The daily morning journal and courier., 1900-10-16
HUNTING THE cHINCHILLA.
South American Indians Use Dynamite
 to Secure Perfect Skins.

South American Indians Use Dynamite
 to Secure Perfect Skins.
 1 Killing chinchilla with the aid of dy-
 nan1ite is one of the lucrative pastimes | of the South American Indians which
 enriches the commerce of the world
 very considerably. This season, more
 than ever before, chinchilla has been the fashionable fur used in the manu- facture of cloaks and muffs, and for the trimming of costly hats.
 | High in the mountains the nimble- footed chinchilla are caught and killed by half-savage Indians. Tact and skill are needed to allure the cautious little animal from its hole in the earth. Originally the Indians used to use cactus prongs, which are long and sharp, to capture them in their holes by impaling them on the end of their natural spear This punctured the skin and impaired its value. The trap per tried to smoke the 'chinchlla out by making great fires near the entrance of the burrows, but the smoke, it was found, caused the skin to turn yellow, which seriously depreciated it's value. Now the more progressive Indians use dynamite.
 After locating the chinohilla, they form a network of grass and hardy plants which is placed around the hill on the side of which the animal digs its hole. A dynamite cartridge, with a fine fuse attached, is then discharged in the center of the net which fright ems the chinchilla so that they leave their holes and scamper wildly to and fro about the space inside the net. The Indians then dash into the arena with clubs and kill them by striking them over the head. This is considered the easiest and best method of killing them. as 1t does not in any way dam age the skins, which vary in value from $3 to S15 each When it is con- sidered that as many as 100 animals are killed in one sortie of this character the value of the skins to the Indians, who are shrews commercial traders, may be immagined.
 Soc of the tribe own ferrets, which they use to good advantage. They pay as uch as $5 for one. The ferrets are taken to the mountain tops and sent through the furrows, chasing the chin chilla out into the open, where they are dubbed to death with celecrity by the waiting Indians. The skins are re- moved immediately and placed on shrubs to dry. The evening meal of the trappers often consists of the bod ies of the slain rodents, the meat of which is white and tender. The hearts of the latter are given to the ferrets.
 A great part of the trapping is done at night the chinchilla seldom being visible in the daytime The nights are cool and clear, and there being but lit tie vegetation at the height where the chinchilla are caught, the mountains are for long period each month ilu- minated by the rays of the moon, en- abling the Indians to move about with great agility for their prey. The chin chilla lives principally on herbs, and often when it comes out to feed is trapped by the Indians.
 Four times year the tribes descend into the seni-civilized villages at the base of the mountain with their skins There they are met by the various agents of the European fur houses. One American house has its representative there, too The occasion of the Indf- ans arrival is usually made a religious festival
 George Herzig, the only American agent there, says that he paid one tribe of thirty Indians for the firm by whom he is employed as much as SSO,0O0-in