The Chickasha daily express. (Chickasha, Indian Territory [Okla.]) 1899-current, 1906-03-17
LLAMA TRAINS 6 FoLl.~
Probably the Most Picturesque Mode
of Transportation Is TO Be seen
in the Andes.

transportation in the world IS
doubtless that of the llama trains
which one can see from the car
windows in a journey across the
Andes. Though the railway has
been completed for several years
the pack trains of burros still com
pete with it for the transportation
Of the natural products from the
interior and the carrying back OF
merchandise of all sorts from
England, France and Germany.
The burro train shortens the dis
tance nearly a hundred miles, for
the sure-foOted little animals are
able to climb mountains that are
impossible for railway trains.
The arrerios in charge OF the
| llama and burro trains are usually
accompanied by their entire fam
lilies. Their lives are spent Inco
ing and going across the desert, so
| ii matters not to them how long a
time is spent on the journey. The
animals are the capital Of the ar
rerio and the desert is his home.
His wife helps him 10 drive them,
and at night, wrapped in their pom
chos, they lie down by the side of
their beasts, though the air is
often so cold that ice forms in the
| little streams beside them. They
are often overtaken by snow
storms in the mountains, but they
do not seem to suffer from the cold
and are rarely known to perish
from it. The South American
bundles all his blankets about his
head and keeps his feet cool. The
North American keeps his feet
warm and exposes his head and
arms. The children who are too
small to walk, sometimes little
ones two or three days of age, ride
on the donkeys when their parents
are drivin gthe trains. They are
born by the wayside like the labs
of the flock, and there is little more
fuss made with one than the other
The first year Of their lives is
spent in the pannier on the side Of
the burro, where they roll among
the cooking utensils and blankets
and surplus clothing. Sometimes
they are carried in a poncho Oh
the mothers back.
The pack train makes the jour
ney from the seaports on the wes
coast of South America to the ba
sin lying between the ranges oI
the Andes in from 20 to 80 days
All the steamers which in former
days were seen on Lake Titicacs
were carried piece by piece on tht
backs of llamas and put together
on their arrival. 1T was the same
with the machinery which is uset
in the mines. The railways have
changed all this.
The burden which the llama viii
carry must not exceed 100 pounds
1t makes no difference of what hi
burden consists. he will carry i
over pathways where no othel
beast of burden could find foot
hold. But if he is overloaded HI
Is quick to resent it, and NJ
amount of beating or persuasion
will make him rise to his feet an,
continue his journey except the re
moval of the excess.
No other animal can endure tn,
rarefied atmosphere of the height
of the Andes. Even the burro
have slits in their nostrils or hav
holes punched through them il
order to make it easier for them t
breathe. When a horse is frs
brought into this high altitud
blood drips from his ears and nos
trils and it takes him a long tim
I to become acclimated. Mules ar
: more enduring and the burros be-
ter still, but the llama is the ns
: tive there, and thrives according
! ". The keep Of the llama costs tn
J arriero nothing, and he obtains hi
food as he passes over the deserts
Like the camel, he can live for
long time without food or waite
}. When the arriero comes to a goo
3 bit Of grazing he let's the pack lii
ger, sometimes for an hour or tw'
or it may be for several days, f
2 time is no object, and the welfaI
}. Of the animals is of the creates
Importance.