The Seattle post-intelligencer. [volume] (Seattle, Wash. Terr. [Wash.]) 1888-1914, 1898-10-09

are served with warm life blood. having
thus been seasoned 20 taste. AZ all feaStS
the men are se-vei first. the women act
ing as the waters and taking what IS LETT
Has TO Fight for His Wife.
These Araucanians have queer customs
OF love and marriage. a father always ex-
poets 10 get certain price for his Gaush-
ter. in the shape OF catSe. sheep. horses
or ether presents. and the deal IS made be-
forehand. the groom paying as little as he
can. The young man then comes with his
friends % The house Of his to-be fa;hsr-in-
law and kidnaps his bride. a dark night
IS usually selected. but the time is often
known and The girl has her female friends
with her for the occasion. II - a matter
OF wedding etiquette that she should dga,
against being married. ana all ire females
and wcnen Q; The family join with her III
repeIing The groom. The friends OF the
groom help him. and there is q lively Skin
Mish in the brides home, which ends in
her being dragged ont by her future hus-
band. He swings her onto his horse and
goes of on the gallop making For the near
groom of course soon distances them. Hav
ing reached the forest. he takes his lady
love with him into it's recssSes and there
spends the honeymoon. This lasts hut a
house Of The groom All are considered
married. Then the husband takes the pres
ents. as he had agreed 20 the father OF MS
vile and the ceremony is over. If later
on the husband wishes a divorce. he may
under certain conditions send back his wife
TO her faher, and If she proves unfaithful
10 him he has the right 10 Kill her, II she
deserts him and goes back home OF her
own accord nothing is said. bJt II she
should marry again the second husband
must reimburse the first one for the price
he originally paid 10 her father for her.
Queer Customs of Birth and Death.
The Araucanians tie their papooses OH
boards and carry them upon their backs.
nt - y I'll
to the carrying board as soon as they are
born and are kept fastened there until
they are old enough to be taught to walk.
They are bright-eyed, healthy looking chill
dren and they stand treatment that would
kill an American baby. Take the birth, for
instance. When an Araucanan baby is
expected its mother goes alone into the
woods and camps there on the bank of
stream until her child IS born After the
birth has taken place she bathes the baby
in the brook. then dries II, wraps ii up in
a skin or cloth and ties it 10 the board.
She Sings it on her back by 4 strap or
rope tied about her forehead and thus car
res IL home. For year or so thereafter
she carries the little one about with her
wherever she goes. taking II 10 the fields
with her when she goes there to work.
Thy have queer ideas of death. they do
not believe in the Christian religion. as do
10 certain extent the descendants OF the
lncas and the other Indians further south.
The Catholic missionaries have worked
among them with but little success. they
are like our Indians in their belief IN
great father or a great good spirit and an
evil spirit. These two they think are al
ways fighting one another. and the evil
spirit is supposed 10 follow a man even into
the grave. For this reason they stand about
the grave at the time OF deaths with their
lances and make noises 10 fr:ghtep the evil
spirits away. When a person dies he IS sell
dom buried at once. His family. so | am
told fear he will be lonesome on his way 10
the happy hunting ground, and they try 10
accustom him 10 solitude. They hang the
corpse from the rafters or poles inside the
hut and for the first day or 50 speak 10
him frequently. They talk 10 him at their
meas and treat him as though he were
alive From day TO day, however. they
pay less and less attention TO him, until
they IN nix he has grown accustomed TO
being alone, when they bury him. Some
times, instead of being hung Up, the CORPSE
is laid in the little attic on the poles which
form the ceiling Of the living room. How
decomposition Is prevented, 4 II is prevent
ed I do not know, but | should think the
dense smoke which is kept up in these hutS
the greater part of the day would serve 10
cure anything dead or alive.
The Indian Prophecies.
In nearly all Of these Araucanian commu-
mites there is a prophecies or woman
medicine man" who Is supposed 10 be
able TO ward off the evil spirit or tell why
II will not down. The evil spirit is at the
root Of all the Araucanians woes. 1t brings
had crops and is the cause of all diseases.