The llama wool is not exported from Peru, as it is much in demand locally for the manufacture of carpets, sacking, and ropes. The llama family include, in addition to the llama itself, the alpaca, the vicuna, and the guanaco.
Of these the most important by far, as regards the wool, is the alpaca. The fleece, which is shorn annually, averages from 7 to 1 2 lbs. in weight, and is superior to the wool of the sheep for the length and softness of its fiber.
The Peruvians set such high value on this animal that they long guarded it with jealous care. The consequence was that the value and beauty of alpaca wool were unknown to Europeans till quite recent years.
Sir Titus Salt introduced it into this country, and set up the manufacture of alpaca goods in the village which has since been called Saltaire from his name, and is today a flourishing town.
England"s annual imports of alpaca wool now average from 4 million to 5 million lbs. weight, and the alpaca manufacture ranks as one of their staple industries.
The manufacture of vicuna wool is still in its infancy, although this wool is said to be superior, in many respects, to alpaca wool. The wool of the guanaco is not yet imported to any large extent into this country.
The camel, both as a beast of burden and also as a wool-bearing animal, is to the East what the llama is to the people of South America.
The wool of the camel is shorn every spring. That of the two-humped camel is highly valued for the soft silkiness of its staple, and is made into costly articles of clothing. A shawl made of camel"s wool often fetches as much as ?180.
Camel"s hair is imported into this country mostly for the manufacture of delicate brushes or pencils for painting. The camel is a marvellous example of Nature"s beneficence in fitting each animal for the special conditions under which it has to live. No other animal would be so suited to those regions, either in its wild state or as a domesticated beast of burden.
In those dreary wastes of sand food and drink are to be obtained only at long intervals apart. Nature provides the camel with what would seem at first sight an ugly, awkward encumbrance, in the shape of an enormous hump on its back. That hump, however, is nothing but a huge mass of nutriment, from which the creature can draw during the time of scarcity of proper food. In this animal, moreover, the honeycomb bag, which is commonto all ruminants, becomes a receptacle for storing a large supply of water, so that a severe drought is of very little moment. It has cutting teeth in both jaws, and powerful grinders for masticating the rough, prickly vegetation, which is the only sustenance it can find on those sandy wastes. Its eyes, ears, and even its nostrils are specially protected against the clouds of loose, shifting sand which often fill the air. Its foot consists of two toes, and has wide-spreading cushions, which prevent the animal fromsinking into the loose sand at every step, and even itsknees are provided with thick, hard skin, or callosities, to enable it to kneel on the burning sand without injury. It always kneels to rest, and while it is being loaded.
