top imbalance 

 and then filed these down. He hammered a shingle nail into the point 

 of the tip and filed off its head to a dull point. He now wound a cord 

 (anticlockwise) about the surface of the top, from the point upward, 

 released the top, and it spun. "Bueno ! Bueno !" all boys, nonpartici- 

 pant observers in the making of the top, called out. Smaller boys had 

 watched intently every step in the making, and had been helpful in 

 handing implements needed. It took 45 minutes to make the top. The 

 same boy demonstrated the making of a cord (pi. 16, i). He and a 

 schoolmate each held the end of a cord taut between them as they 

 stood some distance apart. They then twisted the cord, each one in 

 the opposite direction from the other. When sufficiently twisted, 

 ends were brought together and the cord allowed to twirl itself. Cords 

 released when flour sacks are ripped were favored by boys for making 

 top cords. No boy had used plant fibers in making cords. "But do 

 not use fiocha, if you use any ; it is too coarse and rough." 



When playing with tops a boy may spin his on the ground, or he 

 may slide his hand under it while it spins and let it continue to spin 

 in the palm of his hand. One top, after spinning 15 seconds on the 

 ground, spun another 30 seconds in the hand. Often boys play a 

 competitive game, the goal being to see whose top will spin longest. 

 Seven boys competed one day ; the winning top spun 50 seconds. 



