WHOLE VOL, ARAUCANIAN CHILD LIFE — HILGER 121 



the machi and the one who goes with him; the same is true when the machi is 

 first summoned, as I told you before. 



TREATMENT OF THE SICK BY HERBALISTS AND LAY PERSONS 



In addition to the machi, others that have knowledge regarding the 

 treatment of sickness are professional herbalists, midwives, and lay 

 persons. Administrations of health restoratives by them are per- 

 formed unceremonially. Lay persons generally know only household 

 remedies; herbalists and midwives have specialized remedies used 

 exclusively by them. Their medicinal knowledge is principally related 

 to the curative effects of herbs, roots, and barks. Non-Araucanians 

 spoke of professional herbalists as "useful herbalists," "wise herbal- 

 ists," and "good general practitioners." 



In all areas studied, herbalists were administering herbal decoctions, 

 poultices, and heat; in Panguipulli and Conaripe areas, vapor baths 

 and inhalations and bloodletting also. In no area was restoration of 

 health attempted by bloodcupping, sweating in a sweat lodge, tattoo- 

 ing, making physical personal sacrifices, or by a change of name. Sick 

 children were treated in the same manner as adults, except that de- 

 coctions for children were weaker or given in smaller doses. 



Health restorative knowledge has its origin in dreams. Once ac- 

 quired, however, it can be shared by willing persons with others, or 

 can be bought by them. Said one informant, "I had hiccoughed for 

 40 years. Then, one night in a dream my dead aunt told me to find 

 the plant chaiichafi. I found it, I squeezed the juice of it through a 

 cloth into water as cool as it came from the spring, and I drank it. 

 That ended my hiccoughs." In Alepue a man was bitten by a dog. 

 A non-Araucanian herbalist used all remedies she knew for dog bites 

 and swollen areas ; none effected any relief. "The man was writhing 

 in pain," she said. "Another Mapuche, our neighbor, said he knew 

 the cure ; that he had dreamed it. He wanted some hair of the dog 

 that had bitten the man. I combed the dog's fur and gave him a 

 handful of combings. He reduced the hair to ashes, and laid the 

 ashes on the wound. Soon the pain began to subside ; in three days 

 that vicious-looking wound began to heal. The man recovered com- 

 pletely. The hair, so the Mapuche said, had to be that of the dog 

 that had done the biting. His dream had told him that." 



The anatomy of the human body is not known. Location of pain 

 is usually designated by pointing to the place of the body where it is 

 felt. If organs are spoken of, heart and stomach are synonymous. 



Informants were not always willing to give information related to 

 the restoration of health. We found a mother in a ruka preparing an 



