a soft wool fabric made from the fleece of the vicuna
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small wild cud-chewing Andean animal similar to the guanaco but smaller; valued for its fleecy undercoat
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Vicuna \Vi*cu"[~n]a\, Vicugna \Vi*cu"gna\, n. [Sp. vicu[~n]a. Cf. {Vigonia}.] (Zo["o]l.) A South American mammal ({Auchenia vicunna}) native of the elevated plains of the Andes, allied to the llama but smaller. It has a thick coat of very fine reddish brown wool, and long, pendent white hair on the breast and belly. It is hunted for its wool and flesh.
Pure vicuna garments probably originate from the black market, and legal stocks are being eked out by blending with cashmere.
The textiles in question are made from alpaca and vicuna wool in Coroma, a town high in the Bolivian Andes, and have been woven in the same manner since before the advent of the Inca or the Spaniard.
But the comuneros, having heard that vicuna cloth retails on the black market for Dollars 3,000 a metre, think they should receive four times that. The 1987 Cites amendment permits marketing of cloth woven from vicuna hair, but not the hair itself.
But the comuneros, having heard that vicuna cloth retails on the black market for Dollars 3,000 a metre, think they should receive four times that. The 1987 Cites amendment permits marketing of cloth woven from vicuna hair, but not the hair itself.
The vicuna is a relative of the llama, but poaching has decimated wild herds and the remaining creatures are protected.