484 THE TROPICAL WOULD. 



dilleras, but never ventures upon the bare summits, for its hoofs are tender. The cry 

 of the vicuna is a shrill whistle, so loud that it may be heard at a long distance. Like 

 the camel and llama, it has the habit of spitefully ejecting a mass of saliva and half- 

 digested food in the face of those who come within reach. In the case of the vicuna 

 this is peculiarly offensive, has a disgusting smell, and stains the skin of a dark green 

 color, which can be effaced only with difficulty. 



The annual hunt of the vicuna, which takes place in April or May, is the great 

 event in life of the Indians of the Puna. They collect in bands from all the villages, 

 bearing bundles of poles and ropes, and set out for the lofty summits whither the 

 animals have retired. With the poles and ropes a circular enclosure, called a chacu, 

 is formed, often several hundred paces wide. The hunters form a ring, sometimes 

 miles in circumference, and gradually drive the animals into the chacu. The vicunas 

 are shy and do not venture to leap over the cords, and are easily dispatched by the 

 hunters. If, however, a huanacu happens to be driven into the enclosure, he bounds 

 over the cord, and is followed by the herd of vicunas in a mass, just as a flock of 

 sheep will follow a leader. The flesh of the vicuna is rank and unsavory. Squier 

 says that it is just preferable as an alternative to starvation. But when it has been 

 dried and pounded, and disguised by an abundance of the hot red pepper, its taste is 

 not altogether unpleasant to one who has learned to like that fiery condiment. 



The number caught in one of these hunts is often considerable. At one in which 

 Von Tschudi took part there were 122 killed, and the produce of their skins was 

 appropriated to building a new altar in the village church. In the times of the Incas 

 the vicuna chase in the Puna was conducted upon a far more magnificent scale. 

 Every year a great hunt was held. Twenty-five or thirty thousand of the Indians 

 were assembled, who drove all the animals within a circuit of many leagues into an 

 enormous enclosure. As the circle narrowed, the lines of the hunters were doubled 

 and trebled. All the pernicious animals were killed, but only a limited number of 

 the deer, huanacus, and vicunas, for those wise rulers were too provident to take the 

 lives of these creatures merely for sport. The battue, apart from the destruction 

 of noxious animals, was rather a royal spectacle than a hunt. 



Excepting man, the vicuna has few enemies capable of penetrating its lofty strong- 

 holds. A sneaking puma now and then creeps up from the regions below ; or a condor 

 swoops down from above and pounces upon the young. But the numbers of the 

 vicunas has undergone no diminution from age to age. Now, however, that their wool 

 has become an article of commerce, we may anticipate their gradual extermination ; 

 for, unlike the alpacas, they are incapable of domestication, and man the arch-destroyer 

 wages fatal war upon all animals which he can not domesticate. Their only alternative 

 is death or subjection. 



Several animals of the deer tribe are al^o indigenous to the Puna. Among these is 

 the stag-like tarush, whose horns consist of but two branches. The half- wild Puna 

 dogs are especially annoying to the traveler, for they have a peculiar antipathy to the 

 white race ; and it is often dangerous for a European to approach an Indian hut 

 guarded by these spiteful creatures, who, like the bull-dog, do not hesitate to attack 

 enemies far stronger than themselves. The bisacha, allied to the chinchilla, which it 

 resembles in the quality of its fur, is often seen perched in front of its burrow, to 

 which it retreats on the approach of danger. 



