Alpaca

“ Aloysius, St., an Italian nobleman, who joined the Society of Jesus; canonised for his devotion to the sick during the plague in Rome, to which he himself fell a victim, June 21, 1591.
Alpaca, a gregarious ruminant of the camel family, a native of the Andes, and particularly the tablelands of Chile and Peru; is covered with a long soft silky wool, of which textile fabrics are woven; in appearance resembles a sheep, but is larger in size, and has a long erect neck with a handsome head. ”

“ I give them corn and barley from my irrigated fields in the valley; they give me wool and meat. The alpaca wool is most valuable. It is hard to get, for the alpaca requires short grasses and plenty of water, and you see there is only coarse tufted ichu grass about us, and there are no streams. It is all right for llamas, but alpacas require better forage.
“No one can imagine the poverty and ignorance of these mountain shepherds. They are filthier than beasts. ”

“ The llama and the alpaca are domesticated; the guanaco and the vicuña run wild. Of the four the alpaca and the vicuña are the most valuable wool-bearing animals: the alpaca on account of the quality and quantity, the vicuña on account of the softness, fineness and quality of its wool. In the early days of the 19th century, the usual length of alpaca staples appears to have been about 12 in., this being a three years growth; but to-day the length is little more than about half this, i.e. a one to two years growth, although from time to time longer staples are to be found. ”

“ These with the llamas and alpacas are ruminants, the two latter domesticated and living in large herds.
The alpaca wool is much superior to that of the llama and better than that of the sheep; if the animals were rationally bred on a large scale the business should be extremely profitable. The animal has shorter legs than the llama which it resembles; it is never used as a burden bearer. The alpaca flourishes on the Titicaca Plateau and in higher, cold and solitary mountain sections, among seed bearing [Pg 240] grasses where snow falls instead of rain. ”

“ The meat of the alpaca is tender, wholesome, and savory. When of a proper age, and well fed, it is described as small-grained and rather mottled, the fat white and firm, and when from three to four years old, of full flavour. It is not a greasy, but rather a juicy meat, and easily digested. The flesh of a full-grown one is more nutritious than that of the yearling although the latter is delicate and savoury. ”

“ Allmend (Leipzig, 1879) , and Die Verfassung der Land-, Alpen- und Forstwirtschaf der Schweiz (Basel, 1878) . (W. A. B. C.)
ALPACA, one of two domesticated breeds of South American camel-like ungulates, derived from the wild huanaco or guanaco. Alpacas are kept in large flocks which graze on the level heights of the Andes of southern Peru and northern Bolivia, at an elevation of from 14,000 to 16,000 ft. above the sea-level, throughout the year. They are not used as beasts of burden like llamas, but are valued only for their wool, of which the Indian blankets and ponchos are made. ”

“ The Scutarines are of course very much in evidence, clad in a jaunty sleeveless and magnificently-embroidered jacket, silk shirt, and enormous baggy breeches of black, and heavily pleated. How heavily pleated they are can be gathered when twenty to twenty-five yards of a kind of black alpaca are used for one pair of knee-breeches. White stockings and a red skull-cap—not the high Turkish fez—with a huge blue silk tassel reaching to the waist, complete the attire. Their women-folk look picturesque in a large scarlet cloak, with a hood half covering the face. ”

“ The four species, llama, alpaca, guanaco, and vicuña as quite distinct from each other, and although the guanaco can be tamed and taught to carry burdens, its labour is not of sufficient value to render this worth while. The alpaca is never used as a beast of burden. Its fleece is the consideration for which it is domesticated and reared, and its wool is much finer and more valuable than that of the llama. ”

“ He took a great interest in the question of naturalising the alpaca, and wrote two or three essays on the subject, the latest being in competition for the medal of the Highland and Agricultural Society in 1841. He died at Oxford on 5 May 1857. ”

“ I have lost a nephew who was very fond of apples, and a black alpaca umbrella of great value. A young Southerner, who has not lived in this State long enough to vote, has been found in possession of an apple singularly like the kind generally eaten by my missing relative, and his sister has come out in a waist made of second-hand alpaca?'—See the point now? ”

“ The alpaca, it should be said, is an animal possessing some of the characteristics both of the sheep and the goat, and the meaning of the question is, of course, what is to become of that vast middle class in whose lives sometimes good and sometimes evil seems to rule? ”

“ The extremely artificial life of the alpaca, which renders that curious and valuable animal so absolutely dependent on the ministrations of its human master, and the complete domestication of the llama, certainly indicate the lapse of many centuries before such a change could have been effected. ”

“ The alpaca is a sort of cross between the llama and the sheep. The llamas, alpacas, and guanacos have a peculiar way of defending themselves. If abused or made angry by teasing, they will turn upon their assailants, and squirt a pint or so of saliva, like a shower-bath, from between their teeth, being able to throw it with great force five or six feet. If this saliva gets into the mouth or eyes, or upon any place on the flesh where the skin is broken, it is poisonous, and inflammation{428} sets in at once. ”

“ The potato is found wild in Chile, and probably in Peru, as a very insignificant tuber. But the Peruvians, after cultivating it for centuries, increased its size and produced a great number of edible varieties. [1144] Another proof of the great antiquity of Peruvian civilization is to be found in the llama and alpaca, which are domesticated animals, with individuals varying in color: the one a beast of burden yielding coarse wool, and the other bearing a thick fleece of the softest silken fibres. ”

“ The Indians of Llollia and the district are of the Aymará race, and are strong and well built generally. In their own way they are certainly industrious, for it is very unusual to meet either a man or a woman who is not spinning, whether indoors or out of doors, seated or walking. They are all owners of large flocks of sheep, whilst many of them also have droves [361] of llamas and alpacas, the last of which are said to yield large profits from the sale of the famous alpaca wool. Both men and women wear nothing but dark blue homespun clothing, with stockings of the natural colour of the wool. ”

“ Pure water is an absolute essential. Their long fleece, sheared once in two years, is always in great demand; a fleece weighs 10-15 pounds. The alpacas, numbering probably 200,000, are tended by Indians whose patient endurance qualify them in a measure, but who need instruction to supervise them with more intelligent care. There are vast lands suitable for their breeding and culture, and regions where sheep, donkeys, goats, and cattle may be raised. None of these industries is practised except in a small way, though land, suitable fodder, and climate are all of the best. ”

“ The question came in anxious tones, for the blue alpaca had been sent them in a bundle of old clothes, and though it failed to fit either of the girls, the wearing of it was a much coveted privilege.
"Well, now, I don't know," said Mrs. ”

“ To-day there are three distinct methods of producing worsted yarn. Firstly, there is the preparing and spinning of the true worsted thread, this being made from long English and colonial wool. In this class should also be included mohair and alpaca. Secondly, there is the preparing and spinning of what are known as cross-bred and botany yarns, these being made from cross-bred and botany wools. Thirdly, there is the preparing and spinning of short botany wools on the French system. ”

“ Hundreds of alpacas and sheep grazed on the hill slopes and valley floor, and their tracks showed plainly that they were frequently driven up to the snowline in those valleys where a trickle of water supported a band of pasture. Less than a hundred feet below them were other huts and flocks.
Here we have the limits of altitude and the limits of resources. The intervalley spaces do not support grass. Some of them are quite bare, others are covered with mosses. It is too high for even the tola bush—that pioneer of Alpine vegetation in the Andes. ”

“ Large droves of llamas and alpacas were scattered about over the pampa of Vilcapujio, and I observed that these animals mixed but little together, the one or two stray ones in each large drove looking like visitors, out of place. After leaving the pampa the road becomes more uneven, and crosses the river Ancacata several times. Ancacata is about four leagues from Vilcapujio, but the posta way-bills, or “guias,” give the distance as six leagues. ”

“ The native sheep of the plateau are of small stature, long-legged, thick-skinned, and have a rough and scanty fleece; but when this puna variety is crossed with the imported merino sheep, the criollo offspring are larger, not so thick-skinned and have abundant wool of a much curlier and finer quality. The shearing takes place annually, the production being from five to eight pounds of wool per head, according to the age of the sheep and the kind of pasture. The most important wool-growing industry is that of the plateaus on which the llama, alpaca and vicuña have their haunts. ”

“ They pasture upon the mountains and in the deep glens of their native country, affording the natives warm clothing and wholesome food. The soft fur which is found covering the hump and shoulders is manufactured by the Thibetians into a fine hut strong cloth. I saw several of these animals in the Zoological Gardens of Paris; and a cross between it and a cow produces a hybrid, a beautiful animal, uniting the good qualities of both parents.
The alpacas (animals, with the llamas, allied to the camel tribe) introduced recently into this colony by Mr. ”

“ Only the cereal barley will grow there, and some of those hardy roots—the natives of an arctic zone. But they are covered with a sward of grass—the ‘ycha’ grass, the favourite food of the llamas—and this renders them serviceable to man. Herds of half-wild cattle may be seen, tended by their wilder-looking shepherds. Flocks of alpacas, female llamas with their young, and long-tailed Peruvian sheep, stray over them, and to some extent relieve their cheerless aspect. ”

“ Its colour is usually either white or black, though there are some of the alpacos speckled or spotted. Ponchos are woven out of alpaco-wool by the Indians of the Andes.
The alpaco is a domesticated animal, like the llama, but it is not used for carrying burdens. It is kept in large flocks, and regularly shorn as sheep are. If one of the alpacos gets separated from the flock, it will lie down and suffer itself to be beaten to death, rather than go the way its driver wishes. You have, no doubt, sometimes seen a common sheep exhibit similar obstinacy. ”

“ Long, long while afterwards, yet not long enough that I should escape the memory and the records of our holy men, some other of our children, hearing of the power of the Comanches of their wealth, of their beautiful country, determined also to leave us and spread to the south. These are the Apaches From the top of the big mountains, always covered with snow they look towards the bed of the sun. They see the green grass of the prairie below them, and afar the blue salt-water Their houses are as numerous as the stars in heaven, their warriors as thick as the shells in the bottom of our lakes. ”

“ The sun was intensely oppressive, and glared like a shield of red-hot brass. A friendly bush, surrounded with fine grass, and standing about one hundred yards to the left of the hard and splendid natural road which runs through four-fifths of the Jornada, invited me to partake of its modest shade, and I turned my horse in that direction, but was surprised at noticing a column of dust to my left, in the direction of the Sierra Blanca, which had the appearance of being in violent motion, and coming my way. Instinctively I felt that it was caused by Apaches ”

“ There is yet another animal of this kind, called alpagnes, having wool of extraordinary fineness, but their legs are shorter, and their snouts contracted in such a manner as to give them some resemblance to the human countenance. The Indians make several uses of these creatures, some of which carry burdens of about an hundred-weight. ”

“ Although of the main branch of the great Apache tree they differ in tribal organization, in their manufacture of superb blankets, in their courage and address, and in the fact that they keep large flocks of sheep, and cultivate the earth. ”

“ But for all-day-up-and-down use the alpagata wins every time; the baby wears alpagatas, and its grandmother wears a larger variant; there are white alpagatas, brown alpagatas, grey alpagatas, black alpagatas for those in mourning—a very important ceremony in Spain—and there are the elaborate, almost Eastern, alpagatas, entirely of esparto grass, the making of which occupies the time when the goatherd is not yelling at his goats. Even the horsemen, the caballeros, often wear alpagatas. ”