Sacramento daily record-union. [volume] (Sacramento [Calif.]) 1875-1891, 1890-11-02
FOUND In THE ANDES.
THREE ANIMALS OF GREAT VALUE TO
THE pERUvIANs,
The Llama, the Alpaca and the vicuna-
Articles of Clothing Made From
Their Goats.

Articles of Clothing Made From
Their Coats.
In the high, cold table-lands Of South
America, where nature has taken grand
shapes, on the bare, bleak Punas, almost as
desolate as Sahara or the lofty plains of
Tartary, there are animals the congeners
of those peculiar to the last-named regions.
Instead OF the camel in his numerous va
rites, there are the llama and his affilia-
tions, similar but distinct, and fulfilling
corresponding functions. Among The lofty
Andes, too, there is, on scale of size rela-
tive TO that which exists between the
Andes and the Alps, the great bird the
condor, the American counterpart of the
Swiss lammergeyer The fishes there have,
also, certain resemblance to those of cor
responding attitudes and conditions of the
Old World, proving that hight, as well as
altitude, exercises controlling and anala-
gous influence on every department and
There is very little to relieve the drear
monotouy of the Punas of Peru and Bo-
livia. Patches of t0td, a fragrant shrub re-
sembling somewhat the heather of the
Scottish highlands, form the only approx
nations to vegetation that meet the eye OF
the traveller, except occasional clumpS OF
stiff ichu grass and kind of swamp moss
where the ground is wet. These furnish
all there is of food for the mules or horses
of the traveller in these inhospitable and
uninhabited regions and a few dry stalks
of the told, which burn out in an instant,
constitute almost the only fuel which he
finds for his fire.
The absence of vegetable implies also
the absence of animal life. An occasional
condor, circling, mere speck in the clear
rarefed atmosphere, or swooplng down
with his fierce, restless head, TO reconnoi-
ter the little cavalcade of adventures;
now and then hiscacha, an animal
strangely compounded OF the rabbit, the
rat and the squirrel; stray ehinchilla-
these are about the only birds and animals
which the traveller in the punas sees for
days together, excepting always the great
droyes of llamas. loaded with ore of tin,
copper and silver, on their way to
the seaports, driven by saturnine lndi-
ans, and the herds Of vicunas and huan-
acos, cousins-german of the llama, which
stare at the intruder from every side. In
some valley, saturated with springs, sus-
tanning short, hardy perennial grass, and
sheltered from the fierce blasts sweeping
down the slopes of the snowy mountains
that rise all around, will, perhaps, be
found a flock OF alpacas, celebrated for
their wool, and belonging to the same
family with the llama, the huanaco and
the vicuna only the alpaca looks little
more like q sheep and less like deer,
than the other animals enumerated.
The alpaca is a source of real wealth to
Peru, and its export has been forbidden,
notwithstanding that all attempts to accli-
matize it in other countries and climeS
have proved signal failures.
1t is alleged by some that there is such
an animal as the wild llama but the
nearest approximation, known to travellers
competent to decide on the question, is the
huanaco, which is the largest of all the
llama family, the llama proper excepted,
as well as the shyest He is, however, like
the vicuna, of a uniform reddish-brown
color on the back, white on the belly and
the inside of the legs, with a blackish
head, while the llama is not only some
times of this color, but white, black, mot
tied, Gring -streaked" and spotted. The
huanaco is found only in the highest and
least accessible regions, where his flock,
although roaming freely over the same
grounds with the vicuna, nevertheless
keeps quite apart, maintaining a distinct
family exclusion The huanacos are re-
puted as untamable, and the only ones
ever known in captivity retained their
wild nature unchanged.
The alpaca, like the llama, is only found
in the domesticated stale, and, like the lat
ter. is of various colors, white and black
predominating, and often mixed, so that
fieeces from the same animal require to bt
assorted before being baled for market
The legs of the alpaca are covered down
or nearly down, to its feet by wool Oh
fleece. while the legs of all its relations
like those of the deer, are clean, covered
with short hair, giving them lighter anc
feeter appearance.
The llama is the largest Of all its claS
Of animals in the Andes, standing four anC
a half feet, and some times more, from tht
ground to the center of its back. 1t is
bright-eyed, furtive-looking creature, no
to be forced or driven, but amenable tC
kindness. 1t carries a load Of from SO to
100 pounds for distance of six to four
teen miles a day. Overloaded, like thr
camel, it lies down aud obstinately refuse
to stir. In an dtdjo, or drove, there is usu
ally an old and experienced llama, who il
leader, and is designated by little, tink
ling silver bell. The Indian drivers hav'
sometimes a bamboo whistle, of plaintiv'
note, with which they coax and lead Their
llamas, sometimes taking of their hats be
fore them and supplicating them, in sucl
musical phrases as the Quichuas anC
Amayras are capable of, to proceed.
The llama is equally suspicious and irri
table. II aught goes wrong, his ears arr
down in an instant and his mouth puck
cred for that acrid expectoration which i
as sure in aim as it is blistering in resCl
when i: strikes the skin. The anima
emits strong and, TO the foreign sense,
most offensive odor, which, when one i
obliged TO pass through large drove, be
comes almost uncomfortable. The female
are not much used for burden, being re
served in isolated localities, under watch
full care, for the propagation of the spe
cies. The wool, or fleece, Is much coarsel
than that of the alpaca and vicuna, but IS
nevertheless, largely used for maxim!
coarse cloths, ropes, etc, in which tn
natural colors are contrasted with skill ant
effect The flesh is eaten, and may b
suited to the tastes, in no wise epicurean
of the dwellers in the Sierra.
But by far the most numerous and grace
full of all this diversified family the small
est and perhaps the least useful, is tn
| lishtsome vicuna, the dominating inhabi
tant of the despobiado, and which give
lsomething of animation to its cold anC
lsullen solitudes. Singly or in groups
Ioften IN a hundred scattered groups, he j
Ito be found where naught else of life j
seen, and where his note Of alarm curves
hundred necks, lifts a hundred graceful
heads, and points twice hundred inquir
ing ears toward the weary traveller anon!
the frosty mountain wastes. On many o
the narrow, family beaten paths of th'
Cordillera, where travel is least frequent
the vicuna is not only to be found in grea
numbers h,t as tame If not tanner thar