3/6 SMITHSONIAN MISCELLANEOUS COLLECTIONS VOL. 1 33 



Ojotas were made from horsehide. The person for whom they 

 were intended stood on a piece of hide, which was then cut to shape 

 well beyond the outline of the foot. The edge of the leather was then 

 punctured at intervals with holes through which a lacing of cowhide 

 was passed. The lacing could be drawn to bring the hide together at 

 the ankle, where it was secured with a knot. 



Boots were made by stripping the hide off the legs of a horse, re- 

 moving the hoofs, and then treating the fiesh side as were the hides 

 used as toldo coverings. The rider's toes protruded through the open- 

 ing made by the removal of the hoof. "Toes needed to protrude, 

 since the big toe controlled the stirrup," noted the informant. If a 

 boot did not fit snug, it was tied about the ankle. Spurs were fastened 

 about the ankle and instep. A spur was a nail hammered through a 

 block of wood that was fastened to a band of leather. 



A woman was completely clothed if she wore a dress (kapam), 

 shawl (ekull), stickpin (tapu), neck and breast ornament (Jikill), 

 headband (trariiloqko), and silver earrings. The dress reached from 

 shoulders to ankles and overlapped in front where it was held in posi- 

 tion by being pinned together with a tapu. A woven belt, wider than one 

 used by men, secured the kapam at the waistline. Back and front were 

 overlapped on one or both shoulders and fastened with a little stick 

 or twig, more recently with a safety pin. A 60-year-old woman ex- 

 amined a photograph of a Chilean woman in kapam and said sadly, 

 "It is a pity that all this had to end. I wore a kapam until the soldiers 

 came and chased us from place to place. It was impossible in those 

 days for women to set up their looms long enough to weave. We had 

 to buy ticking then to make clothing. Anyway, the Whites wanted us 

 to do away with our own way of doing things, and that included our 

 way of dressing." 



The shawl was a piece of woven material approximately 2 yards 

 square. If a woman wove one for her own use, it was of one color 

 throughout; if she intended it as a gift (shawls were often among 

 the gifts exchanged at the marriage ceremonial), she wove it of one 

 color with a border of white. When guanaco wool became scarce, 

 sheep wool dyed black became a favorite color. No design was woven 

 into a shawl. 



The tapu was a stickpin with a large silver disk. The Jikill had 

 several pieces of silver strung one below the other, often with danglers, 

 and ended in a cross. The trariiloqko was a silver-ornamented head- 

 band worn to keep the hair in place. 



Adults today wear modern clothes patterned after Argentine open- 

 country styles, made of factory-woven cloth. Factory-made canvas 



