WHOLE VOL. ARAUCANIAN CHILD LIFE — HILGER 313 



sounds of the trutruka, (Cf. pi. 70, /, 2, for trutruka.) Smoke and 

 fire signals were begun on one mountaintop, taken up by persons 

 on a neighboring one and on all others where it had been seen, and 

 so continued until the message was received by all. In areas where 

 people lived in valleys, where mountaintops could not be readily seen, 

 the trutruka was blown. Wherever its sound was heard, other trutruka 

 were blown, until all areas had received the notice. "Araucanians say 

 that when a stranger entered the pre-Cordillera, in those early days, 

 the news of it, before long, reached the upper end of the Cordillera." 

 Kolupan did not agree with the above. "Trutruka," he said, "were 

 not used for signaling. And all I know about the use of fire is that 

 the Tehuelche used it when hunting guanaco. When we wanted to 

 send news from one place to another, we sent messengers on horse- 

 back to carry it. Such messengers we called welkin." 



MEASUREMENTS : LINEAR, SURFACE, DISTANCE, QUANTITY 



The shortest measurement was the pulgada — a measurement from 

 tip to first knuckle of the thumb. An informant measured a bean used 

 in playing a game in this manner. A hand stretch from tip of thumb to 

 tip of first finger is called duke; from tip of thumb to tip of little 

 finger, charjilkue. In using the hand-stretch measure, informants 

 slid the thumb into the position of the finger, moving to the right if 

 the right hand was used or to the left if the left hand was used. The 

 length and width of the cradleboard and the belt used in tying a 

 baby into its cradle were so measured. Lengths, widths, and heights 

 were also indicated as the distance shown between hands. The length 

 of a throw was measured by double arm stretches (niifkii), unless it 

 was measured over another throw. Distances on the ground were 

 stepped off by long steps known as trekan. 



Clothing was woven to fit the person for whom it was intended — 

 "it has to fit that person." Either the measurements were taken from 

 an article of clothing owned by the one for whom the new one was 

 being woven, or they were taken directly on the person. A strand of 

 yarn was used in measuring. An informant showed how she took 

 measurements for a poncho: she put a strand of yarn across the 

 interpreter's shoulders and brought both ends to the knee, one in 

 front and the other in back. "How long do you want the poncho to 

 be?" she asked. "Some men wear theirs longer than the knee; most 

 men prefer theirs to just above the knee." She doubled this length 

 and made a knot at that point. When ready to weave the poncho, she 

 would cut the yarn into two equal lengths, fastening a length to each 



