WHOLE VOL, ARAUCANIAN CHILD LIFE — HILGER 377 



shoes are worn in summer and leather shoes in winter. (Pis. 60, 61, 

 66, 67, 70, 73.) Women's adornments today are earrings and finger 

 rings. Children wear modern clothing like that of Argentine children 

 (pis. 62, 63-66). In general they are barefoot when around home but 

 wear shoes at school and when among non-Araucanians. 



Clothes and other materials are washed today, as formerly, in 

 rivers and creeks, that is, in flowing water, with crushed leaves of 

 chacay as a detergent — an occasional family today uses soap. "Dur- 

 ing the time we lived in Chile," said an informant older than 100 years, 

 "we used bark and wood of a tree — I have forgotten its name." 



DOMESTIC HANDICRAFTS 

 SPINNING AND WEAVING 



Formerly, guanaco wool was spun and woven into clothing and 

 coverings of various types. Guanacos were not sheared ; the wool was 

 collected from those killed for food. The hide was prepared for the 

 removal of wool by rolling it up tight, with the wool inside, and 

 letting it lie for three days, after which the wool was easily plucked off 

 by hand. (Informant indicated having the hide on the knee and pulHng 

 off handfuls of wool at a time.) Because the wool was so short, it 

 was spun before it was washed, to prevent loss. Today wool shorn 

 from sheep is used ; it is washed and then spun. 



The traditional spindle — still in use today — is a round piece of 

 wood pointed at each end (pi. '/%, 1,2). In a notch made at the upper 

 end the spinner fastens one end of the yarn with a slipknot. Near the 

 lower end is a whorl made of clay. A spindle I saw in use was 23 

 inches long; its whorl was 2 inches in diameter. The owner carded 

 wool by hand ; she pulled it well apart and then shook it vigorously to 

 remove foreign substances ; any that remained she picked out by hand. 

 This done, she prepared to spin. She pulled the wool into elongated 

 wads, wound one loosely around her arm, and then fastened an end 

 of it to the end of the yarn on the spindle by rolling it between her 

 fingers. She now rested the spindle on the ground, letting it lean 

 against her, twisted the wad of wool that extended between it and her 

 arm, lifted the spindle, and gave it a twist in midair. This spun the 

 yarn. Since she wanted very finely spun yam, she twirled the spindle 

 three times in midair. She then opened the slipknot at the notch and 

 wound the yarn that she had just spun onto the spindle by again twirl- 

 ing the spindle in midair. Girls learn to spin "when old enough to be 

 taught how to do it" (probably at 10 years of age). A woman older 



