WHOLE VOL, ARAUCANIAN CHILD LIFE — HILGER I23 



Malva del monte, grows along the edges of ninning water. "If a person who is 

 indoors sweats, so that his head is damp, and then stands in a draft, he will 

 find that his ears close up, his eyes feel watery, and his head feels big. Well, 

 then he should squeeze the juice from the roots of the malva del monte onto 

 his scalp and face, and tie up his head. He may have to apply fresh juice 

 several times before his head feels better.' 



Nukin. The plant is heated, pounded, and put directly on a boil. 



Palqui, found near creeks. Burns are overlaid with its leaves. The juice of its 

 pounded stems and bark is taken orally for rash. 



Paiiil, collected on the beach of the Pacific Ocean. "It is used to produce vomit- 

 ing, when a wrong thing has been eaten." 



Parrilla, found in burnt-over woods. A decoction of its leaves is drunk for 

 dysentery ; a poultice of them is applied to swellings. 



Padwe, collected in dry wooded land. "Tie a twig on the bare skin where- 



ever the pain is. My sister had it tied on her back, and it helped." 



Pillopillo, found in swamps. Its pounded stems and leaves are put into a little 

 piece of cloth and laid upon an aching tooth. "It helped my little brother." 



Quilmay, found in the moist edges of brooks. Leaves and bark are pounded with 

 salt and the juice put into the cavity of an aching tooth; the juice without salt 

 is put into an aching ear. 



Quilquil, found in brooks. Its pounded leaves and stems are applied to burns. 

 The juice of its leaves and stems is taken orally for heart trouble. 



Romaza, found in swampy lands in deep ravines. Its leaf is placed directly on a 

 boil or any swelling; reduces either. 



■ Wilki kachu, found on dry land. Its decoction is drunk for dysentery. 



It is pounded with kernels of wheat into a poultice and applied to ulcers. 



Wadawe. A decoction of its leaves relieves a sick stomach; the juice of 



its leaves taken orally relieves arthritic pain in the hands. (The plant is also 

 used as a love charm. Cf. p. 137.) 



My inability to obtain Araucanian names for the following three 

 plants on the Coastal Range (only Spanish names were known to 

 informants) leads me to infer that their medicinal value was learned 

 from Chileans and is not part of the traditional Araucanian pharma- 

 cology. 



Huella, found on shores of running brooks. Water in which the bark of its 



twigs has lain for an hour is drunk to reduce fever. 

 Triaca, found in dry cut-over lands. The juice of its pounded leaves is taken 



orally to cause vomiting after eating to excess. 

 Yerba del chavalongo, found in moist soil. A decoction taken orally reduces 



fever. Its juice rubbed on the forehead relieves headaches. 



Two plants, not identified botanically, both found in damp ground 

 in ravines and low places in Alepiie area are the mawida (the juice 

 of its pounded roots is drunk for stomach trouble) and the piillallfill- 

 kuii (the informant would tell only that a lukewarm decoction of its 

 roots and leaves was taken orally). 



