184 SMITHSONIAN MISCELLANEOUS COLLECTIONS VOL. I33 



propelled threshing machine, the grain must be cut with longer stalks. 

 A Cofiaripe man, five o£ his children, ranging from 4 to 21 years in 

 age, and a 76-year-old relative were observed harvesting a field 

 (February 23, 1947) which had been sown by the father and the rela- 

 tive for equal shares at harvest time. The grain was cut very early in 

 the day by the older persons. At about 10 o'clock, all seven persons 

 were in the field. All but the father collected the grain into piles ; each 

 tied his pile together with either a cord or a traruwe (woven belt) 

 and carried it to the oxcart, the small children and a 19-year-old girl 

 carrying their bundles on the head, the old relative and a 21 -year-old 

 girl, on the shoulder. Taller persons threw their bundles onto the ox- 

 cart; the father reached for those of the shorter ones (pi. 8, 3). The 

 father, by hand, carefully placed each bundle with ears toward the 

 middle of the oxcart, then untied the cord or traruwe and dropped it 

 on the ground to be used again. While waiting for bundles, he packed 

 the ones on the oxcart by stepping on the middle of the stalks. 



The father and the old relative took the load of grain to the thresh- 

 ing machine the following morning. After they had paid for the 

 threshing (payment had to be in grain ; money was not accepted) they 

 netted no kilograms over the 80 kilograms planted in the field. Both 

 men were depressed about the yield. They had observed that morning, 

 while waiting at the threshing machine, that three combined oxcart 

 loads from another valley in the Andes had produced more than 1,000 

 kilograms. Both men explained that the earth in Cofiaripe Valley had 

 only a thin layer of black topsoil, that one needed to dig down only a 

 very little distance to find the beginning of a great depth of pebbles of 

 volcanic origin. "The tillable soil of our valley is tired," one said. 

 "It will soon be difficult to raise even peas or beans in it." Since 

 threshing is no longer a communal affair in Cofiaripe, the traditional 

 festivity with a plentiful meal is no longer a part of the occasion. 



Potatoes are a staple Araucanian food. Every family plants a good- 

 sized patch of them. Where there are two sheepfolds, these are used 

 in alternate years for the planting. The entire family generally helps 

 with this operation. The man, or a son old enough to know how, plows 

 the soil, if the patch is located where this can be done, or spades it. 

 He, his wife, and older boys and girls then hoe the ground into hills, 

 in which the potatoes are planted. If no sheep corral is used, the 

 smaller children of the family scamper across the pastures and collect 

 cow and sheep manure and place some on each hill. Weeding during 

 the growing season is usually done by the man or an older son. 



A vegetable garden is an essential for every household. Vegetables 

 include soybeans, cabbage, lettuce, peas, beans, carrots, multiple 



