The vast flocks of llamas[1220] and alpacas supplied meat for the people, dried _charqui_ for soldiers and travellers, and wool for weaving cloth of every degree of fineness. The alpacas, whose unrivalled wool is now in such large demand, may almost be said to have been the creation of the Inca shepherds. They can only be reared by the bestowal on them of the most constant and devoted care. The wild _huanacus_ and _vicuñas_ were also sources of food and wool supply. No man was allowed to kill any wild animal in Peru, but there were periodical hunts, called _chacu_, in the different provinces, which were ordered by the Inca. On these occasions a wide area was surrounded by thousands of people, who gradually closed in towards the centre. They advanced, shouting and starting the game before them, and closed in, forming in several ranks until a great bag was secured. The females were released, with a few of the best and finest males. The rest were then shorn and also released, a certain proportion being killed for the sake of their flesh. The _huanacu_ wool was divided among the people of the district, while the silky fleeces of the _vicuña_ were reserved for the Inca. The _Quipu-camayoc_ kept a careful record of the number caught, shorn, and killed. [Illustration: FROM HELPS. [Cf. Humboldt’s account in _Views of Nature_, English transl., 393-95, 407-9, 412. Marcoy says the usual descriptions of the ancient roads are exaggerations (vol. i. 206).—ED.]] The means of communication in so mountainous a country were an important department in the administration of the Incas. Excellent roads for foot passengers radiated from Cuzco to the remotest portions of the empire. The Inca roads were level and well paved, and continued for hundreds of leagues. Rocks were broken up and levelled when it was necessary, ravines were filled, and excavations were made in mountain sides. Velasco measured the width of the Inca roads, and found them to be from six to seven yards, sufficiently wide when only foot passengers used them. Gomara gives them a breadth of twenty-five feet, and says that they were paved with smooth stones. These measurements were confirmed by Humboldt as regards the roads in the Andes. The road along the coast was forty feet wide, according to Zarate. The Inca himself travelled in a litter, borne by mountaineers from the districts of Soras and Lucanas. _Corpa-huasi_, or rest-houses, were erected at intervals, and the government messengers, or _chasquis_, ran with wonderful celerity from one of these stations to another, where he delivered his message, or _quipu_, to the next runner. Thus news was brought to the central government from all parts of The empire with extraordinary rapidity, and the Inca ate fresh fish at Cuzco which had been caught in the Pacific, three hundred miles away, on the previous day. Store-houses, with arms, clothing, and provisions for the soldiers, were also built at intervals along the roads, so that an army