dine.” The paragraphs that follow are based almost entirely upon his account of the life of the community at Susques. The richest Indian of the district of Susques had at the time of Boman’s study (1903) 500 sheep, 400 Ilamas, 150 asses. There are some goats in the region, but the climate is un- favorable for them. The flocks are pastured over an area 40 kilometers south and 60 kilometers north of the village, and to protect the flocks the Indians are obliged to pass all their time on the pasture grounds. The whistling of the Indian and an occasional stone thrown from a sling keeps a flock together and drifting in the direction of fresh pasture, the shepherds constantly twisting wool into yarn as they drive the animals before them. In some seasons the sheep perish in large numbers of the cold, entire flocks having been killed in this way.
An Indian will hardly ever kill a Hama or sheep for food. He considers that the beast is so much capital and that he must use only the interest upon this capital, that is the wool; and, if it be a llama, there is also the service that it can render in the transport of merchandise. When a beast is killed its wool is taken off or its pelt is dried in the sun, without salt. Its Hesh is made into charqui and is used sparingly with corn, potatoes, and the like as stock for soup, the main dish for the family meal. Salt obtained from the salars and pepper (ajt) from the lower valleys are added. Fresh roasted meat is a great luxury and is eaten only on the principal feast days. The Argentine puna is often considered as the southern limit of the use of coca, but it is really used as far south as Cata- marca and La Rioja, especially by muleteers who go back and forth to Bolivia. Coca is raised in the eastern parts of Bolivia and Peru at an altitude above 4000 or 5000 feet, but so far as I know it is not grown in Argentina at all. The Indians of Susques import their coca, smuggling it in across the frontier, the authorities being unable to stop the illicit trafic. Corn is also imported from the lower valleys, quinoa being kept as a reserve in case corn is lacking for any reason. By way of ex- change they have asses, hides, wool, and woven stuff. The asses are sold in Bolivia and are especially serviceable, for
