124 SMITHSONIAN MISCELLANEOUS COLLECTIONS VOL. I33 



Plants used for medicinal purposes in the valleys o£ the Andes 

 (PanguipuUi and Conaripe) were: 



Arrayan. The juice of its leaves is applied to sore or injured eyes. 



Canelo. Its leaves are heated, salt pounded into them, and then laid on a boil to 



bring it to a head. 



Chanchan, found in swampy ground. "I cured my hiccoughs with it." 



Helecho grande. A decoction made of it reduces severe fever. "It is especially 



good for children ; no harm can come to them from drinking it." 



Karakuii. Its fumes are inhaled by both children and adults after a severe 



chill. The person is seated on a low bench and near him is set a dish with 

 several hot stones on which leaves of karakuu have been placed. He is given 

 a mixture of water and urine in a cup, stoops over the heated stones, and then 

 he and the dish are completely covered with a blanket. He pours the urine 

 and water over the leaves and breathes deeply. Should he feel faint or find it 

 difficult to breathe, "he is allowed to bring his nose and mouth from under the 

 cover, but not his body." 



Maniu. Its inner bark and leaves are boiled to a condensed solution and 



gums and teeth are washed with it. It is believed that maniu hardens the gums 

 and maintains them in sound condition. "I washed the teeth and gums of all 

 my children with it, and none of them has lost a tooth." 



Ortiga menor. A decoction made of it is taken for heart ailments. A prepara- 

 tion of its roots mixed with culen, also known as albaquilla, is taken orally 

 for typhoid. "When my four boys had typhoid, I gave them a decoction of 

 these two plants ; they were very sick. All got well, but one lost all his hair ; 

 for a time he was completely bald." 



Palo negro. Its ashes are laid on itch or rash. 



Sauco del diablo, found on shores of rivers. Today a decoction of it is taken to 

 relieve a sick stomach, "I believe, formerly, fumes were made of it. I once 

 saw an herbalist put hot stones into a wooden dish and place the dish near a 

 sick person [indicated near feet, with knees in flexed position]. Then she 

 covered the dish and the sick person, except the head, with a blanket. She 

 raised the blanket a little and put some herbs, I believe trarumanall, on the 

 hot stones." 



Toronjil. A decoction of it and culen reduces fever. "It is very refreshing, and 

 is cooling to the heart." (Informants knew no Araucanian name for toronjil.) 



MENTAL ILLNESS 



Psychoses among the Araucanians are very rare. It is believed, as 

 noted earlier, that kalku and certain machi have power to bring mental 

 illness upon individuals. A teacher explained to a boy, who claimed 

 the spirit of sickness had been put into his sister by a machi, that his 

 sister had died of pneumonia ; that instead of coming to school she 

 had spent the school hours outdoors in the rain for a week. "I 

 admit that she did that," agreed the boy, "but that boy's family [point- 

 ing at a boy] hired a kalku to make her crazy — she stayed out in the 

 rain because she was crazy." In the early days insanity is known to 

 have resulted from starvation. 



