WHOLE VOL. ARAUCANIAN CHILD LIFE — HILGER 23 1 



day, and let it settle. The liquid was then poured off into the boiling 

 dye from which she had removed the skeins. At this point she said 

 that there would be an offensive odor soon, because of the putrid 

 urine, and that maybe we would like to leave the ruka. When the 

 kettle was again boiling she returned the skeins to it and let all boil 

 for a while, after which she squeezed a handful of yarn free of liquid 

 and examined the color. After another lo minutes she removed the 

 skeins, and sent her daughter to hang them on a fence to dry. The 

 teen-age daughter had assisted her all during the dyeing. "That is 

 the way she learns ; that is how I learned — by helping my mother dye." 

 The same informant set commercial dyes by boiling the dyed yarn in 

 water in which commercial alum had been dissolved. I did not see any 

 tie-dyeing, noted by Cooper and described by his sources (1946, 



p. 717)-^ 



Weaving is done by women and older girls (pis. 57, 2 ; 59) . School 

 girls younger than 15 years had not done any weaving. Articles 

 woven today for use of men and boys are ponchos (makufi) and belts 

 (chamallwe) ; for women and older girls, dresses (kapam), shawls 

 (ikiilla), belts (trariiwe), and headbands (trarulorjko) ; for household 

 use and for sale, blankets, lama, and choapino. Lama and choapino 

 are used by Araucanians as throws for stools and benches, and as 

 saddle covers. Chileans use them as throws and rugs. 



Before setting up the loom, measurements of the article to be woven 

 are determined and the loom adjusted to them. Measurements for 

 clothing, as previously stated, are taken on the person who is to wear 

 them. Generally, pieces of yarn serve as measuring tape; knots are 

 made where measures end. "I made a poncho for him recently. I 

 took these two measurements." The woman indicated two lengths — 

 one from his neck to halfway between his waist line and knees, and 

 the other from his neck to his thumb with his arm outstretched. The 

 measurements for a blanket are taken from one already made, unless 

 one is being woven for a specific person, in which case the length will 

 depend on the height of that person. Measurements of lama and 

 choapino depend on the use that is to be made of them. A woman 

 will say, "I am going to make this choapino so wide and so long 

 [indicating the dimensions with hand stretches] ; the storekeeper 

 wants two of that size." 



Weaving is done on a rectangular adjustable frame called a clou. The 

 frame is made by tying two horizontal beams (kalo) — oblong pieces 

 of wood planed down on all sides — to two upright poles (witralwitral) 

 made of two saplings trimmed of twigs and bark. Shuttles (yiwiille) 

 are either short, straight pieces of wood or stout twigs, or more often 



