114 GU AN AC OS: LIVING AND DYING 



valued as that of the smaller variety of the breed, called 

 the vicuna, whose hair was woven into the finest 

 material, reserved especially for the Peruvian nobles. 

 The vicunas are little beasts, with soft feet and excellent 

 appetites, and when the grass on the higher mountains 

 withers in the summer heat, they come down in search of 

 the pasture on the moist plains. In every herd there are 

 generally fifteen or sixteen females to one male, but he 

 is very careful of his charges, and when they are on 

 the march always brings up the rear. The little ones 

 are strong and swift, even from the moment of their 

 birth ; but when the males are quite grown up the 

 mothers all join together to expel them from the flock, 

 and the young creatures then form a club of their own, 

 from which, in their turn, the females are excluded. 



The laws of hunting in Peru were very strict, and the 

 peasants were strictly forbidden to break them. Once a 

 year the Government arranged a chase on a large scale, 

 which lasted a whole week, and was shared in by all 

 the men of the district ; but great care was taken that 

 the hunt should only be held in the same place every 

 fourth year. Each man had his appointed place and 

 brought with him a pole and spear, and a weapon called a 

 bolas, made of two balls joined by a string. This was 

 whirled round the head and let fly at the animal, and so 

 skilful were the Peruvians in its use, that the creature 

 was generally killed at the first blow 



As the hunt went on, the circle of men was drawn 

 closer and closer, till at the end, nothing was left alive 

 but the valuable vicunas and their cousins the guanacos, 

 who were always held sacred. Then a great shearing 

 took place — sometimes as many as forty thousand of 

 these llamas remained to be sheared — and the wool was 

 stored in the royal magazine till the different kinds 

 could be sorted and separated. When this was done, 

 tbe finer sorts were reserved for the nobles, and the 

 rest given to the common people, who had a right to 



