The Chickasha daily express. (Chickasha, Indian Territory [Okla.]) 1899-current, 1906-03-20
LLAMA TRAINS cS s-Ii:
Probably the Most 2ictursscue Moas
Of Transportation Is to Be S@sn
in the Andes.

. the pack lIdiuS Ol DuIIuS > iii COlil
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 in com
ing and going across the desert, so
it 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 to 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 thefi0ck, and there is little more
fuss made with onethan 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 ON
the mothers back.
The pack train makes the jour
ney from the seaports on the west
coast Of South America to the ba-
sin lying between the ranges OF
the Andes in from 20 to 30 days.
All the steamers which in former
days were seen on Lake Titicaca
were carried piece by piece on the
backs of llamas and put together
on their arrival. 1t was the same
with the machinery which is used
in the mines. The railways have
changed all this.
The burden which the llama will
carry must not exceed 100 pounds. |
1t makes no difference of what his
burden consists, he will carry it
over pathways where no other
beast of burden could find foot
hold. But if he is overloaded he
is quick to resent it, and no
amount of beating or persuasion
will make him rise to his feet and
continue his journey except the re-
moval of the excess.
No other animal can endure the
rarefied atmosphere of the heights
of the Andes. Even the burros
have Sits in their nostrils or have
holes punched through them in
order to make it easier for them to |
breathe. When a horse is first
brought into this high altitude
blood drips from his ears and nos
trils and it takes him a long time |
to- become acclimated. Mules are
more enduring and the burros bet
ter still, but the llama is the ma
tive there, and thriyes according
ly. The keepof the llama costs the |
arriero nothing, and he obtains his
food as he passes over the deserts. |
Like the camel, he can live for a
long time without food or water.
When the arriero comes to a good
bit Of grazing he let's the pack lin
ger, sometimes for ain hour or two,
or it may be for several days, for
time is no object and the welfare
Of the animals is Of the greatest |
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