WHOLE VOL. ARAUCANIAN CHILD LIFE — HILGER 3II 



Andes, and also in high or low valleys ; in either there are differen- 

 tiating factors. Kolupan, for example, knew the weather forecast for 

 November for the specific area of San Martin de los Andes, in which 

 he lived : a windy day followed by showers at night brought a clear 

 day ; during any clear night frost could be expected ; on nights when 

 the stars twinkle "like the morning sun on hoarfrost on a moving 

 twig," and all the stars are bright, frost is certain to come. Formerly, 

 rain followed by a thunderstorm could be expected when the people 

 heard the crying of Olul (cf. pp. 321-322), "Those were the days 

 when we still heard Olul." A 60-year-old informant had been told by 

 her grandfather, when she was still a child, that from the mountain- 

 side on which he lived he could see a tree in Lake Lacar. He knew 

 that if the tree stood erect, fair weather would prevail; if it swayed, 

 windy weather or snow was in the offing. 



In general, however, a very red moon forecasts hot weather ; black 

 clouds, rain ; white clouds, snow and cold. A rainbow in line with the 

 Cordillera — that is, in the west — forecasts bad weather; opposite the 

 Cordillera, good weather. 



NATURAL PHENOMENA 



A rainbow, as stated above, forecasts weather, depending on its 

 position. An eclipse of the moon or the sun predicts war, hunger, and 

 want, usually in a distant country. Kolupan observed that the last 

 three wars had each been predicted by an eclipse of the sun. "The 

 Germans made war after the first and second eclipse," he noted, "and 

 the Russians, after the third one — that is, the war that is now [1951] 

 going on in Asia." 



No information was obtained regarding the sun (except its eclipse) 

 other than that it is man's friend. "All animals, too, like the sun ; 

 even the snake does so. A snake, if killed, will not die until sundown ; 

 it will take a last look at the sun, just as it sets, and die." 



Both morning and evening stars were called warjal'en by all in- 

 formants except Kolupan. Kolupan insisted that the evening star 

 was known by the same name as dusk (yepiin), and the morning star 

 by the same name as dawn (wiin yelfe). Others agreed, "It is the 

 same star ; it is like the sun ; it comes and goes." 



Constellations identified by informants and sketched are shown in 

 figure 8. They are the guanaco (I'uan) ; the rhea (choike) ; the 

 boleodora (bkai) ; stretched hide (rekaf tralke or rapul tralke) ; and 

 seven little goats, or hen and chicks (r)au champio or chawn achawall). 

 An elongated V was pointed out, but not identified. Kolupan could 



