Note 517 — Chapter CXI

“The domestic animals,” says Padre Blas Valera, “which God has given to these Indians of Peru, are bland and gentle, like their masters, so that a child can lead them where he likes. There are two kinds, one larger than the other. The Indians call the animals llamas, and their shepherds llama-michec. They are of all colours, like the horses of Spain, when domesticated, but the wild kind, called huanacus, have only one colour, which is a washed-out chestnut. The llama stands as high as a deer of Spain, but no animal does it resemble more than a camel without a hump, and a third part of the size. The neck of the llama is long and smooth. The Indians used the skin, softened with grease, as soles for their sandals, but, as they had not the art of tanning, they took them off in crossing brooks or in rainy weather. The Spaniards make very good reins of it for their horses. The skin is also used for girths and cruppers of saddles, and for whips. Besides this, the animals are useful to both Indians and Spaniards as beasts of burden, to carry merchandise whithersoever they list, but they are generally used on the road from Cuzco to Potosi, a distance of near two hundred leagues. They carry three or four arrobas” (75 or 100 lbs.) “weight, and only make journeys of three leagues a day. When they are tired they lie down, and nothing will induce them to stir, for if any one tries to force them to rise, they spit in his face. They have no other means of defending themselves, having no horns like a stag. That they may not be easily tired, some forty or fifty unladen animals accompany the drove, that they may take their turn with the burdens. Their flesh is the best in the world; it is tender, wholesome, and savoury. The doctors order the flesh of their lambs of four or five months, for sick persons, in preference to chickens.

“The Yncas possessed enormous flocks of llamas of all colours, and each colour had a special name. The flocks were divided according to their colours, and if a lamb was born of a different colour from its parents, it was passed into the flock of its own colour. The Quipus had knots for each flock, according to the colour, and thus an account of their number was easily kept.

“There is another domestic kind, called Paco. The Pacos are not reared for carrying burdens, but for the sake of their flesh, and for their wool, which is excellent and very long. The Indians make very fine cloths of it, dotted with rich colours. The Indians do not use the milk of either of the kinds, nor do they make cheese of it. Indeed, they only have sufficient to nourish their lambs, and the Indians call the milk, the udder, and the act of sucking, by the same word nuñu.

“The wild kind was called huanacu, and these huanacus are of the same size and form as the llamas. Their flesh is good, though not so good as that of the domesticated llama. The males always remain on lofty heights, while the females come down into the plains to feed, and when the males see any one coming, they bleat like the neighing of a horse, to warn the females, and they gallop away with the females in front. Their wool is short and rough, yet it was also used by the Indians for their cloths. There is another wild kind called vicuña, a delicate animal with plenty of fine wool. The vicuña stands higher than a goat, and the colour of its wool is a clear chestnut. They are so fleet that no dog can overtake them, and frequent the loftiest fastnesses near the line of snow.” G. de la Vega, i, lib. viii, caps. 16 and 17.

“Among the notable things possessed by the Indians of Peru,” says Acosta, “are the vicuñas and llamas. These llamas are tame and very useful; the vicuñas are wild. The vicuñas live in the loftiest and most uninhabited parts of the mountains, which are called punas. Snow and frost do not harm them, and they run very swiftly. They are not very prolific, and the Yncas therefore prohibited the hunting of these animals, except on special occasions. Their wool is like silk and very durable, and, as the colour is natural and not a dye, it lasts for ever. Acosta also says that vicuña flesh is excellent for sore eyes.

“The domestic flocks are of two kinds, one small, and called pacos, the others with less wool, and useful as beasts of burden, called llamas. The llamas have long necks like those of camels, and this is necessary to enable them to browse, as they stand high on their legs. They are of various colours, some white all over, others black all over, others grey, others black and white, which they call moro-moro. For sacrifices the Indians were very particular to select the proper colour, according to the season or occasion. The Indians make cloth from the wool, a coarse sort called auasca, and a fine sort called ccompi. Of this ccompi they make table cloths, napkins, and other cloths very skilfully worked, which have a lustre like silk. In the time of the Yncas the principal ccompi workers lived at Capachica, near the lake of Titicaca. They use dyes which are gathered from various plants.

“The llamas carry loads weighing from four to six arrobas (100 to 150 lbs.), but do not go further than three, or at the most four leagues a day. They are all fond of a cold climate, and die when they are taken down into the warm valleys. They have a very pleasant look, for they will stop in the road and watch a person very attentively for some time without moving, with their necks raised up, so that it causes laughter to see their serenity; but sometimes they suddenly take fright and run off to inaccessible places with their loads.” Acosta, lib. iv, cap. 41, p. 293.

The llama measures, from the sole of the hoof to the top of the head, 4 feet 6 to 8 inches, and from the sole of the hoof to the shoulders 2 feet 11 inches to 3 feet. The female is usually smaller, but her wool is finer and better. The young llamas are left with their dams for about a year. In Acosta’s time (1608) a llama was worth six or seven dollars, and in 1840 about from three to four dollars. The Indians are very fond of these animals. They adorn them by tying bows of ribbon to their ears, and, before loading, they always fondle and caress them affectionately. See Von Tschudi’s Travels, pp. 307-14.

The llama is invaluable to the Peruvian Indians, and Cieza de Leon truly says that without this useful animal they could scarcely exist. Their food is llama flesh, which may be preserved for a long time in the form of charqui or smoke-dried meat, their clothing is made from llama wool, all the leather they use is from llama hides, the only fuel they have in many parts of the Collao is llama dung, and, while living, the llama is their beast of burden.