358 SMITHSONIAN MISCELLANEOUS COLLECTIONS VOL. I33 



either bartered or sold, were sheep, vegetables, wool, finely spun yarn, 

 handwoven belts, blankets, ponchos, tlirows, rugs, and leaves of paico 

 used by hotels in making a refreshing beverage. A sheep or a hand- 

 woven rug brought 50 pesos ; an ox, i ,000 pesos ; a 2-3'ard-long hand- 

 woven belt, 30 pesos. (The exchange was 16 pesos for one U, S. 

 dollar at the time.) ^Money was also obtained by renting horses to 

 tourists, and by hauling lumber and wood by means of oxen. Families 

 also received cash or payment in kind for labor, such as farm work, 

 herding cattle, and domestic work done for non-Araucanians in vil- 

 lages or on estancias. Several families migrated to Chinquilihuen each 

 fall to gather araucaria nuts there; these sold for 50 centavos to 

 I peso per kilo. 



TRANSPORTATION 



When informants were children, horses were already being used to 

 transport both persons and luggage. (Cf. pp. 274-275 for manner of 

 transporting babies and small children.) Adults used riding gear; 

 children rode bareback. I\Iost men, and an occasional woman, had 

 riding gear ornamented in silver. A riding horse that had its tail 

 trimmed oft to the end of the bone was considered handsome, but in 

 trade it was of less \-alue than one with a complete tail. Whips made 

 by braiding strands of leather were used by adults ; children used 

 twigs. 



The introduction of the oxcart was vividly recalled by the oldest 

 informants. Formerly all oxcart wheels were cross sections of tree 

 trunks; today wagon wheels are also used (pi. 75, 2). 



Snowshoes, known as chigua, were used when the snow was ankle 

 deep; if less deep the ojota (tranu), the commonly worn foot cover- 

 ing, sufficed. Chigua were made by tying together the ends of a 

 colihiie stalk to form an oval-shaped band and then weaving a net- 

 work in it with strips of horsehide. The chigua was tied to the foot 

 with two bands of woven material : one was brought over the instep 

 and the other from behind the heel to the front of the ankle. 



All persons, including children, crossed lakes and rivers in dugouts 

 called wampu. The trunk of the tree known as rauli was preferred 

 in making wampu. A spatula-shaped one in Museo Nahuel Huapi is 

 8j feet long, 2 feet wide, 11 inches deep, and i inch thick. Men also 

 crossed rivers or floated down streams that connected lakes on rafts 

 called tar)i. These were built on the spot and usually left on shore for 

 anyone to use. Three or four trees, about a foot in diameter, were 

 felled, and approximately 6 yards of the trunk of each laid side by 

 side. Across these, close to the front ends and at right angles to them, 



