320 SMITHSONIAN MISCELLANEOUS COLLECTIONS VOL. I33 



a traditional game known as ka/nin — a game played by throwing the 

 knuckle at a goal. The father remarked that an occasional older 

 brother will make similar playthings for a younger brother. During 

 an interview the 4-year-old boy amused himself for a short time in 

 the house by playing ka/nin. Tired of this, he spent a short time toss- 

 ing the knuckle into the air and catching it. After that he ran out 

 into the rain and kicked it like a ball through rain puddles. Neither 

 his father nor his grandmother, both of whom were being interviewed, 

 checked him, although it was raining considerably. Back in the house, 

 he tossed the knuckle into the air again and in doing so got close to 

 the hot stove. For this the grandmother scolded him. Continuing his 

 tossing, he landed the knuckle near the interpreter, who then placed 

 her foot on it. When he did not succeed in getting it out from under 

 her foot, he stood still, looked at it, and waited patiently and quietly 

 until she removed her foot. He took the knuckle then, but immediately 

 dropped it and again ran out into the rain. This time he rode his 

 2-wheeled toy. Pretending he was riding a horse, he hit back of him- 

 self with a switch as do horseback riders who wish to speed up the 

 horse. 



I also saw children entertaining themselves by carrying younger 

 children on the back, letting them drop ofif unexpectedly, thereby giv- 

 ing other children a hearty laugh (pi. 6^, 3). Three girls, 4, 6, and 

 13 years of age, caught a dabano (a large buzzing insect), put it into 

 a paper bag, blew into the bag to disturb the insect, and then listened 

 with glee at the buzz it made each time it flew against the sides of the 

 bag. To let the field assistant enjoy the buzz also, they held the bag 

 near her ear. 



A group of children and adults listening to an interview were much 

 amused at the surprised look of a i-year-old child that had caught its 

 hand in a yerba mate cup. Later the grandmother, on whose lap the 

 baby was sitting, entertained it by putting its hand in and out of the 

 cup, tickling its stomach, pinching its cheeks and ears, and covering 

 its eyes but letting it peek, off and on, at the other children present. 



Schoolboys and their preschool brothers and sisters entertained 

 themselves during an interview by painting red disks with berries of 

 michai on each others cheeks, saying they wanted to look like the 

 ladies in San Martin de los Andes. Two boys hurdled sand banks 

 that they had built after mimicking galloping horses (pi. 62, 5) . Their 

 little sister stood by and watched them ; the mother would not let her 

 hurdle, as it was not the thing for girls to do. 



Formerly, domesticated animals were not pets, but young orphaned 

 rheas and guanacos were. "A man might kill a mother rhea," said 



