172 SMITHSONIAN MISCELLANEOUS COLLECTIONS VOL. I33 



women attended. The meeting was held in the shade of a grove of 

 tall trees near the cacique's ruka and lasted three hours. All men might 

 have expressed an opinion — only seven did so ; all talking was done in 

 Araucanian. Quoting the cacique : "Some of the land under discussion 

 is already being occupied and is being tilled; some is still heavily 

 wooded. Much of the land is on the Cerro Trailehueno, just to the 

 right of the Volcano Villarrica. [ He sketched the location : a valley 

 in the Andes within the shadow of the Volcano Villarrica.] The total 

 land involved is about 5,000 hectar [12,000 acres]. All the families 

 can now think the matter over until March 15 — we decided to hold 

 the next meeting on that day. We hope on that day to agree on the 

 manner of dividing it. When we have agreed, our decision must be 

 sent to the Chilean office in Pitrufquen and from there it will be sent 

 to the Ministerio de Tierra in Santiago. I know that the land that I 

 now cultivate here in Coiiaripe is too small to be divided among my 

 six children [pi. 20, 2], so that each can live off it when married; I 

 intend to ask for a piece on the Cerro. Others have expressed the 

 same convictions about their land and families. In the Chilean census 

 of 1940, we were approximately 400 Mapuche souls in Cofiaripe — 

 among ourselves we reckon by families : we were 190 fathers of 

 families then." 



If the authority of a cacique is not respected by the people, or if 

 the Chilean Government has not recognized the cacique as represent- 

 ing his people, an outstanding Araucanian may take over when a need 

 arises, especially in dealing with the Chilean Government. "A year 

 or so ago, we had a meeting at which we decided to petition the Chilean 

 Government for a road. One of our best men, not the cacique, wrote 

 out a petition, and others signed it. (Our cacique is a man of limited 

 experience and deals with the people only at the qillatun.) Then two 

 men, well able to speak, took the petition to the civil authorities in San 

 Jose [de Mariquina]." 



Occasions have arisen at which the Chilean Government appointed 

 an Araucanian other than the cacique to act as liaison. "Several years 

 ago when many of the Mapuche here in Coiiaripe, including the 

 cacique, spoke no Spanish, the Chilean authorities asked that a Ma- 

 puche with whom they could deal be placed in authority here (land 

 problems were being discussed). The civil authorities in Lanco ap- 

 pointed my husband. He had spent 8 years in the Mission school in 

 PanguipuUi and one year in a school in Valdivia. Everyone respected 

 his judgment; his judgment is still highly respected by all today." 



A cacique had no emblem of power. He was easily distinguishable, 

 however, in any gathering by a stone, called an iil'me kura (iil'me, 



