254 SMITHSONIAN MISCELLANEOUS COLLECTIONS VOL, I33 



dietary element. Today Alepue and Boroa men fish in the Pacific; 

 Panguipulli and Conaripe men, in Andean streams. Women along 

 the Pacific collect shellfish. 



Formerly the llama served as a pack animal ; today the horse is used. 

 Light loads are often carried by persons on or under the arms, and in 

 baskets or netted bags on the back or head, or by hand. Heavy loads 

 are hauled in carts or dragged by oxen. Oxcarts are made of wood ; 

 an occasional one has wagon wheels. 



Short distances, today, are traveled on foot over well-trodden paths ; 

 longer distances are covered on horseback. All horseback riders sit 

 astride in saddles constructed for riding up and down steep grades. 



The traditional water crafts — the plank boat, dugout, and balsa — 

 were in use during the present study. Generally, however, rivers are 

 forded on foot, horseback, or oxcart. Occasionally one or several 

 logs serve as a footbridge over a creek or narrow stream. Bridges 

 built by Chileans are also used. 



In general, only men travel to Chilean trading centers ; women and 

 girls seldom go there. Often a son accompanies his father. 



In all areas today, articles are bartered and borrowed, as in times 

 past. Araucanians had no currency formerly; today Chilean money 

 is used to purchase necessities not produced. Such money is obtained 

 by selling to Chileans such things as domesticated animals, seafoods, 

 woven products, felled trees, wheat (when the harvest has been abun- 

 dant) , or by working as hired help. Money is borrowed by mortgaging 

 land, oxen, or cattle. 



Food, shelter, clothing. — Foods are eaten uncooked, boiled, roasted, 

 baked, smoked, and dried. Cooking is done today, as formerly, over 

 a fire in a shallow pit in the ruka or, weather permitting, outdoors. 

 Firewood that gives off a minimum of smoke is favored. Cooking 

 kettles are hung from a raft, which is either suspended over the fire- 

 place from rafters or is supported there on poles planted in the 

 ground. Implements used in the preparation and consumption of food 

 are traditional ones of wood, stone, earth, animal parts, and plant 

 fibers, and commercially obtained ones of enamel, porcelain, zinc, 

 iron, and copper. 



Wild plants, today as formerly, form a substantial part of the Arau- 

 canian diet. Wild honey is often collected and used to sweeten foods. 



Wheat, a basic food, is prepared in traditional dishes; so are po- 

 tatoes, another important food. Beef, mutton, lamb, pork, chicken, 

 and, occasionally, wild birds and puma are roasted or are cooked with 

 vegetables or wild plants to make thick soups or stews. Three favorite 

 dishes of sheep or lamb are spiced lung; coagulated blood, well sea- 



