WHOLE VOL. ARAUCANIAN CHILD LIFE — HILGER 361 



down the tree where it was dispatched by three or four dogs. Huemul 

 were chased to exhaustion by dogs, and then lassoed. 



Hares and birds were snared. Today, school-age boys snare rabbits 

 and birds in a noose as formerly. A rabbit snare was made of a heavy 

 cord with a noose at one end. This was laid in a path or in a place 

 under a fence where rabbits were known to pass. The other end of 

 the cord was tied to a stationary object, such as a post or tree. When 

 the rabbit kicked the noose, it contracted about its legs. Formerly, 

 according to the boys' grandmother, even Patagonian hares were 

 caught in such snares, which at that time were made of long grass. 

 Birds used to be, and still are, caught in a similar snare, being enticed 

 into the noose by feed, such as grass seeds. The hunter nearby pulls 

 the end of the rope and thus closes the noose about the bird's legs. 



Armadillos were killed with sticks and are so killed today. They 

 are found on prairies and in mountain valleys. "You must hit quickly 

 when you see one, and hit and hit. These animals are so quick in dig- 

 ging a hole into which to crawl that you may lose one before you know 

 it. Grab his tail if he is getting into the hole before you have killed 

 him; but do not be surprised if you hold his tail and see him dis- 

 appearing into the ground. There are two kinds of armadillos; I Hke 

 the meat of the small ones best." 



Fish native to Andean lakes in the Araucanian country and taken by 

 the Araucanians for food were the pejerrey (remii or kauke) ; the 

 peladilla (peHolo or peloilla), a scaleless fish; the trucha criolla or 

 perca (lipar)) ; the cauque (malche) ; and the puyen (upesh). 



In the first decade of the 1900's, Andean lakes and rivers were 

 stocked with fish from the United States, England, and Germany 

 (Moreno, 1945, pp. 121-138). Araucanians call these fish by their 

 Spanish names — they have no Araucanian names for them. They 

 are the trucha de arroyo ; trucha arco iris ; trucha marron or trucha 

 europea; and the salmon. Informants accused the salmon of ex- 

 terminating the native pejerrey and peladilla from their waters. 



Fishing, in the early days, was done in streams. Perca and cauque 

 were speared from the shore in the spring, or at any time when there 

 was high water. A fishing spear was a long colihiie pole pronged at 

 the smaller end in fanlike fashion with four or five thinner, sharply 

 pointed colihue stalks (informant indicated this by spreading the 

 fingers of his hand). The fisherman either walked along the shore 

 spearing fish he spied, or he remained standing in one place on the 

 shore waiting for fish to pass him. Fish were driven his way by a 

 person who walked slowly and quietly downstream toward him. The 

 slight noise of the footsteps caused the fish to swim downstream to 



