WHOLE VOL. ARAUCANIAN CHILD LIFE — HILGER 265 



SIZE OF FAMILIES 



Childless couples were exceptions. Children in families of in- 

 formants numbered 6 to 15, with boys predominating. An informant 

 in her sixties told of large families of former years. She herself had 

 given birth to 15 children. "There was always a baby on the way; 

 soon after one was born, the next one was on the way." An 80-year- 

 old woman had given birth to 15 children, all of whom reached ma- 

 turity ; 9 were living at the time of the present study. She added : 

 "One couple I knew had 20 children, 18 boys and 2 girls, and all lived. 

 That is the way it was formerly." 



PRENATAL PERIOD 

 PERIOD OF GESTATION 



As soon as a woman knew she was pregnant, she told her household 

 about it, and from then on counted the months (moons) toward the 

 birth of her child, which was expected in the ninth month. At three 

 months the woman would say, "It is the third moon," and from then 

 on considered the fetus a person, "like all other persons ; that meant 

 it had the spirit of a person. I do not know whether the child had a 

 soul by that time, or not ; no one can know that." 



Some believe there is a flying snake that dislikes pregnant women, 

 for "it flies about such a woman and whips her with its tail ; it has 

 never done so to me, but people say it happens." 



Talking of pregnancy will not cause a woman to become pregnant, 

 a belief hdd by the Arapaho (Hilger, 1952, pp. xii-xiii) ; but persons 

 speaking of babies can expect someone in the kinship group to brmg 

 them a child to be reared, generally a grandchild. 



SEX PREFERENCE 



In all probability there was, in general, no sex preference. Some 

 informants, however, spoke of preferences. A 60-year-old woman 

 believed that formerly boys were preferred to girls ; "or why were 

 we always so glad when it was a boy that was born ; people acted as if 

 they were very happy about it. One can observe the same today. ' 

 A 70-year-old man thought it made no difference ; that boys and girls 

 were equally welcome; the thing of importance was that the child 

 came into the world and that the mother did not take sick. An 80- 

 year-old woman would say, "Something is coming; we shall wait to 

 see what it is." But she preferred girls, since a daughter helps her 

 mother and is more of a companion to her than a son. A Trumpul 



