112 SMITHSONIAN MISCELLANEOUS COLLECTIONS VOL. I33 



certain that no boy or girl was thrown into cold water or made to run 

 races to do so, as you say some indigenas did." 



THE KALKU, THE MACHI 



Individuals are not only suspected of being kalku, but an occasional 

 one is openly accused of being one. However, no one has positive 

 proof that any particular person is a kalku. A kalku always does 

 harm ; never does he bring about a cure. He not only brings about 

 sickness and death, but also harms property (cf. pp. 154-156). He 

 works unbeknown to anyone but himself or his fellow kalku. He is 

 spoken of with disrespect, and it is hoped that vengeance will come 

 down upon his head. It is not known how kalku are trained in their 

 black art, "but I think there are old ones around here, and they teach 

 younger members in their own families." Kalku are of both sexes ; 

 so are machi. 



Being a machi is a profession. Machi women (pis. 29, i; 30, /) 

 who came under my observation (no machi men were seen) had an 

 air of self-confidence and self-importance ; they were decidedly differ- 

 ent in their demeanor from other women. During conversation there 

 were frequent gesticulations such as raising the hands to the level of 

 the face and bringing finger tips together — gestures also used during 

 the machitun. Other Araucanian women were calm and quiet when 

 talking. In general, when a machi arrived where a group had 

 gathered, as at a fiesta, the conduct of others become inhibited ; and 

 "no one ever talks about the machi for fear harm will come to him. 

 If a machi comes to a house, a good meal is prepared for him, or 

 her, and as much respect is shown him as though he were a Chilean 

 governor. A machi never does any work. It fills one with fear to 

 watch a machi in action." 



The profession of a machi is followed either of one's own volition, 

 or because parents urge it upon a child as its life's work, or, most 

 often, because of a compulsive dream. One machi had had a dream 

 in which he was near a waterfall. Here he was decorated with copihue, 

 a sign that he should be a machi ; and a certain song came to him — 

 one that he has since used. When he awakened, he announced that he 

 would make a machi of himself. A woman machi when young had 

 been told in a dream by a former machi to replace him, and then a 

 name came to her — "the kind of name that no one but a machi can 

 use." 



The following was told by an old man to a high-school student as 

 the dream that compelled her to become a machi : 



In my dream I saw two beings, sent by chau (God), descending from heaven 

 to earth. I did not know them, but I had no fear of them; they appeared to be 



