WHOLE VOL. ARAUCANIAN CHILD LIFE — HILGER 183 



Anyone hired to help is paid in either Chilean money or in wheat. 

 For cutting a darea, a hired man was being paid 30 pesos (one U.S. 

 dollar) in 1946, or 3^ almuds of wheat — a standard almud (a box 

 used in measuring) holds approximately 7 to 8 kilograms, or 0.8 of 

 a liter. "We have no Mapuche word for almud ; this manner of pay- 

 ing we learned from the Chileans." 



Most wheat today is threshed in the traditional way, by being 

 tramped upon (kailfilkau) either by human beings, or by horses on 

 hard ground. Children aged 9 and 10 were permitted to help tramp. 

 Tramping is done to the rhythm of one of several songs. An in- 

 formant demonstrated by shuffling his feet two steps forward and 

 three steps backward, and then taking a long step forward to get off 

 the ears he had just been stepping on, and onto the others, and singing, 

 "Beat, my feet! You and the jilguero (bird) break these ribs." He 

 added, "The jilguero walks like I showed you the men that are thresh- 

 ing do ; that bird does not hop." 



In Alepue area, threshing is still done in the traditional communal 

 way in which neighbors assist one another. Each family brings its 

 loads of grain by oxcart to the customary place, usually on a knoll. 

 Here is the lila, a circular area enclosed by a fence (pi. 35, 5), where 

 the threshing is done by horses. Connected with the lila there is 

 usually another fenced-in area in which the horses are rested. Thresh- 

 ing is done in the following manner : The wheat is laid with heads of 

 grain toward the center, and horses — as many as 12 — are then 

 brought in from the adjoining enclosure. One is ridden by a man who 

 drives the horses round and round, keeping them close to the fence. 

 "He must not let them trample on the heads of the grain for fear of 

 crushing the kernels." Then abruptly he swings the horse he is riding 

 about-face and drives all the other horses in the opposite direction. 

 He repeats this procedure several times and then drives the horses 

 back into their enclosure, as they cannot stand this mauling around 

 too long. While the horses are resting — they may be given four such 

 rest periods in a day — the men sweep the kernels together with 

 branches of brush or shrubbery, "like we use to sweep at home." 

 Handfuls of the kernels are then thrown into the air to let the wind 

 remove the chaff. The chaff-free kernels are taken home and stored 

 in the ruka — today in cloth sacks, formerly in sacks made of hide. 

 Before the wheat is used as food, it is again winnowed. Each family 

 takes its turn at the lila. When the threshing is finished, all families 

 participate in the traditional abundant meal, including an oversupply 

 of chicha. 



In Coharipe area, where threshing is done by Chileans with a steam- 



