ABOUT THE ALPACA. 87 



agreeable in flavour. His wool has been utilized to some 

 extent in the manufacture of a coarse kind of cloth. 



Smaller than the llama, but belonging to the same family, 

 is the Alpaca, or Paco. There is a strong resemblance to 

 the sheep in the general configuration of its body, but the 

 neck is longer and the head more graceful. Its wool is 

 very long — on some parts of the body four or five inches — 

 and it is exceedingly soft and silky. Its colour is generally 

 black, but sometimes speckled with brown and white. It 

 is largely exported to England ; where an alpaca factory 

 was first erected at Saltaire, near Shipley, in Yorkshire, 

 by Sir Titus Salt, in 1852. Considerable quantities are 

 also obtained from Australia, where the alpaca has been 

 naturalized through the patriotic and persevering exertions 

 of Mr. Ledger. 



The alpacas are kept in large flocks, which for the 

 greater part of the year graze on the grassy table-lands, 

 and are driven to the huts only at shearing-time. They 

 are remarkably timorous, and take to their heels at the 

 approach of a stranger. Their obstinacy is equal to their 

 timidity. Should one of them by any chance be separated 

 from the flock, he will throw himself on the ground, and 

 neither blows nor caresses will induce him to move. He 

 will frequently suffer the severest punishment rather than 

 go the way his driver wishes. Few animals seem to stand in 

 more urgent need of the companionship of their species, and 

 they can be separated from the flock only at a very early age. 



The largest species of the llamas is the Guanaco. or 



