WHOLE VOL. ARAUCANIAN CHILD LIFE — HILGER 217 



or ruka. "There are, however," the informant added, "still many that 

 cook, work, and sleep in a one-room ruka ; much depends on the size 

 of the family." 



Cooper's sources recorded that as many as 80 to 90 persons 

 lived in a single ruka; 30 to 40 was a more common number. 

 Dimensions of ruka varied from 16 to 20 feet in length by 10 to 

 13 feet in width, to 66 feet in length by 33 feet in width; an 

 occasional one was longer. A cacique's ruka was estimated by one 

 source to have been approximately 140 feet long and 30 feet wide, 

 with a ridge pole 15 feet aboveground. In Cautin, ruka were 400 to 

 800 feet square. Most ruka, however, had only one or two entrances, 

 with no doors or windows. An opening (or openings) in the center 

 of the roof served as a smoke hole (something my informants 

 doubted). Small conical thatched ruka were also used, according to 

 Cooper's sources. Warriors made temporary shelters against rain 

 and hot sun by arching four sticks and laying over these four large 

 leaves of nalca. The interior of the larger ruka was usually divided 

 into compartments or alcoves opening off the central section, and 

 served as sleeping quarters for the different families or for the wives 

 of one man. Ordinarily there was a separate fireplace provided for 

 each married couple or wife. Storage space was in lofts or in cane- 

 partitioned bins (1946, pp. 7^7-7^^)- 



Today the size of a ruka depends on the wishes and needs of the 

 owner. A wima (the distance from chest to fingers of an outstretched 

 arm) is the unit of measurement. "When I used to help to build 

 ruka," said a 100-year-old Conaripe man, "we measured off so many 

 wima on yarn for the length, so many for the width, and so many for 

 the height, and then set out to build the ruka accordingly. An Alepue 

 man in his forties said : "Today a measuring pole of one vara [2.8 

 feet] is used. Standard length of rafters is 4^ vara; the height of 

 walls, always greater than 3^ vara ; the width and length of the ground 

 plan depends on the size of the ruka that the man wants to build." 



Regarding the ruka of a man with several wives, a 33-year-old 

 Cofiaripe man told that his grandfather had one large ruka for his 

 two wives ; that men with more than one wife today have a ruka for 

 each wife. "A young man near here who has two wives has a ruka 

 for each ; the two ruka are about a 5-minutes' walk apart. An old man 

 here has one of his two wives living across the river and the other in 



Lliuco." 



Ruka have no windows ; usually each has two entrances, located m 

 walls away from prevailing winds— in opposite walls, sometimes m 

 adjoining ones. Doors are upright planks that are generally tied 



