THE VICUSfA. 53I 



Tschudi was present at one of these hunts, which lasted for a week, at 

 which one hundred and twenty vicunas were killed. 



The young Vicuna is easily tamed, but, like all its kindred, becomes 

 mutinous as it grows older. A clergyman had a pair which lived with 

 him quietly for four years. At the end of that time the female ran away, 

 and sought to join a herd of her wild kindred. They drove her away 

 with bites and pushes, and she remained a solitary wanderer on the hills. 

 For months, sportsmen and travelers encountered her, for she was con- 

 spicuous by the bright collar which had been placed around her neck, 

 but she fled from their approach. 



It may be added, that since the establishment of the Alpaca manufac- 

 ture by Sir Titus Salt at Bradford, England, the wool of all the AucJienia 

 has become an article of commerce, and is worked up, either alone, or 

 mixed with other textile materials, into numerous and beautiful fabrics. 

 Dress-goods, umbrellas, gloves, and other articles too numerous to men- 

 tion are woven from the wool of the various species. The hair of the 

 guanaco is the most valuable, being longer in the staple, and of a silky, 

 soft texture. The natives of Peru prefer, however, that of the vicuna, 

 from which they weave robes and mantles which have quite the appear- 

 ance of silk, and which, as the hair does not need to be dyed, last for a 

 very long time. 



