WHOLE VOL. ARAUCANIAN CHILD LIFE — HILGER I07 



brothers and sisters build little ruka together and play house in them 

 while they tend the family's sheep or pigs, keeping them out of grain 

 fields. If the herding is done close to another ruka, the children of 

 that ruka join in the house playing." Little girls also build little ruka 

 at home and play house in them. 



During a noon hour schoolgirls lo and 13 years of age played going 

 on a visit. Three groups, three, four, and five girls, respectively, each 

 prepared a habitation by clearing a place of grass and stones between 

 two pine trees that stood in a row on the playground. Next, the girls 

 scampered around to get material for their fireplaces — handfuls of 

 dry grass, chips off fence posts, and little pieces of wood that lay 

 around. "This is just like our fireplace at home," remarked one of 

 the girls. She had laid the grass in the center of the cleared space, 

 the chips on top of the grass, and then the pieces of wood in the 

 position of spokes on a wheel on top of the chips. They then collected 

 large mushrooms that grew under the pine trees. "This is our bread." 

 All was ready now. Three small girls, who had been told to while 

 away time at a distance, were invited to come in for a visit. Each 

 group had a visitor then. "They are our visitors; we are playing 

 visiting." 



In general, children are fond of animals and treat them kindly. If 

 a child has a pet, it is usually a chick or a kitten ; less often a lamb. 

 Dogs are not pets, not even of older boys — older boys favor a horse. 

 In fact, neither children nor adults like dogs to be near them ; a dog 

 is shooed away with a "hstch" sound. A child is often seen making 

 a pretense of throwing a stick or stone at a dog to keep it from coming 

 nearer. When the dog stops barking or moves on, the child drops 

 whatever it has and continues on its way. Older children or adults 

 sometimes actually throw a stick or stone toward a dog to end its 

 barking, but never aim it at the dog. In reality, everyone is kind to 

 dogs. "We do not hit or kick a dog; a dog is man's protector. He 

 protects the ruka and whatever is near it, such as sheep. He protects 

 sheep from pumas too; pumas like to sneak into sheep corrals at 

 night." A man going any distance on foot will take one or two dogs 

 with him as a protection against pumas. To make a dog's bark sound 

 ferocious, a pinch of chili is put into his food daily. Very rarely is a 

 wild animal tamed and enjoyed as a pet; rabbits definitely never, as 

 they are classed with rats ; "not even their meat is eaten." 



Schoolchildren aged 10 to 15 listed animals that talked either to 

 them or to other animals, as dogs, cats, hens, roosters, chicks, turkey 

 gobblers, young turkeys, geese, horses, foals, cows, sheep, and par- 

 tridges. No child, however, knew what any of these animals said. Other 

 animals that talked, but only to animals of their own kind, were turkey 



