304 SMITHSONIAN MISCELLANEOUS COLLECTIONS VOL. 1 33 



there [25 years old] spent one month in school," said a 50-year-old 

 man, "He does the work now that I taught him to do : he planted our 

 wheat, potatoes, oats, and peas, and looks after our cattle, sheep, and 

 other animals," Kolupan, when young, wanted to learn to read and 

 write, "My brother," he explained, "had learned to do so in Valdivia. 

 But there was no one to teach me. So I taught myself to read. I 

 looked at w^ords wherever I saw them and asked those who could read 

 what the words said and how to pronounce them, I can now go to the 

 bakery or store and read the names of things I want to buy. I can 

 read the name of the wine I want, too ; they cannot sell me a kind 

 that I do not want." 



MENTAL TRAINING 



LANGUAGE 



Today, within many families and among Araucanians themselves 

 everywhere, the native language is still spoken ; a very few old persons 

 who live in isolated regions and some very young children speak it 

 exclusively. All persons except the very old and very young speak 

 Spanish also. Informants, on several occasions, expressed displeasure 

 with Araucanians who were ashamed to speak their native language 

 within the hearing of non- Araucanians or let it be known that they 

 spoke it. "But one old woman down there in Ouilaquina is proud of 

 our language ; she teaches Araucanian words to children, or to anyone 

 else, whenever she has an opportunity." "I speak Araucanian," said 

 a 48-year-old man, "but my children do not. Our people are stupid 

 today, they do not want to learn the Araucanian language or to hear 

 it spoken," The language of no other people, including that of the 

 Tehuelche, their nearest neighbors immediately to the south, was 

 known to have been spoken by the Araucanians, 



Dialectic differences in the Araucanian language as spoken in Chile 

 and in Argentina were pointed out, "But it is all Araucanian; we 

 can all understand one another," Variations in words were also 

 pointed out, Kolupan called the rainbow wiimke; other Argentine 

 informants called it kemu or remu; in Chile kemu kemu is a cere- 

 monial stick used by the machi (sorcerer). In Chile an olla is called 

 challa ; in Argentina, siqiol. An ax in Argentina is a toki ; in Chile, a 

 kachal, A pig is /afiwe in Chile ; koaf ue, in Argentina. Foreign words 

 that have been adopted are both adaptations from the Spanish and 

 words taken over from the languages of the Quechua, Aymara, and 

 Guarani, people to the north with whom the Araucanians traded. 

 (Cf. pp. 356-357 for trade.) Words adapted from the Spanish are: 

 kawallu or kawell from caballo (horse) ; waka from vaca (cow) ; 



