268 SMITHSONIAN MISCELLANEOUS COLLECTIONS VOL. I33 



maqui; ^ if she had unusually prolonged pains or a difficult delivery, 

 she was given a decoction of kanchan I'awen (unidentified) and 

 frutilla. One woman had given her daughter (the informant) a 

 nauseating mixture of raw egg and a preparation of toronjil during a 

 difficult delivery. While the toronjil was being boiled in water, the 

 mother peeled the shell off one end of an egg, then poured the boiling 

 toronjil into the shell, and stirred it and the egg until they were well 

 mixed. The daughter drank the mixture directly from the shell. After 

 this the mother poked a tiny hole in one end of another egg and a 

 somewhat larger hole into the opposite end. "I had to blow into the 

 hole," said the daughter, "until I had blown the contents out of the 

 other hole. It took much force, but the baby came almost immediately 

 after I got that done." 



The woman kneels during delivery, bearing down either by clutch- 

 ing with both hands one of the upright poles that support the roof, 

 or by pulling at a rope that has been attached to a rafter. Births today 

 must be recorded, in accordance with Argentine law. 



PREMATURE BIRTHS, STILLBIRTHS 



Rarely did a premature birth occur. One child, born after a 7-month 

 pregnancy, "did not open its eyes for nearly four weeks, and it could 

 not suckle either ; it had to be fed with a spoon." 



Stillbirths were a rare event. During my interviews regret was ex- 

 pressed several times regarding two women who had had stillbirths at 

 a First Aid Station conducted by non-Araucanians. Both died while 

 there. "Had these women stayed home, their relatives could have 

 helped them and they might have Hved." The informant, 60 years old, 

 then told how a dead fetus was delivered: "If the mother of the 

 woman, or whoever is attending the woman, notices that the child is 

 not living — she will know this because the woman has been in labor 

 a long time and cannot deliver her baby — she waits a little while 

 longer, hoping the woman will, through her own efforts, give birth to 

 the child. When the woman is finally sick unto death, a broad band 

 is tied about her waist : this helps bring the child downward. Long 

 before this, of course, the sac has opened. The mother, or whoever is 

 helping the woman, reaches in with her hand and takes hold of the 

 baby's head or its hair, and pulls the baby from its position. After 

 she has the baby, she pulls at the cord, and in that way removes the 



^ Spanish names of plants are used throughout, unless it was impossible to 

 obtain them, in which case the Araucanian names are used. English names were 

 not obtained. Cf. Appendix B, Plants used by the Araucanians. 



