Sleep was sweet that night, and Francisco's head was scarcely on his pillow when guanacos, vicunas and even gauchos were forgotten in dreamless slumber.
Besides the bolas, the party had procured from the neighbouring villages a quantity of rope and a number of stakes, and with them we repaired to an extensive, elevated plain, where many herds of vicunas were observed feeding.
As it was necessary to supply food for the army, and we were passing through a part of the country where the vicunas abounded, the party halted to engage in a grand hunt, which is termed a chacu.
We then began to close, driving before us, with loud shouts, all the herds of vicunas we met with.
As soon as the vicunas were killed, they were carried off to the camp to be skinned and cut up; and we then moved to a distance, to form a new chacu.
Herds ofvicunas approached to gaze with wonder at us, and then turning affrighted, fled away with the swiftness of the wind.
Into this feeble enclosure the herd of vicunas is driven; and, strange to say, the frightened animals will permit themselves to be crowded together, and killed with stones rather than leap over the cord.
On the opposite side, the flanks of the mountain were escarped in abrupt blocks of rock, on the edge of which the vicunas and the lamas alone would have been able to place their delicate feet without fear of falling.
A pair of the vicunas were hastily prepared, and packed upon a llama for use upon their journey.
A good round sum this amounts to, as frequently four or five hundred vicunas are taken at a single chacu.
The hunt usually lasts several days, but during that time the enclosure of ropes is flitted from place to place, until no morevicunas can be found.
There he counted no less than nineteen vicunas lying dead, each one stabbed in the ribs!
The guanacos and vicunas were of uniform colours,--that is, in each flock the colour of the individuals was the same; while among the llamas and alpacos there were many varieties of colour.
A whole herd ofvicunas is often taken in this way.
The vaquero with his horse soon dragged thevicunas to the hut.
They herd only in small numbers, from six to ten or a dozen: while as many as four times this number of vicunas may be seen together.
By an established law, the skins of the vicunas were the property of the church, and these, being worth on the spot at least a dollar a-piece, formed no despicable tithe.
The slainvicunas were collected in a heap-- the skins stripped off, and the flesh divided among the different families who took part in the chacu.
But what most gratified my companion was to see that several herds of vicunas were bounding backwards and forwards in front of the advancing line.
I could easily distinguish them from the vicunas by their being larger and less graceful in their motions, but more particularly by the duller hue of brownish red.
The frightened vicunas rushed from side to side, everywhere headed by an Indian.
Once he had approached a flock of vicunas disguised in the skin of a guanaco, and killed most of them before they thought of retreating.
Of course only the vicunas were taken in the chacu.
Several bladders were taken from thevicunas and inflated.
Already the vicunas were near, almost within range of our pieces.
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.
Thus prepared, the hunters disperse, forming a circle several miles in circumference, driving all the vicunas before them towards the entrance of the circle.
The vicunasare very beautiful and graceful creatures, with the habits of antelopes.
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.
The huanucus, which are much wilder, invariably leap the barriers and escape, when frequently the vicunas follow their example.
The above list will hopefully give you a few useful examples demonstrating the appropriate usage of "vicunas" in a variety of sentences. We hope that you will now be able to make sentences using this word.
