3IO SMITHSONIAN MISCELLANEOUS COLLECTIONS VOL. I33 



on which he began work : "When the moon again had the same shape, 

 he knew he had worked a kiiyem (hmar month)." The informant 

 added with a chuckle, "The man did not always remember the exact 

 shape in which the moon was w^hen he started work, and so, without 

 wanting to do so, he sometimes worked a few extra days to the bene- 

 fit of the man who hired him." 



A person's age was not kept count of but was associated with events 

 as the years passed. "When that happened, I was already old enough 

 to remember." "My voice had already changed when Lake Lacar 

 rose so high that much of the area around here was flooded. I remem- 

 ber policemen on horseback, at the time, riding around to see where 

 there were people that needed help." Today old people laugh when 



Table 8. — Divisions of the day, according to Kolupan {Argentina) 



Division of the day Araucanian name 



'Before the coming of the sun, just at the end of the night" deuman antii 



'When more and more Hght is added" (dawn and sunrise) wiin yelfe 



'The morning" Hwen 



'Before midday, about 10 in the morning on the clock today" deuman raqi antii 



'When the sun is overhead" (midday) raqi antii 



'A little after midday, between 2 and 3 o'clock in the Argentine way" . . kaliin antii 



'The sun is departing, that is about 5 o'clock on the clock" naltun antii 



'The sun is disappearing" deuman koniiwe antii 



'The sun has disappeared" koniiwe antii 



'The light that lingers after sunset" yepiin 



"It is getting dark" dumiii 



asked their age. One answered, "How can anyone know that?" An- 

 other answered, "Who cares about that?" and then promptly sent a 

 grandchild into her house to get her Libreta Civica (identification 

 card recently acquired granting eligible women the right to vote in 

 federal elections). "Here is my age; find it on this; an officer told 

 me he wrote it down on this." Officials granting the Libreta Civica 

 (Libreta Enrolamiento, to men), finding it impossible to ascertain 

 the ages of most older Araucanians, make guesses and record them. 



Seasons were designated as wetripantu (or, according to Kolupan, 

 thema/ tripantu, "the trees begin to bud") ; wabn (much sun, "the 

 time the fruit ripens best") ; trafquim (or, according to Kolupan, afu 

 tue, "fruit has ripened") ; pukem (rain and snow). 



PREDICTION OF WEATHER 



Weather forecasts were, and still are, accurate, in general, only in 

 a particular area : in the foothills or in the higher altitudes of the 



