extending from Alost to the isles of Zeeland, designated Imperial Flanders, of which the count was the vassal of the Holy Roman emperor. Attached to the hôtel de ville is a fine belfry of the 15th century, but unfortunately it was seriously damaged by fire in 1879. In the church of St Martin, dating from 1498 but unfinished, is a fine Rubens. The subject is St Roch, the patron saint of lepers, and the colouring of the scaly skin of the leper in the forefront of the picture is generally regarded as one of the master’s most striking effects. The work was painted to the order of the Brewers’ Gild in (it is said) eight days. It was outside Alost that William Clito, grandson of William the Conqueror, who was then endeavouring to establish his claims as count of Flanders, was mortally wounded in 1128. Of all the claims Alost possesses to fame perhaps the most remarkable is that Thierry Maartens (c. 1474) set up there one of the first printing presses in Europe. Alost is famous to-day for its hop gardens and linen-bleaching establishments. The meadows south of Alost are often covered with the linen undergoing the process of bleaching, which makes them assume the aspect of a whitish-blue carpet.
ALP. To the Swiss dwellers in the plains the term “the
Alps” (q.v.) signifies the high snowy mountains which they see
on the horizon, but to the dwellers in the valleys which nature
has carved in the sides of those high mountains, the word alp
means exclusively the summer pastures situated on the slopes
above the valley, though below the snow-line. In fact such
pastures are essential to the inhabitants of pastoral alpine
districts, for the fodder to be obtained in the valley itself would
not suffice to support the number of cattle which are required
to afford sustenance to the inhabitants. Such mountain pastures,
made use of only during the summer months, are of almost
immemorial antiquity, cases occurring in 739, 868 and 999,
while they are found in all parts of the Alpine chain. In
France and Italy the system is badly managed, as also in Tirol
(where the local name is Almen), where, too, these pastures have
in the course of years been largely alienated by the valley
inhabitants, and belong to large villages or small towns almost
in the plains. But in Switzerland, and especially in the German-speaking
mountain districts, the alps are the centre round
which the entire pastoral life of the inhabitants turns. It is
reckoned that in that country there are now about 4778 alps
in all, the capital value of which is put at rather over £3,000,000.
Of these alps about 45% are owned by the communes
(exclusively or jointly) and 54% by individuals, the remaining
1% being the property of the state or a few great monasteries.
In the case of the alps belonging to the Swiss communes, it must
be borne in mind that “commune” here does not signify either
Einwohnergemeinden or Bürgergemeinden, but a special class
called Alpgemeinden (for instance in the well-known valley of
Grindelwald there is one Einwohnergemeinde, but seven
Alpgemeinden). These Alpgemeinden are composed of the persons who
have a right to send cattle up to any particular alp in summer,
this right being attached (in different places) either to certain
plots of ground in the valley or certain houses in the village,
or to certain persons. In any case the owners of an alp
fix the greatest number of cows which it can support during
the summer without being permanently damaged. The plot
of ground which can support a single cow (or 2 heifers, 3 calves
or sheep, 4 pigs or 8 goats) is called a Kuhstoss (of which there
are 270,389 in Switzerland), and it is in these terms that the
productiveness of the alp is reckoned. Sometimes a
particular alp, or a portion of it, is reserved exclusively to
heifers and calves, or to goats (in this case it is the loftier
portion). On each alp there are several sets of huts wherein
live the cow-herds and cheese-makers (the latter are called
Sennen or Fruitiers), the cattle being generally left in the open.
The cattle, with their attendants, shift from one to the other of
these sets of huts, between the end of June and the end of
September, making but one sojourn at the highest huts, but
two at the lower. The proper name for these huts is Sennhütten
or chalets, but the latter term is incorrectly applied also to
houses in the village below. The milk given each day by each
cow is entered in a book, and then made into butter and cheese,
the cow-herds and cheese-makers having the right to a certain
proportion of milk, butter and cheese for their own sustenance,
and receiving a small sum per head of cattle for looking after them.
At the end of the season the net amount of cheese produced by milk
from each cow is handed over to the owner of that particular cow, and is carried down by him to his home in the valley from the hut (a small building on four stone legs to secure the contents from mice) wherein the cheeses have been stored since they were made—this hut is called a Speicher. As the owners of Kuhstössen may exchange them provisionally for others on another alp, or may hire them out (they can only sell them with the plot or house to which they are attached), the persons who in any given summer actually send cows up to an alp (these form the Besetzerschaft) need not necessarily be absolutely identical with the true owners of these rights or Besitzerschaft. Hay is never mown on the true alps save in spots which are not easily accessible to cattle (in very high spots it belongs to the mower, and is then called Wildheu), but hay-crops are made on the Mayens or Voralpen, the lowest pastures, situated between the homesteads and the true alps; these Voralpen are individual (not communal) property, though probably in olden days cut out of the true Alpen. In the winter the cattle consume the hay mown on these Voralpen (which, to a certain extent, are grazed in late spring and early autumn, that is, before and after the summer sojourn on the alps), either living in the huts on the Voralpen while they consume it, or in the stable attached to the dwelling-houses in the village; in the barn is stored the hay mown on the homestead and on the meadows near the village, which may belong to the owner of the cattle. The whole system is well organized and is well understood by the natives, though not always by strangers who visit the Alps in summer.
See John Ball, Hints and Notes for Travellers in the Alps (article x., especially pp. lvii.-lxv.); new edition, London, 1899; Felix Anderegg, Illustriertes Lehrbuch für die gesamte schweiz. Alpwirtschaft (Bern, 1897–1898); the Schweiz-Alpstatistik (each volume devoted to the alps of a single Swiss canton); and A. v. Miaskowski’s two books, Die schweiz. Allmend (Leipzig, 1879), and Die Verfassung der Land-, Alpen- und Forstwirtschaft der Schweiz (Basel, 1878). (W. A. B. C.)
ALPACA, one of two domesticated breeds of South American
camel-like ungulates, derived from the wild huanaco or guanaco.
Alpacas are kept in large flocks which graze on the level heights
of the Andes of southern Peru and northern Bolivia, at an elevation
of from 14,000 to 16,000 ft. above the sea-level, throughout
the year. They are not used as beasts of burden like llamas,
but are valued only for their wool, of which the Indian blankets
and ponchos are made. The colour is usually dark brown or
black and the coat of great length, reaching nearly to the ground.
In stature the alpaca (Lama huanacos pacos) is considerably
inferior to the llama, but has the same unpleasant habit of
spitting.
In the textile industries “alpaca” is a name given to two distinct things. It is primarily a term applied to the wool, or rather hair, obtained from the Peruvian alpaca. It is, however, more broadly applied to a style of fabric originally made from the alpaca wool but now frequently made from an allied type of wool, viz. mohair, Iceland, or even from lustrous English wool. In the trade, distinctions are made between alpacas and the several styles of mohairs and lustres, but so far as the general purchaser is concerned little or no distinction is made.
The four species of indigenous South American wool-bearing animals are the llama, the alpaca, the guanaco and the vicuña. The llama and the alpaca are domesticated; the guanaco and the vicuña run wild. Of the four the alpaca and the vicuña are the most valuable wool-bearing animals: the alpaca on account of the quality and quantity, the vicuña on account of the softness, fineness and quality of its wool. In the early days of the 19th century, the usual length of alpaca staples appears to have been about 12 in., this being a three years growth; but to-day the length is little more than about half this, i.e. a one to two years growth, although from time to time longer staples are to be found. The fleeces are sorted for colour and quality
