250 SMITHSONIAN MISCELLANEOUS COLLECTIONS VOL. 1 33 



father in agreement with him, an elopement follows. Occasionally a 

 woman was, and is today, forced into marriage entirely against her 

 will. If an unmarried girl becomes pregnant, she will nearly always 

 go to the home of the man who is the father of her child. She may or 

 may not be accepted there. Today a civil marriage is performed pre- 

 ceding a religious one in accordance with Chilean law. Many today 

 marry without a ceremony of any kind. Love charms are known but 

 are seldom used today; it is doubtful that they were ever used 

 extensively. 



Formal divorce is not a custom ; separation by agreement is, but 

 it is rare ; desertions occur more often. In either case children are 

 taken care of. Infidelity on the wife's part was rare, but a husband 

 was justified in whipping or dismissing a wife who had been or was 

 suspected of having been unfaithful. Such a woman's face was not 

 disfigured, but in Panguipulli area the husband was known to have 

 cut the hair off one side of an unfaithful wife's head. 



According to Conaripe informants mother-in-law-son-in-law taboos 

 are institutional ; so are father-in-law-daughter-in-law taboos, but to 

 a lesser degree. Alepue and PanguipulH area informants insisted that 

 neither ever existed. Joking relationships were probably not conven- 

 tional. 



Religion and supernatural powers. — The Supreme Being, the only 

 deity, is spoken of as the creator of the world, or master of the land, 

 or ruler of the earth, and as the ruler of the world, or lord of all 

 creation, or master or ruler of men. According to Cooper's sources, 

 the Supreme Being did not concern Himself with the moral order; 

 nor did the state of souls in the future life depend on reward or 

 punishment meted out by Him. 



The appearance or essence of the Supreme Being had not been given 

 much thought. He had with Him in His abode a woman, and these 

 two had sons and daughters. The location of the abode was not 

 known. The Supreme Being was prayed to either directly, or through 

 the woman or the deceased leaders of the tribal religious ceremonial, 

 or the deceased machi. 



Private prayer, often accompanied by small sacrificial offerings, 

 was not uncommon. Belief in a guardian spirit is not part of the 

 Araucanian culture. Belief in personal power of supernatural origin, 

 however, is. The belief in malignant spirits is pre-Christian. The 

 belief in a place of punishment for wrongdoing is of recent origin. 



The tribal religious ceremonial — a celebration with sacrificial offer- 

 ings and prayers lasting several days — was formerly held several 

 times each year ; more recently, only once a year, or when the need 



