WHOLE VOL. ARAUCANIAN CHILD LIFE — HILGER 33I 



was over, the man's family presented the girl's family with silver 

 things, and with home woven clothing usually consisting of chamall 

 used for chiripe by the men, and chamall and ekull for the women. 

 Then the girl's family reciprocated with gifts. As soon as the girl's 

 mother accepted the gifts offered her by the man's family the man was 

 allowed to take the girl away. Next, advice was given by the father 

 of the girl to the man ; by the father of the man, to the girl ; and by 

 aunts and uncles on both sides to both bride and groom. The chief 

 advice was that they live peacefully together and not be quarrelsome. 

 The man then took his bride to his parental home, where another feast 

 was held. "But all this changed when they began to chase us from 

 our land," said Kolupan. "When I was married things were no longer 

 done in the old way. I took my wife by myself and took no one with 

 me when I got her. The time for paying for wives was past, and it 

 never came back." The traditional custom of having the woman live 

 with her husband in his paternal home is followed today. 



Elopement has never been considered a proper form of marriage, 

 but after a lapse of time the couple was considered married. 



DESERTION, SEPARATION, INFIDELITY 



Desertions were rare in the early days. The woman on her part 

 would have had no place to go, if she had left her husband's home. 

 If she did leave her husband it was because he ill-treated her. "My 

 husband hit me a great deal, even when he was not drunk. Living with 

 him was difficult. There was hardly a day in which I did not weep. 

 I finally left him. Our two sons stayed with him, but after two years 

 they came to me. Today a woman can support herself and will not 

 stay with a husband whose conduct is unbearable. I do housework 

 for an Argentine family," 



The children of a separated couple were usually reared by the 

 paternal grandparents or paternal aunts. If a wife, especially of a 

 cacique, was unfaithful, her paramour was usually killed. 



IN-LAW RELATIONSHIPS AND TABOOS, JOKING RELATIONSHIPS 



When the immediate family of a woman and her close relatives 

 paid her their first visit after her marriage (she left her family for 

 her husband's home on the day of her marriage) they were received 

 in a conventional manner. The woman dressed in her best clothing 

 and wore her silver ornaments. She, her husband, and her husband's 

 relatives received the guests by reciting a formal welcome in a high- 

 pitched voice while sitting on their haunches. The informant chanted 

 it in Araucanian : "Here comes my mother ! Here comes my mother !" 



