WHOLE VOL. ARAUCANIAN CHILD LIFE — HILGER I29 



The word kiiqa, my informants said, referred to lineage. Kiiija 

 persist in related family groups of the present day. According to non- 

 Araucanian teacliers all children claiming the same lineage will be on 

 the same side in the event of a quarrel. The same is true when a 

 quarrel arises among the people. A wake will be attended only by 

 persons of the lineage of the deceased. "I have asked children at 

 school why they were not attending a wake — maybe a neighbor had 

 died — and the answer is always *We do not belong to him ; we are not 

 related to him.' " 



The sororate was institutional but not obligatory, as previously 

 stated. However, a man was not to marry a sister of his wife who was 

 older than his wife. "These I call qillandomo ; those younger than my 

 wife, I call karum. I may marry all those called karum, but I may 

 not marry one called ijillandomo. I respect every qillandomo as if she 

 were my wife's mother. Formerly nearly every man that married 

 a second or third wife, married the sisters of his first wife; today 

 this is seldom done." 



The levirate, too, was institutional. Informants gave names of 

 couples so married at present. Reasons for the levirate were to keep 

 rights to land within the family, and also to provide care and protec- 

 tion for children. Quoting informants : "Recently a man in Calef quen 

 (near Cofiaripe) died and his brother married the widow." "Here in 

 Alepue three men were married that way within the last lo years. 

 Each man was more than 40 years old. Such marriages have very real 

 value, even today. An unmarried brother has an obligation to marry 

 his brother's widow ; he is often forced to do so by his parents because 

 they want their son's children cared for by someone who will be kind 

 to them. Then, too, the man's parents want to keep the property in 

 the family." "When my brother died," said a married man, "I took 

 his wife and his four children into my house with my own family. 

 Their oldest child was only four years old then. The people talked 

 about me : they said that I had taken a second wife ; they poked fun 

 at me, saying that I was now a cacique. But there is no truth in that, 

 for I have always respected my brother's wife. She has lived in our 

 home with her children, and I will let her continue to do so." 



Sometimes sons in their late teens object to their mother's marrying 

 their father's brother. In such cases, if the mother wishes to marry, 

 either the sons leave home or she does so and marries. It seems that 

 the man who marries his brother's widow must always be a brother 

 younger than the deceased husband, namely, one of those spoken of 

 as iinwe. "My brothers older than I are considered fathers by my 

 children." 



