WHOLE VOL. ARAUCANIAN CHILD LIFE — HILGER 237 



above the fire but close enough to be affected by its warmth. After 

 two weeks it is set at the edge of the fire and left there for several 

 days, "until the feel of my hands tells me it is ready to be set directly 

 on the fire," After several hours on the fire, it is ready to be used 

 for cooking purposes. A cantaro is made in the same manner as an 

 olla, except for its shape. Since a cantaro is not used for cooking, the 

 firing process ends after it has been hardened at the edge of the fire. 



The two cantaros shown on the bench in plate 45, i, were being 

 used for carrying and storing water. The one to the left is 7 inches 

 deep; the one to the right, 9 inches; both are 3 inches wide at the 

 opening. The little "tail" on the one at the left facilitates pouring. 



All the pottery I saw was undecorated. Most of it was black, 

 though some was brown ; and several cantaros in Alepue area were of 

 a reddish color, produced by smearing a coating of red clay over the 

 pottery. In Panguipulli and Alepue areas pottery "of a different color 

 than that made by the Mapuche" is sometimes turned up when plow- 

 ing. Such pottery is spoken of as traiki ; that made by the Araucanians 

 themselves, as wishiin. Felix Jose records (1916, vol. i, p. 223) traiki 

 as probably having been the work of Spaniards. 



SILVERSMITHING 



Specialists formerly knew the art of silversmithing — an art, it 

 appears, now lost. "I know it was done by hammering silver nuggets 

 or silver coins, but that is all I have heard anyone else say about it, 

 also," said a 70-year-old Panguipulli man. "If we want any silver 

 ornaments, we buy them from Chileans. It is said that these Chileans 

 traded them in when Mapuche needed flour or clothing. I know that 

 some of these Chileans robbed old Mapuche graves to get them." An 

 Alepue man had heard it said that occasionally a man had all the 

 silver trimmings of his horse's harness melted down and had silver 

 ornaments made for his wife. In Alepue area today a Chilean makes 

 creditable copies of old ornaments. "This stickpin was made by him ; 

 he made it to resemble one my mother uses." A 12-year-old school- 

 girl wore earrings made by him, "like the ones women formerly wore, 

 my grandmother told me." 



SUMMARY 



This account is based almost entirely on data collected by the writer 

 and a field assistant in 1946-47 during personal interviews with 79 

 Araucanians in areas around Alepue, Panguipulli, Conaripe, and 

 Boroa in the provinces of Cautin and Valdivia in Chile. 



The literature calls these people Araucanians ; they call themselves 



