Sullivan republican. [volume] (Laporte, Pa.) 1883-1896, 1891-01-16
SOUTH AMERICAS LLAMA.
A STRANGE BUT INDISPENSABLE
LITTLE CREATURE.
1t Has a Deer's Body. Camefs Head.
Sleeps Wool, Mules Hoofs and
Horses Neigh-Its Great Value.

Sleeps Wool, Mules HOOfs and
Horses Neigh-Its Great Value.
One who has never seen llama car
hardly form an idea of how the strange
little creature looks, with the head of {
camel, the body of deer, the wool of 6
sheep, the hoofs of mule and the neigh
of horse. 1t is found nowhere but il
the Andes, and, says Fannie B. Ward
in the Washington Star, is the more in.
teresting because it is the only native
domesticated animal in South America,
the OK, horse, sheep, hog and all Others
useful to man having been brought
originally from some other country. II
is the only beast of burden used in the
higher attitudes, where mules and horses
cannot endure the thin air, as it alone is
exempt from sirroche, its natural home
being 5000 feet and upward. Though
domesticated in Peru, Bolivia and Chill
and not able to live below certain ele-
walton unless the weather is very cold,
great numbers 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-oid colt, standing from four to six
feet high, and is covered with long and
surprisingly thick coat of wool, which,
however, is seldom sheared, as the ami
NAL is used only for purposes of trans
portation. Its usual color is muddy
brown, while few are light yellow or
nearly white. The Indians paint the
latter with liquid dyes and very odd it
looks to see troop of them in all the
colors of the rainbow, red, blue, purple,
pink and green, with gay tassels dangling
from their ears. Many of the most valu-
able 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 a hundred pounds weight, while
the average load of u mule is 300 pounds.
On all the mountain roads leading from
the mines hundreds of llamas may be
seen with bags of barilla, as the pow
dered 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 a bell
attached 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 civiliza-
ton, can manage llamas, and white men
never attempt it. If an ounce more than
100 pounds be added to his burden the
beast will lie down and refuse to stir
until the surplus is removed, and when
ever 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 refrac-
tory animal is ready to move on. An
Indian never strikes his llamas, the ut
most coercion he uses under any circum-
stances being a gentle push. Indeed,
he takes better care of them than he does
of his own children; perhaps with good
reason, since the four-footed animals 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
natives 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 llamas only carry freight, the
females being kept in corral for breeding
purposes. Soon as the young male is
ready to stand he is trained to bear bur-
dens, and at two years old is put into an
alouila, the usual drove cf twenty ami
mails. To drive this number easily two
persons are required. An Indian will
take his alquila, with 100 pounds piled
on the back of each, and, assisted by his
wife and child, will drive them 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 himself
and the animals and furnishes the neces-
sci AOpOc3 SdSho sthNt obiiSi
reckoning forty cents day for the llamas,
twenty cents for the wear and tear of
sacks and ropes and twenty cents for the
food of himself and companero. The
sack in which he carries grain, ore, etc.,
costs in the currency of the country 81 .25,
but will last for long time. Under this
contract he will sometimes make jour
ney of two or three months duration and
and save money out of it.
The llama subsists 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 a week, if given
square meal at both ends of the jour
ney. If too we'll fed, he is subject to a
skin disease. which invariably proves
fatal. Some years ago, in 1857, be-
lieve, an effort was made to introduce
llamas into the United States, but it
could not be carried out, principally be-
cause the food was too good for them.
Seventy-two llamas were taken from
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