SHEEP AND WOOL. 
411 
about thirty ounces are sufficient to manufacture a shawl a 
yard and a half square, and the worth of thirty ounces is 
eight or nine shillings. Then why do these shawls cost 
600/. and sometimes 700/. ? In answer to that question I 
will read a passage from the catalogue of this museum. 
“ Thirty ounces, valued at eight or nine shillings, are all that 
is required in the manufacture of a shawl a yard and a half 
square. The immense cost of these shawls in the European 
market is therefore a subject of much wonder to those un¬ 
acquainted with the history of their manufacture and trans¬ 
portation. A heavy duty is first paid upon the wool, then 
a further tax upon the yarn when it reaches the bazaar, and 
the manufactured shawl when taken to the custom house is 
further taxed according to the direction or caprice of the 
collector. If intended for the European market the shawls 
have yet to pass"through the ordeal of still heavier exactions. 
They must be borne from Cashmere across the Indus to 
Peshawur on the frontier of Affghanistan, a journey of 
twenty days, upon the back of a man, the road being often 
impassable for camels or mules, deep precipices being crossed 
by suspension bridges of rope, and perpendicular rocks 
climbed by means of wooden ladders. At various stages of 
this journey taxes are exacted amounting to thirty-six shillings 
or forty-two shillings in the aggregate. From Peshawur to 
near the confines of Europe tribute is paid at many custom 
houses, and the forbearance of the marauders of Affghanistan 
and Persia and of the Turkomanic hordes must also be pur¬ 
chased at a high price. The precious burden is thus con¬ 
veyed to Europe over the Caucasus and through Russia, or, 
as is now frequent, through the Turkish provinces to Con¬ 
stantinople.” You see our friends in Cashmere are not 
aware of how fully we have discussed the question of free 
trade, and determined that it is best for the extension of 
trade. You need not wonder then that those beautiful shawls 
manufactured from the hair of the Cashmere goat should 
sometimes reach a price of 600/. or 700/. before it passes the 
rocky portals of the valley of Cashmere. 
But I now pass to a kind of animal that has only recently 
yielded produce for our backs, but which is likely to increase 
the quantity of our cloth. I allude to the alpaca, which is 
allied to the camel and dromedary. When Cortes conquered 
Mexico, and Pizarro Peru, they found the llama employed 
as a beast of burden. The Mexican and Peruvian govern¬ 
ment have placed an embargo upon the exportation of these 
creatures, so that we have only now and then seen them as 
curiosities in the collections of our zoological gardens. But 
