The vicunas are very beautiful and graceful creatures, with the habits
of antelopes. They have long, slender necks, and rich fawn-coloured
coats, with patches of white across the shoulders and inside the legs.
The wool is shorter and more curly than that of the three other species,
and, from its extreme fineness, is of much greater value.
During the dry season, when the grass of the plains has withered, they
descend to the swampy ground below. One male is followed by a dozen or
more females, over whom he watches with the most faithful care. Should
he apprehend danger, he utters a loud, shrill cry of alarm, and rapidly
advances. The herd then collecting, moves forward slowly; but
immediately they discover the approach of an enemy they wheel round and
fly--at first at a slow pace, frequently looking round, and then away
they dart, fleet as the wind, the male covering their retreat. Should
their protector be wounded, the females return and keep circling round
him, uttering piercing notes of sorrow, and remain to be shot rather
than desert their companion.
Although it is only when enraged that the llamas and huanucus spit upon
those near them, the vicunas and alpacas invariably eject saliva and
undigested food--which has a peculiarly disagreeable smell--upon all who
approach them.
Vicunas in vast numbers are found ranging over the more remote and lofty
regions of the Puna, where they are able to find a safe retreat from the
attacks of man. They have, however, a very formidable enemy in the
ravenous condor, who frequently robs them of their young.
These two wild species the Peruvian peasants were never allowed to hunt,
they being as much the property of the government as if enclosed within
a park. Only on stated occasions, once a year, great hunts took place
under the superintendence of the Inca, or his principal officers. They
were never repeated in the same quarter oftener than once in four years,
that time might be allowed for the waste occasioned by them to be
replenished. At the time appointed the whole surrounding population--
sometimes, it is said, amounting to nearly ten thousand men--formed a
circle round the area which was to be hunted over. Armed with spears,
they gradually closed in, destroying the beasts of prey, and driving the
huanucus, vicunas, and deer towards the centre, where the male deer and
the huanucus were slaughtered. Their skins were reserved for various
useful manufactures; and their flesh, cut into thin slices, was
distributed among the people, who converted it into chasqui, or dried
meat (constituting then, as it does now, the principal animal food of
the lower classes of Peru).
The vicunas are hunted at the present day. A member from each family of
the Puna villages joins the hunting party, forming altogether a band of
about one hundred persons. They carry poles with cordage. The poles
are placed in the ground, and united by ropes at about the height of two
feet, forming a circle of half a league in circumference, enclosing a
space called the _chasqu_. Coloured pieces of rag are attached to the
ropes, which are moved about by the wind. Some of the hunters are on
horseback, others on foot. Each man is armed with the well-known bolas;
which consists of three balls of lead, two of which are heavy and one
lighter, attached to a long leathern thong knotted together at one
extremity. The hunter takes the lighter ball in his hand, and swings
the other two in a wide circle over his head. When at a distance of
fifteen or twenty paces from the animal, the lighter is let loose, when
the three fly in circles towards it, encompassing it in their snake-like
folds. Thus prepared, the hunters disperse, forming a circle several
miles in circumference, driving all the vicunas before them towards the
entrance of the circle. As soon as the animals have entered, it is
closed. The vicunas, afraid to spring over the ropes with the coloured
rags fluttering in their faces, are attacked by the hunters with their
bolas, the hind-legs being generally aimed at. The huanucus, which are
much wilder, invariably leap the barriers and escape, when frequently
the vicunas follow their example. As soon as the animals within the
_chasqu_ are killed, it is carried off and again erected at a distance
of twelve or more miles, when the same operation is gone through. Thus
from one hundred to three hundred animals are killed during the chase,
which generally lasts for a week.
Notwithstanding the opposition from the Peruvian government, a large
herd of alpacas were, some years ago, successfully carried to the coast
and shipped off to Australia, where, in a high and dry district, they
appear to be flourishing.