392 SMITHSONIAN MISCELLANEOUS COLLECTIONS VOL, 1 33 



men and women in close formation, A bivalve shellfish was collected 

 by women and children. 



Food, shelter, clothing. — In the early days, the meat of wild animals 

 was the chief food ; it has been replaced by mutton, lamb, beef, and 

 pork. A variety of dishes is prepared from meats. As formerly, fish 

 today are eaten fresh and dried. Eggs of rhea, waterfowl, and 

 chickens are also eaten. Whole grain and grain ground to flour are 

 prepared in various ways. Vegetables consist of wild roots and plants, 

 and of cultivated ones, chief among them the potato. Fermented po- 

 tatoes were a favorite dish. Other foods eaten were the araucaria nut 

 and wild apples. 



Among implements used in the preparation and serving of food, 

 in the early days — all of which are still used to some extent today — 

 were ollas, cantaros, metates and mullers, mortars and pestles, plates, 

 bowls, cups, knives, pichaiias (apple scoopers), spoons, lupe (pottery 

 for toasting wheat), baskets, and winnowing trays. To these were 

 added in recent years factory-made implements and improvised ones. 



In the early days, cooking was done in a shallow-pit fireplace, and 

 is so done in the open today; today, second-hand cooking stoves are 

 in general use. Most desirable firewoods were liire and chacay ; these 

 gave ofif much heat and little smoke. Fire was formerly started both 

 by rubbing or by striking two objects, accompanied by the singing of 

 an appropriate song. 



Several meals were eaten every day, hunger indicating the time for 

 each. Women cooked the meals. All persons present squatted in 

 circular fashion around the olla or wooden dish containing the food, 

 and each served himself. 



An uncontaminated spring supplied drinking water. One beverage 

 was mudai made of fermented wild or cultivated grain or araucaria 

 nuts; and another, a refreshing decoction made from leaves and 

 blossoms of paico and bark of maqui. Piilku, an alcoholic drink, 

 was made from berries of mulwii] (unidentified), parrilla, and michai, 

 and from wild apples. Today, yerba mate, an imported non-Araucanian 

 herb, is the favorite drink. 



The early dwelling was the toldo, a collapsible, transferable tent of 

 hides. Informants called it ruka (the Araucanian word for dwelling) 

 or trakle ruka (meaning ruka of hides). An occasional family lived 

 under a rock shelter, or in a cave where piled-up stones formed one or 

 more walls. During the season of favorable weather, families some- 

 times lived in the shade of large trees. 



The building of a toldo was a community affair in which both men 

 and women participated. At its completion, a plentiful meal, including 



