The Key West Citizen

Traveling Around America
One of the earliest inhabitants of
the New World is the alpaca. It
is believed that this very useful animal
roamed the Andes centuries before
the discovery of America. He
certainly is flourishing in the days
of the Incas, for rugs and raiment of
remarkably clever design and workmanship
woven from alpaca wool
have been discovered among the Inca
relics unearthed in Bolivia and Peru.
And there is evidence that the animal
was also offered by the Incas in sacrifice
to their gods.
The alpaca, member of a family to
which belong also the llama, vicuna,
and guanaco, clings to the highlands
thriving best at an altitude of 12,000
to 16,000 feet above sea level and subsisting
on the tough grass of this
chilly pasturage. It is estimated that
there are 1,500,000 alpacas in Peru and
more than 200,000 in Bolivia, and that
in a recent year Peru's "harvest" sold
for more than $2,000,000. The animals
are corralled and sheared about once in
two years-by some owners every
year and average about ten pounds
of unsorted wool per animal.
Some of the largest wool sheds are
in Arequipa, Peru, which is reached
by rail or airplane from Mollendo, regular
port of call for weekly cruises
from New York and San Francisco to
South America's West Coast. In these
sheds native women inspect the wool
more through touch than anything
else-dividing it into half a dozen
grades and ejecting that which is unsuitable
for shipment, which generally
is only about three per cent. Sitting
on the floor surrounded by their
children, their costumes lending a
bright touch of color to the mounds of
wool around them, they present one
of the most interesting scenes connected
with the industry.