The Wellington enterprise. [volume] (Wellington, Ohio) 1867-188?, 1883-10-03
ALPACA FARMING.

Andes, that first saw a ludicrously un- |
calmly beast pop UP from behind rock, |
as the stumbling, ,feet of my mule sent
some loose stones rolling noisily down
precipice. The brute surveyed me
for an instant, then shook his hairy
head, gave loud snort and vanished
The echoes of the lonely pass bore to
my ears a singular noise, as If an army
of barefooted men were flying down the
mountain. i had startled herd of
grazing Alpacas, and their sentry had
warned them of my approach. The
noise was the beating of their huge,
cartilage padded feet on the rocky
ground. As 1 rode on / saw flocks
from time to time, grubbing the sparse
grass from the rock-sprinkled levels and
the steep declivities, which are such a
peculiar feature of the heart of the
Andes. There was always one big fell
low perched on rock, or at some other
point of vantage, and at his snort the
whole herd would turn tail and take to
flight. Often / would see the sentry,
without seeing his comrades, balanced
far above me on some splintered pima
Gle of stone, with his big, soft eyes fixed
on me, ready to give the signal as soon
as he considered my proximity danger
Gus. Ii was n singular sensation, the
meeting with this alert brute, the only
living thing but myself and mule
and an occasional condor, among
these desolate mountains, whose peaks
pierced the sky in line of savage
teeth, like huge saw. That evening,
on rock-strewn plateau. without a
bush and almost without a blade of
grass around it, / halted at a dreary,
stone-built house, with roof made of
bundles of straw, held down with
planks and stout saplings. Skulls and
skeletons of horned cattle and other an
imals were scattered all around. From
the wall of the house projected a couple
of big bulls horns, apparently cement
ed in the masonry for ornamental pur-
poses. As i drew rein. terrific snort
ing and scrambling broke out in pad
dock, fenced with stout poles, behind
the house. This was an Alpaca farm.
The Alpaca, which many people con-
fuse with the Llama, though very close
ly allied to it in form and character
istics, is the ''gold mine of the lndi-
ans of the Andes, especially those of
Peru, Bolivia and Chill. 1t is an ex-
| traordinary brute, in more senses than
one. Its appearance, with its wool on,
| is supremely ridiculous. 1t is as large
| as big sheep, with a neck like a small
| giraffe; a mere bundle of hair carried
around on four legs, terminated with
| feet. resembling those of an ostrich.
Its legs are powerful, and inappropri-
/ ately graceful, in comparison with the
body they support and the feet in which
| they terminate.
| II the Alpaca is absurdly ugly with
its hair on, it is positive burlesque
after it has been sheared. 1t is sheared
like a. sheep, only its head is left Gov
cred. 1t is sometimes sheared once a
year, yielding a six to an eight-inch
feece, but the more provident Alpacs
farmers only shear once in two or three
years, when they get wool from fifteer
to thirty inches long. The wool !,
found ranging in color from whitt
through gray, yellow and brown tC
| black The animal looks black. how
ever, as the fleece exudes an oil, anC
mats with the dust of the mountain
pastures in which it roams at large
The fleece is very fine in texture, me
tallic in luster when clean, and thu
fiber is far stronger than that of an,
sleeps wool which know.
The Alpaca is allowed to Craze a
random, only being rounded in" to b
sheared. 1t can only be domesticate,
4 "
J from its flock will lie down and die O
pure stubbornness and grief. YounI
Alpacas are, however. herded in pad
docks, and become as familiar, quie
and impudent as dogs.
They are gentle brutes, unlike thei
:. cousins, the Llamas, which are ofte
full of viciousness. The Alpaca neve
gets over its shy and timorous will
: habits, and though it seems to kno,
and not fear the farmer and his mer
the mere sight of a stranger in the di:
tance will stampede it. The age {
which an Alpaca will produce valuabl
wool none of the farmers seem to know
When it ceases to be worth saearin
they kill and eat it.
The Alpaca farmer leads life littl
better than that of the brute he live
ON. His only amusement is eating an
sleeping. He scarcely knows even th
vice of drunkenness. Except chanc
traveller, he never sees Il soul from year
end to years end but the priest, con
monty an Indian Ike himself, wh
strays up now and then from his hom
in the lower regions TO collect his ma
mo er, and the wool-trader who once
YEAR makes the rounds with Lis peon.
or Indian servants. and his train of pac
l'animais. Most of the trading is ha
barter and half money. The visit of IL
trader is a great. occasion. Then Il
old iron scales are brought out an
h. ng on the bulls horns at the doc
ami the years harvest raked down fror
the loft of the house, where it has bee
stored. 1t is curious fact that Il
Alpaca farmer viii never let n trad
use any other sca'es. He Is afraid
being cheated. But he lets the trad,
weigh the wool with his own weight
and fancy the trader is satisfied wi
the bargain.
During the solitary portion of Il
year the women of the Alpaca far
card and spin the wool, and weave
into blankets and ponchos. or cloak
which latter are simply blankets with
hole in the middleton the had to pa
through. These poncaos are sometim
10 ornamented with grotesque but effectr
= patterns in dyed wool, They are sol
= like wool. to traders who carry them
the coast.
n The region of the Alpaca farmers
the most dreary and inhospitable on {
continent. The nights at these hi!
levels are always bitter cold, and the
o is so thin that bullocks brought up
the plateaus soon die, apparently
. consumption. The land produces on
n n