WHOLE VOL. ARAUCANIAN CHILD LIFE — HILGER 135 



proper thing to do to a sister ; brothers should protect a sister. They 

 replied that the matter was all arranged, that she had been promised 

 in marriage, and that she had nothing to say about it. I saw one of 

 them push the girl into the ruka. Their relatives told me later that the 

 girl was whipped after I left. A few days later we heard that the man 

 had come and taken her away. I met the girl a few weeks ago, and 

 she told me that she has suffered much, but that she is more contented 

 now. She has four little boys." 



Present-day marriages rarely follow the proper traditional pattern. 

 If arrangements are made between the parents of a couple, "the young 

 man usually pays for his wife with an ox or a horse"; but today a 

 young man often does not have the means to pay the bride price, or 

 he sees no necessity for doing so. Not infrequently his father agrees 

 with him in this. So, a marriage is discussed secretly by the man and 

 the woman. Usually the man's parents know about their son's plans, 

 but the woman's parents do not. When an agreement has been reached 

 between the man and the woman, the woman leaves her home for the 

 man's home at night, unbeknown to her parents. Her parents generally 

 resent this procedure. If they have not been asked about the bride 

 price and no arrangement has been made regarding it, they will be 

 angry and will not allow the girl's personal things and her animals 

 to be transferred to the man's place. They will insist that the bride 

 price be paid. In due time, then, but often not until after the birth 

 of the first child, the man will pay the bride price, and then the 

 woman's parents relent, and will send the woman's belongings and 

 property to her, and will also invite her and her husband for a visit. 



A non-Araucanian teacher related the following regarding present- 

 day marriages : "Any marriage that is not an elopement, at the present 

 time, is an exception. Here is a sample : Two weeks ago, the children 

 in school seemed very depressed. I asked several of them if some- 

 thing had happened, and each time the answer was 'No; nothing.' 

 Later I noticed that two of the older girls who were dusting a hallway 

 and room together did so in silence, an unusual thing. When they 

 had finished, they walked outdoors and sat on a woodpile, again in 

 silence. I walked up to them, and asked, 'What has happened ? Why 

 is the entire school so silent and depressed? Why does no one tell 

 me?' One of them then wept loud, while the other told me that they 

 had both had a sister stolen by a lover the night before; that they 

 had both slept with their sisters and that neither one had noticed the 

 sister leave the bed or go away ; their absence was noticed only in the 

 morning when everybody got up. Neither girl had spoken to her 

 parents about marrying, and consequently their parents felt very 



