298 SMITHSONIAN MISCELLANEOUS COLLECTIONS VOL. I33 



for you, too ! And then you will write a book, and make money, and 

 I will get none of it ! That is what they are telling me you will do. 

 And now I should show you how we danced?" He waited for no 

 answers but got busy clearing a space for himself and danced. Since 

 he did not do very well, because of his age, he refused the pesos 

 offered him for his performance. "I will take no money ; but you can 

 get the doctor to clean out my ears — I have difficulty understanding 

 people." He looked at pictures of Chippewa, Blackfoot, and Navajo 

 and remarked, "So these are the Mapuche in North America. Are 

 they Christians? Are they intelligent people?" His temper could be 

 expected to rise at any indication that the information that he was 

 giving might be slightly incorrect. At no time did he hesitate to dis- 

 agree with the interpreter, who also knew the Araucanian customs 

 fairly well, having lived in their country for more than 30 years as 

 the wife of the only physician in the area, and who had known 

 Kolupan for as many years. When Kolupan decided it was time for 

 him to depart, nothing could deter him. "A man with intelligence 

 knows his own mind," he retorted one day when we tried to detain 

 him. He bade everyone goodby and was off. 



Informants recognized variations in intelligence. Feeblemindedness 

 was exceedingly rare. Non-Araucanians spoke of the alert minds and 

 exact performances of Araucanians when employed in non-Arauca- 

 nian situations. Said one, "Their slowness of mind in their own 

 environment may be due to lack of nourishing food. They live from 

 hand to mouth, and are usually undernourished, unless they are fed 

 in non-Araucanian places." 



ANGER, QUARRELING, MURDER, REVENGE, CANNIBALISM, 

 IMPRECATIONS, SUICIDE 



Anger was seldom an unreasonable show of temper, nor was it often 

 displayed. But once roused, "many, many, many words were used." 

 "Our people do not become angry as quickly as do the Argentines; 

 nearly every Argentine I know could be nicknamed because of his 

 anger." (Cf. p. 284 for nicknaming.) A woman informant ar- 

 rived for an interview in an angry state one day : "An old man from 

 Quilaquina came to my house and told me to stop telling you things ; 

 that I am not capable of telling you things; that my Araucanian is 

 bad ; that he is the one that ought to be giving you information." 

 (We explained that we had refused to interview him because he was 

 intoxicated.) With vehemence and exasperation, she continued, "That 

 man is drunk much of the time ; he knows no more about Araucanian 



