226 NEIGHBORS WITH CLAWS AND HOOFS. 



fact that in the graves of the Incas, the original inhabit- 

 ants, clothing made from alpaca-wool has been found. 



7. Squier, in his descriptive sketches of Peruvian 

 travel, writes : " The merchants of Tacna have built here 

 a rude inclosure for the droves of llamas that come from 

 the interior with products for the coast, and here is also a 

 little cluster of buildings for persons connected with the 

 trade, homely and poor, but a welcome refuge for the 

 tired traveler. As we rode up, a troop of more than a 

 thousand llamas, with proudly -curved necks, erect heads, 

 great, inquiring, timid eyes, and suspicious ears thrust for- 

 ward to catch the faintest sound of danger, each with its 

 hundred pounds of ore secured in sacks on its back, led, 

 not driven, by quaintly costumed Indians, filed past us 

 into the inclosure of the establishment." 



8. " The Spaniards were amazed," says Prescott, " by 

 the number as well as the magnitude of the flocks of 

 llamas which they saw browsing on the stunted herbage 

 that grows in the elevated regions of the Andes. Some- 

 times they were gathered in in closures, but more usually 

 wore roaming at large under the conduct of their Indian 

 shepherds ; and the conquerors now learned, for the first 

 time, that these animals were tended with as much care, 

 and their migrations as nicely regulated, as those of the 

 vast flocks of merinos in their own country. 



9. " Of the four varieties of the Peruvian sheep, the 

 llama, the one most familiarly known, is the least valuable 

 on account of its wool. It is chiefly employed as a beast 

 of burden, for which, although it is somewhat larger than 

 any of the other varieties, its diminutive size and strength 

 would seem to disqualify it. It carries a load of little 

 more than a hundred pounds, and can not travel above 

 three or four leagues a day. But all this is compensated 

 by the little care and cost required for its management 



