WHOLE VOL. ARAUCANIAN CHILD LIFE — HILGER 297 



and passing the cup on to the next nearest person. Several cupfuls 

 may be passed successively in the same manner. Not infrequently the 

 bombilla is handed to the hostess v^'ho cleanses it by pouring boiling 

 water into it before it is passed to the next person for a draught. 



A place for an interview, on a sunny day, was prepared in the shade 

 of a tree away from winds ; on a rainy or cloudy day, we were im- 

 mediately conducted into the house. Lunch time approaching, we were 

 usually offered a bowl or basin of water and a clean towel (usually a 

 flour sack) for washing our hands. Generally the informant gave us 

 bread, cheese, or eggs to add to our lunch, children usually presenting 

 them to us. A portion of our lunch was always graciously accepted by 

 the informant. At the close of an interview we were often given 

 flowers, herbs, or vegetables from the family garden to take home 

 with us. Usually someone accompanied us to the next house, or, if we 

 were terminating our interviews for the day, some distance toward 

 home. 



PRIDE, INTELLIGENCE 



Pride is one of the predominating characteristics of the Arauca- 

 nians. Non-Araucanians pointed it out on many occasions. A non- 

 Araucanian man who had been born and reared among Araucanians 

 cautioned us to give weight to this trait : "These Indians are very 

 proud. They will be suspicious of you, since you are a non-Arauca- 

 nian, and will probably not tell you uncomplimentary things of them- 

 selves until they find that you will not laugh at them and their ways." 

 This was obviously true, for on several occasions an informant who 

 trusted us and with whom we were in good rapport related only 

 flattering things in a somewhat boastful manner about the Araucanians 

 when a stranger, a non-Araucanian, came within range of hearing. 

 Later the informant volunteered that he had told deliberate falsehoods, 

 explaining, "I had to say complimentary things about our people; I 

 could not make out who that woman was." 



A young woman prefaced her information regarding the traditional 

 way of making mudai with the remark, 'T am ashamed to tell you 

 that formerly our old women chewed corn and spat it into an olla and 

 drank this after it fermented." 



Kolupan arrived with a haughty air one day. With incensed pride 

 he demanded : "Why do you want to know things about me and my 

 people ? Why have you come from so far away to find them out ? You 

 had better ask the Argentines questions, too ; they are no better than 

 we are." When asked to perform the dance of the naming feast, he 

 retorted, "I am not only to tell you things, but now I am to dance 



