The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1890-09-28
wore sky-blue dresses, and over the left
shoulder of each was
SCARF OF HAND-wovEN. WOOL,


This chuno festival is participated in by
all the Indians far and near, and IS curl
Gus mingling of the rites of the heatnen
lncas and the ceremonies of the church |
Though autedating the Christianizatlon OF |
the country, it is carried on to day under |
the control of the priests who, through the |
three hundred and fifty years that have in |
tervened since the conquest, have always
found it expedient to retain some traces of |
the ancient customes.
AS IN these regions Indians and llamas
are generally seen together. description OF |
one animal without mention of the other |
would be incomplete One who has never
seen llama can hardly form an idea of how
the strange little creature looks, with the
head of a camel, the body of deer, the
wool of sheep, the hoofs of mule and the
neigh of horse. 1t is found nowhere but
In the Andes, and is the more interesting
because it is the only native domesticated
animal in South America, the OK, horse,
sheep, hog and all others useful TO man hay
ing been brought originally from some other
country. 1t is
THE ONLY BEAST OF BURDEN
used in the higher attitudes, where mules
and horses cannot endure the thin air, as
1t alone is exempt from sirroche, its natural
home being 5000 feet and upwards. Though
domesticated in Peru, Bolivia and Chill and
not able to live below certain elevation
unless the weather is very cold, great num-
bers of them run wild on the foothills and
sandy plains of Patagonia, even near the
level of the sea so far from the equator.
A full-grown llama is about the size of a
year old colt, standing from four to six feet
high, and is covered with long and sur
prisingly thick coat of wool which, however,
is seldom sheared, as the animal is used
only for purposes of transportation. Its
usual color is muddy brown, while few
are light yellow or nearly white. The In
dams paint the latter with liquid dyes and
very odd it looks to see troop of them in
all the colors of therainbow, red. blue, pur-
pie, pink and green, with gay tassels dang
ling from their ears. Many of the most
valuable mines of Peru and Bolivia could
hardly be carried on without these hardy
and sure-footed little animals, though not
one of them can be made to bear more than
hundred pounds weight, While
THE AVERAGE LOAD OF MULE ~
is three hundred pounds. On all the noun
tain roads leading from the mines hundreds
of llamas may be seen with bags of buliilu,
as the powdered ore is called, fastened to
pack saddles on their backs by ropes made
from their own wool, which the Indians
pull, spin and weave as they walk along.
Where the trails are dangerously narrow
each troop is led by one having bell at
tached to his neck, so that travellers COMING
from the other direction may be warned by
the ringing to wait in some place where
there is room enough to pass.
None but Indians, shy as themselves and
unhampered by the ways OF civilization,
can manage llamas; and white men never
attempt it. If an ounce more than the 100
pounds be added TO his burden, the beast
will lie down and refuse to stir until the
surplus is removed; and whenever he is
tired, burden or no burden, he is bound to
stretch out until well rested. Meanwhile
the patient driver will halt all the rest of
the flock and lie down too waiting by the
roadside until the refractory animal is
ready to move On. An Indian never strikes
his llamas, the utmost coercion he uses
under any circumstances being a gentle
push. Indeed
HE TAKES BETTER CARE oE THEM
than he does of his own children, perhaps
with good reason, since the four footed ami
mails are of more value commercially The
latter are worth, alive, about seven dollars
apiece, but sell for more when dead, in the
shape of hides, meat and tallow. The ma
tives prefer llama flesh, after it has been
frozen, to any other kind of meat, and make
| great account of the tallow, which is called
Sabo, using it for many purposes.
Male iiamas only carry freight, the fe-
males being kept IN corral for breeding
purposes. Soon aS d young male is ready
to stand, he is trained to bear burdens, and
at two years old IS put into an dlqptilG, the
usual drove of twenty animals. 10 drive
this number easily, two persons are re-
quired. An Indian will take his alquila,
with 100 pounds piled on the back of each,
and, assist I'd by his wife or child, will drive
them to a distance of $50 miles, in eighteen
or twenty days. For this service he charges
at the rate of eighty cents per diem to each
| beast, Bolivian cents worth about half as
much as ours. AT this price he feeds him
self and the animals, and furnishes the nee
essary ropes, sacks and other equipments !;
reckoning
FORTY CENTS DAY FOR THE LLAMAs,
twenty cents for the sacks and ropes, and
twenty cents for the food of himself and
compdnerO. The sack in which he carries
grain. ore, etc, costs in the currency of the
country Sl.25. but will last long time
Under this contract he will sometimes make
a journey of two or three months duration,
and save money out of it.
The llama suDSiStS upon mountain shrub
or species of tough, coarse grass mixed
with the sand in which it grows. He drinks
almost no water and can travel without
| food for week, ii given a square meal at
| both ends of the journey. If too well fed,
| he is subject to skin disease, which inyar-
liable proves faCal. Some years ago, in 1857.
| believe, an effort was made to introduce
llamas into the United States; but it could
not be carried out, principally because the
| food was too good for them. Seventy two
! llamas were taken from Peru TO New York
Only thirty eight of that number survived
the sea voyage and those were wintered or
Long Island farm-which certainly must
have been cold enough for the most fastid
ious animal of the Andes. In the spring
scarcely a dozen of these were left alive
these were sold to
MUSEUMS AND MENAGERIES
and died at the first approach of warn
weather.
A circumstance in connection with thi:
singular animal should not be omitted, viz.
| that its dung is universally used for fuel il
Bolivia and many parts of Peru. 1t burn.
as readily as wood, gives out a great deal o.
heat, has no odor and can be bought at the
rate of sixty cents per hundred weight
therefore ii IS highly priced in Ireeless sec
tons, where coal costs from S35 to S4S pei
ton and the only other alternative is kline
of spongy fungus that grows on the noun
tains. A great deal of complaint is JUS
now rife in La Paz against the electric
light company, the citizens asserting thai
! so mucn llama ounE is consumed by Its
furnaces that their supply of fuel will soon
be exhausted. Knowing it to be in genera
use in the kitchens of the country, tho
| tourist In these parts ceases to insist or
toast and broiled meats and becomes quite
willing to put up with the eternal stews
and fries. The commercial name of the
fuel is tdqtid and owing to the habits of the
animal it is by no means difficult to gather.
For example in certain places along every
road where llamas are driven,
ALWAYS AT THE FOOT OF THE HILLS
and in these places only, will taquia be
found not an atom of it anywhere else TO,
miles around The same is true in corrals
] and fields 1uhere the animals craze anoh