212 SMITHSONIAN MISCELLANEOUS COLLECTIONS VOL. I33 



lard. When sufficiently cooked, it came to the top and was removed 

 by the woman's sister with a spadelike wooden implement (rafwe). 



Butter and milk are not part of the Araucanian diet; there is not 

 even an Araucanian word for either — Spanish words are used when 

 speaking of them. Cheese, known by the Spanish word queso, is eaten 

 by many families today. The making of it was undoubtedly learned 

 from non-Araucanians. The evening preceding cheese making, cows 

 are corralled near the ruka so that they can be milked in the morning. 

 An Alepue woman took two pails of whole milk still slightly warm 

 (or if it had cooled, she heated it a little) and poured into it, as rennet, 

 the water she had drained off a fermented sheep stomach. The 

 stomach had been in water close to the fire, but not boiling, since the 

 morning of the previous day. In place of water whey is sometimes 

 used. "The stomach was one I had dried over the fire and stored." 

 The milk thickens as soon as rennet, whey, or water is poured into it. 

 After an hour the mixture is worked with the hands, and is then 

 poured into a sack, "like a flour sack," and hung to drain. By the time 

 the dripping ends, the cheese has formed. It is then washed in salted 

 lukewarm water or a mixture of salt and chili is worked into it to 

 one's liking. This done, it is again poured into a sack and pressed 

 between two boards. Heavy stones are used as weights. After two 

 days the cheese is removed from the sack and exposed to air and sun 

 so as to give all sides a thick covering. 



Fish and shellfish, according to Cooper's sources, formed part of 

 the Araucanian diet, along the Pacific in the early days ( 1946, p. 705) . 

 They are an important dietary element in Alepue and Boroa areas 

 today ; and to some degree fish, but no shellfish, are eaten in Pangui- 

 pulli and Cofiaripe areas, where they are taken from fresh waters of 

 Andean streams. Fish taken from the Pacific are the corbina 

 (koliikalen), the sierra (sawfish), and the robalo (haddock; kudwa). 

 A species of mackerel (kauki) is taken in Andean streams. 



Entrails of fish are removed by fishermen upon landing ; heads are 

 removed at home. In large hauls women assist with the cleaning. Fish 

 are either cooked in water seasoned with salt and chili, or are baked 

 or roasted. If baked or roasted, the lining of the visceral cavity is 

 rubbed with salt and chili. Baking is done directly on coals in the 

 fireplace — the fish are not rolled into leaves. Roasting is done by 

 hanging the fish over a fire from a leaning stick which has been poked 

 through the back of the fish. An oversupply of fish is sun-dried or 

 slightly smoked and eaten soon thereafter, cooked with salt and chili. 



Women on the Pacific coast prepare favorite shellfish dishes from 

 loko, macha, manihue, ariso, and piure. Loko are dropped into boiling 



