The Bolivar bulletin. [volume] (Bolivar, Hardeman County, Tenn.) 1865-1888, 1883-09-20
ALPACA FARMING.

s y VVV
as the stumbling feet of my mule sent
some loose stones rolling noisily down
q 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 barcfootcd men were flying down the
mountain. l had startled a 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 | rode on 1 saw 1Ocks
from time to time, grubbing the sparse
grass from the rock-sprinkled levels and
the steep decliyities, which are such a
peculiar feature of the heart of the
Andes. There was always one big fell
low perched on a 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
lar above me on some spGntered 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. 1t was a 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 a line of savage
teeth, like q huge saw. That evening,
on rock-strewn plateau. without a
bush and almost without blade of
grass around it, / halted at a dreary,
stone-built house, with a 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 couple
of big bulls horns, apparently cement
ed in the masonry for ornamental pur
poses. As / drew rein, a terrific snort
ing and scrambling broke out in a 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 Indi-
ans of the Andes, especially those of
Peru, Bolivia and Chill. 1t is an ex-
traordinary brute, in more senses than
one. It's appearance, with its wool on,
is supremely ridiculous. 1t is as large
as big sheep, with a neck like 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.
If the Alpaca is absurdly ugly with
its hair on, it is a positive burlesque
after it has been sheared. 1t is sheared
like sheep, only its head is left coy
cred. 1t is sometimes sheared once q
year, yielding u six to an eight-inch
fleece, but the more provident Alpaca
farmers only shear once in two or three
years, when they get wool from fifteen
to thirty inches long. The wool is
found ranging in color from white
through gray, yellow and brown to
black. The animal looks black, how
ever, as the fleece exudes an oil, and
mats with the dust of the mountain
pastures in which it roams at large.
The fleece is very fine in texture, me-
talhc in luster when clean, and the
fiber is far stronger than that of any
sleeps wool which / know.
The Alpaca is allowed to Craze at
random, only being grounded i'm to be
sheared. 1t can only be domesicated
when young. An old Alpaca separated
from its flock will lie down and die of
pure stubbornness and grief. Young
Alpacas are, however, herded in pad
docks, and become as familiar, quiet
and impudcnt as dogs.
They are gentle brutes, unlike their
cousins, the Llamas, which are often
full of viciouSneSs. The Alpaca never
gets over its shy and timorous wild
habits, and though it seems to know
and not fear the farmer and his men,
the mere sight of a stranger in the dis
lance win stampede ii. The age to
hiah l,Nopn will yNYsCflvrp, IL
wool none of the farmers seem to know.
When it ceases to be worth shearing
they kill and cat it.
The Alpaca fafmer leads life little
better than that of the brute he lives
on. His only amusement is eating and
sleeping. He scarcely knows even the
vice of drunkenness. Except a chance
traveller, he never sees Il soul from year S
end to years end but the priest. COM
monty an Indian like himself, who
strays up now and then from his home
in the lower regions to collect his mass
money, and the wool-trader who once a
year makes the rounds with his poems,
or Indian servants, and his train of pack
animals. Most of the trading is half
barter and half money. The visit of the
trader is a great occasion. Then the
old iron scales are brought out and
hung on the bulls horns at the door,
and the years harvest raked down from
the loft of the house, where it has been
stored To is q curious fact that the
ALPACA farmer will never let a trader
use anv other scales He is afraid OF
being cheated. But he lets the trader
weigh the wool with his own weights,
and fancy the trader is satisfied with
the bargain.
During the solitary portion of the
year the women of the Alpaca farm
card and spin the wool, and weave ii
into blankets and ponchos, or cloaksr
which latter are simply blankets with q
hole in the middle tor the head to pass
through. These ponchos are sometime Is
ornamented with grotesque but effective
patterns in dyed wool, They are sold,
like wool. to traders who carry them ia
( the coast.
The region of the Alpaca farmers is
the most dreary and inhospitab,e on the
continent. The nights at these high