302 UNGULATA 



and the sportsman, even though he should be mounted. Despite 

 their timidity, however, they are possessed of great curiosity, and 

 will sometimes advance within a comparatively short distance of an 

 unknown object, at which they will gaze fixedly till they take 

 alarm, when they effect a speedy retreat. Their cry is very peculiar, 

 being something between the belling of a deer and the neigh of a 

 horse. It would be difficult to overestimate their numbers upon 

 the Patagonian plains ; for in whatever direction we walked we 

 always came upon numbers of portions of their skeletons and 

 detached bones." 



Darwin, who has given an interesting account of the habits of 

 the Guanaco in his Naturalist's Voyage, says that they readily take 

 to the water, and were seen several times at Port Valdes swimming 

 from island to island. 



The Llama is only known as a domestic animal, and is chiefly 

 met with in the southern part of Peru. Burmeister, a very com- 

 petent writer on the subject, says that he is perfectly satisfied that 

 it is the descendant of the wild Guanaco, an opinion opposed to 

 that of Tschudi. It generally attains a larger size than the 

 Guanaco, and is usually white or spotted with brown or black, 

 and sometimes altogether black. The earliest and often -quoted 

 account of this animal by Agustin de Zarate, treasurer-general of 

 Peru in 1544, will bear repeating as an excellent summary of the 

 general character and uses to which it was put by the Peruvians at 

 the time of the Spanish conquest. He speaks of the Llama as a 

 sheep, observing, however, that it is camel-like in shape though 

 destitute of a hump : — 



" In places where there is no snow the natives want water, and 

 to supply this they fill the skins of sheep with water and make 

 other living sheep carry them ; for, it must be remarked, these 

 sheep of Peru are large enough to serve as beasts of burden. They 

 can carry about one hundred pounds or more, and the Spaniards 

 used to ride them, and they would go four or five leagues a day. 

 "When they are weary they lie down upon the ground ; and as there 

 are no means of making them get up, either by beating or assisting 

 them, the load must of necessity be taken off. When there is a 

 man on one of them, if the beast is tired and urged to go on, he 

 turns his head round and discharges his saliva, which has an un- 

 pleasant odour, into the rider's face. These animals are of great 

 use and profit to their masters, for their wool is very good and fine, 

 particularly that of the species called Pacas, which have very long- 

 fleeces ; and the expense of their food is trifling, as a handful of 

 maize suffices them, and they can go four or five days without 

 water. Their flesh is as good as that of the fat sheep of Castile. 

 There are now public shambles for the sale of their flesh in all parts 

 of Peru, which was not the case when the Spaniards came first ; for 



