ARTIODACTYLA 309 



The baggage animals, carrying 600 pounds, would travel 2.^/2 miles 

 an hour for a short distance, or with 300 pounds on a long journey. 

 Dromedary "caravans three hundred strong left Pekin for Turkestan 

 as early as 1500 B.C.," but they have now been mostly displaced by 

 two-humped camels in central Asia. 4 



From their camels the Arab derives meat, rich milk, leather and 

 fuel, and the hair is used in making his tents, shawls, ropes and other 

 articles. 5 Camel's hair is also used in other countries for various pur- 

 poses. An old male Bactrian camel, with long, woolly hair hanging 

 from its neck, shoulders and rump, is an imposing animal. Camels were 

 pronounced "unclean" and the eating of their flesh forbidden by the 

 Law of Moses (Lev., xi:4; Deut., xiv:7). Camels and dromedaries 

 always attract a great deal of attention in menageries and zoological 

 parks. 



Llamas were long ago domesticated and used as beasts of burden in 

 South America. "Eight millions were said to be in use by the Incas 

 when the Spaniards invaded Peru. At present there are about five 

 hundred thousand." 6 They will carry from 50 to 200 pounds each and 

 travel from 6 to 12 miles a day, living on the forage along the way. 7 

 They furnish both meat and milk for their owners. Their woolly hair 

 is excellent for the manufacture of cloth, though inferior to that of 

 the closely related alpacas. 



The alpacas, also domesticated, are bred in great flocks in Peru and 

 Chili for their long woolly hair, which for over a century has been 

 exported to other countries, where it is used in the manufacture of 

 blankets, shawls and other cloth articles. The vicunias, found in a 

 wild state in the Andes, also yield fine, curly wool, and are hunted for 

 their flesh, as well as for their wool. The guanacos, or huanacos, 

 found wild in the Andes and "in large numbers on the plains of 

 Patagonia," provide the principal meat supply of Patagonian nomads, 

 as well as skins for clothing and tents. About 5000 vicunia and 20,000 

 guanaco skins reached the markets of the world in 1913, and 30,000 

 guanaco skins, perhaps including vicunia, in 1923. 



4 Jennison, Natural history: animals, pp. 304-307, 1927. 



8 Ingersoll, The Arab's debt to the camel, in The life of animals, pp. 336-337, 1907. 

 6 Jennison, Natural history: animals, p. 300, 1927. 



T Austin, Queer methods of travel in curious corners of the world, Nat. Geog. 

 Mag., xviii, 688, 1907. The Riverside Natural History, v, 284-285. 

 8 Innis, The fur trade of Canada, table opp. p. 76, 1927. 



