PERU 



The Republic occupies a long stretch of territory upon the 

 surf-beaten Pacific Coast of South America, extending from 

 near the Equator to latitude nearly 20 deg. south, and thence 

 across the vast mountain range of the Andes to the Amazon 

 Valley. The sea frontage is 1400 miles in length, and the area 

 of the country is variously estimated between 440,000 and 

 680,000 square miles, portions being in dispute with its neigh- 

 bours Chile, Ecuador, and Colombia. There have also been 

 boundary questions with Bolivia and Brazil upon its eastern 

 side. It has a population of 4,500,000. 



Cattle and sheep are plentiful, but a lot will have to be done 

 in the way of improving their quality before this country can 

 be taken into account. There is not much prospect for cattle- 

 rearing at present, it is more of a mining country, but there 

 are vast areas of rich grazing lands upon which the famous 

 Alpaca flocks are run, and the land is easily irrigated. 



Apart from the more spectacular mining industry, it is in- 

 teresting to note that the plateau and the limestone flanks of 

 the high inland Andes of Peru are grazed by thousands of 

 llamas as well as by scattered flocks of native sheep, for which 

 the short turf that grows from 11,000 ft. up to the snow line is 

 admirably adapted. An interesting and successful experiment 

 has been carried out by Messrs. Duncan, Fox & Co., who ten 

 years ago imported 6000 well-bred sheep from the Straits of 

 Magellan to form the nucleus of an Andean sheep -breeding 

 industry on modern lines. The flocks have now increased to 

 over 40,000 under the care of Scotch shepherds brought from 

 the Orkneys, the whole undertaking reflecting great credit on 

 Anglo-Saxon American pastoral enterprise. We have the 

 analogy of Patagonia to prove that wherever the guanaco runs 

 — to which the llama and vicuna are first cousins — it is a sign 

 of good " sheep country," and the logical inference is that 



221 



