WHOLE VOL, ARAUCANIAN CHILD LIFE — HILGER 34I 



are going one by one !" It was customary for the cacique to order the 

 sergeant to unearth the vessel at the subsequent qillatun. "He may 

 find the vessel half emptied," noted Kolupan. "If he does, the cacique 

 will announce to the people that either chau chau took the other half 

 or the dead ate it — there is a world in which the dead live, you know." 

 "Do you really believe, Kolupan," I asked, "that the dead ate it?" 

 Much annoyed he rejoined, "Most certainly, the dead took it. And 

 they must have eaten it or why would they have taken it ? You could 

 come to that conclusion yourself !" 



BLACK ART, HOBGOBLINS, VISIONS 



Formerly, both sexes were accused of being sorcerers (kalku) ; 

 today, more often men are so accused (when I was in the area, a 

 Quilaquina man in his fifties was so accused; cf. p. 322). Sorcerers 

 do harm to persons, animals, and fields by personal contact or through 

 a medium. Harm done to a field of grain is called danu ; witchcraft 

 in general is called kalkutun. Witchcraft can be overcome, however, 

 by someone who knows how to counteract it. 



Witchcraft is often exercised because of jealousy. It may be used 

 on someone who has a good harvest several successive years to bring 

 about failure in his crops or sickness for himself. Sorcerers were 

 punished by being hung over a fire and left there to burn to death. 

 "That is the way it was done, formerly. The kalku would say, 'Why 

 do you hang me? What you accuse me of, I have not done. These 

 people whom you say I caused to die died a natural death ; they would 

 have died in any event.' But the hanging was done." Kolupan told 

 of one method of attempting to discover sorcerers. "Cheoketta, a 

 cacique, was cold-hearted. When it was known that an enemy was on 

 the way to attack our people, he called the people of his lofche together 

 and ordered all the women to sit down in two rows. — My father often 

 told me this. — Cheoketta wanted to find out if there was a kalku 

 among the women; he feared that if there were one, she would betray 

 our people to the enemy, once the enemy was near enough. He ordered 

 each woman to raise both hands like this [thumbs opposed and palms 

 outward]. Behind each woman stood a man who rested his lance 

 upon the woman's shoulder. There was much and loud beating of the 

 kultrur), and yelling by the people. Every woman was now closely ob- 

 served. If she moved her hands or dropped them or showed nervous- 

 ness in any way, she was declared to be a witch, and was burned to 

 death. Cheoketta died. His son Llakatrul was the next cacique. He 

 said that it was not right to kill a woman for such reasons, that maybe 



