g is almost
universal. In the arid highlands of Central Asia, it is the essential
supplement to the pastoral nomadism of the steppes and deserts, and to
the limited sedentary agriculture found along the irrigated piedmont
slopes. Here and elsewhere the animal raised varies widely-the llama and
vicuna in Peru, which thrive best at 10,000 to 13,000 feet elevation,
and multiply rapidly on the _ichu_ or coarse grass which clothes the
slopes of the higher Andes up to snow line; sheep, goats, yaks and herds
of dzo, a useful hybrid between yak and cow, in the highland districts
of Sze Chuan. Here the Mantze mountaineers lock their houses and leave
their villages deserted, while they camp with their herds on the high
pastures at 10,000 feet or more.[1314] Only economical, ingenious Japan
has failed to develop stock raising, though mountains comprise
two-thirds of its area. The explanation has often been sought in
Buddhism, which inhibits the use of animal food; but this religious rule
probably found ready acceptance in Japan, just because the paucity of
animal food made its observance easy, for the fish industry of the
Empire never suffered from the inhibition. The reason is probably to be
sought elsewhere. The native grass of Japan, which relentlessly crowds
out all imported grazing crops, is a bamboo grass with sharp, hard,
serrated edges, and is said to cut the entrails of horses and sheep.[1315]

[Sidenote: Haymaking in high mountains.]

While the high pastures are ample for the summer feeding, the chief
problem of mountain stock-farmers is to secure feed for the winter
support of their animals. This taxes their industry and ingenuity to the
utmost. While the herdsmen are away tending their charges on the
heights, the rest of the population are kept busy at home, getting
fodder for the six or seven months of stall-feeding. This includes the
cultivation of hardy crops like oats, rye and barley, which will mature
at a great altitude, hay-making and collecting twigs and even leaves for
the less fastidious goats. In Switzerland as in Norway the art of mowing
has reached its highest pitch. Grass only three inches high is cut
thrice yearly. The Norwegian peasant gathers a small hay harvest from
the roofs of his house and barns, and from the edges of the highways. In
Switzerland not a spear of grass escapes. In places inaccessible to
cattle and goats, the peasant gathers hay by the handful with crampons
on his feet, generally fro