WHOLE VOL. ARAUCANIAN CHILD LIFE — HILGER IQI 



sheep to comfort them, and made sure that our dogs were on the 

 alert," they said. 



Pumas were eaten only occasionally in former times; today they 

 are eaten whenever one is caught. Tigers and venow are no longer 

 seen in the areas ; deer, rarely. Tigers, venow, and rabbits were never 

 eaten, "Most certainly not rabbits ; they are like rats." Rabbits are 

 very destructive, and while I was in the area, several young men of 

 Alepue spent Sunday afternoons shooting them with a rifle owned by 

 one of the men. Occasionally young men trap skunks and sell their 

 hides to Chileans. 



Birds were caught to be eaten. They were enticed by seeds placed 

 under a bolstered-up, ladderlike framework, to which was attached 

 a cord held by the hunter. When the cord was pulled the stick holding 

 up the framework was released and the birds were either killed by 

 the fall of the framework or trapped, depending on their size. School- 

 girls in PanguipuUi caught wild birds in this manner. They trapped 

 pigeons at school by using a window screen, in place of the ladderlike 

 framework. Favorite birds caught by old men when they were boys 

 were the jilguero and the chanchito. These same men had taken birds 

 in simple noose snares of horsehair, using wild seeds as bait. 



According to Cooper's sources (1946, p. 7^5) > ^sh taken were 

 mullets, flatfish, porgies and silversides ; chief among the shellfish 

 were sea urchins, crustaceans, probably also marine crabs of several 

 species, bivalves, and ascidians or sea squirts. They were taken with 

 nets of bark, of chupon, and, later, of hemp ; with ponchos and baskets 

 which were baited and put under water ; with fykes of quila ; with line 

 and hooks of thorn, bone, or wood ; with spears, including a three- 

 pronged one; with clubs with studded heads; and with weirs of 

 branches. Small lagoons and still waters in streams were poisoned with 

 canelo. Hunting for whale was not reported. 



Alepue area men today fish in the Pacific for corbina (koliikalen), 

 sierras (sawfish), and robalo (kudwa). Several men together usually 

 build and own a fishing boat propelled by sails (pi. 41, /). On favor- 

 able days as many as 10 or more of these boats sail out into the waters 

 off the Alepue area coast. If the catch is small, families eat the fish 

 immediately; if large, the fish are sold either fresh, sun-dried (pi. 

 41, j), or slightly smoked over the fireplace. An oversupply is sun- 

 dried or smoked and consumed by the family within several days. 

 Woods that give the best flavor to smoked fish are huahuan, tineo 

 (unidentified), and olivillo. Ulmo is next best and is used when the 

 better woods are not available. 



Toward the end of the day, the wives of the fishermen can be seen 



