WHOLE VOL. ARAUCANIAN CHILD LIFE — HILGER 29I 



dealt with my children." A woman older than lOO years remembered 

 that she once sent one of her children, a little boy, to a neighbor with 

 a message which required an answer. He brought back an answer, but 

 later she discovered that he had made it up himself — he had not gone 

 to the neighbor. "I whipped him with a stick then for lying to me." 

 Children lie today. 



A child that stole was made to return the stolen object. This is done 

 today. "But children usually do not steal ; a small child does not know 

 any better, and an older one knows enough not to do so." "A child 

 so high [about 5 years old] that takes something most certainly is not 

 considered to be a thief, but a boy whose voice is beginning to change 

 or a grown-up man who steals is a thief. Girls and women did not 

 steal ; at least I have never heard of one that did." Nothing is done 

 to a child that pilfers food: "That is really not important; he is 

 probably hungry, and this is his home." 



Intoxicating drinks were not given to children as beverages un- 

 less parents wished to discover the personality that was being de- 

 veloped by an adolescent son, or one a little older, in which case 

 they might give him to excess an intoxicating drink known as chicha. 

 A few families were known to have done so to a son who was only 

 four years of age. If the boy, when completely drunk, grabbed a 

 bottle of chicha, everyone present knew that in his mature years he 

 would be a drunkard; if he lay down and slept, he would be a quiet 

 man; if he grabbed a lasso, he would do well with animals; if he ran 

 around and yelled, he would be an angry and jealous man ; if he tried 

 to fight, he would be a quarrelsome man. "I once saw such a boy 

 trying to fight with a tree." Parents will be frightened at their son's 

 conduct and worried at the thought of his future — "but they can do 

 nothing about it." Many persons were invited to witness the per- 

 formance. Each boy was tested separately. Girls were not so tested. 



Young men in their twenties were known to have drunk to intoxica- 

 tion but only with the express permission of the father or, in his 

 absence, the mother. "Some men asked permission when they were 

 30 years old. Today no one asks permission; today some begin to 

 drink at 12." Young women did not drink intoxicating beverages. 



CHUMS, MODESTY, PUBERTY RITES 



Chums were not institutional, but two girls of the same age group 

 in a neighborhood were known to be special friends ; sometimes they 

 remained lifelong friends. "I had a girl as a friend. We were about 

 14 years old, I believe, when we got to be friends ; we made fire to- 

 gether and played together like all girls do." 



