Ebook The National Geographic Magazine

The guanaco is to his existence the one important and indispensable animal. From its ?esh he derives his chief and for long periods only sustenance, while from its skin his industrious wife constructs the family toldo and makes with admirable skill and patience their ample clothing and bedding, fitting and sewing the parts with the nicety and proficiency of a skilled seamstress. A wooden or bone awl used as a delicate punch is her needle, and the sinew taken from the loin of the same ani mal her thread. From this same beast he likewise obtains the sinew for the light but exceedingly strong thongs of his bolas.