WHOLE VOL. THE WEST INDIES — VAZQUEZ DE ESPINOSA 1 5 



communicated with that of the Old, or at least have lain so close as 

 to afford passage not merely for the peoples who settled the New 

 World, but the various kinds of animals which live in them — many 

 of species well known in Europe and elsewhere, and others peculiar 

 and unique in the world, like the Peruvian sheep, the guanacos, 

 vicunas, and tarugas. These sheep, or llamas, as the Indian? call 

 them, have no horns ; they are the size of large deer, with long necks 

 like camels, and they look like small camels. These sheep or llamas 

 are of two kinds, some woolly, which they call pacos, and others 

 smooth-skinned with little wool, which are the best for beasts of 

 burden ; they are of different colors, some white, some black ; there 

 are dark gray ones, and others streaked black and white, which the 

 Indians call moromoro. Their wool is as good as that of merino 

 sheep; the Indians make the cloth for their garments from it, and 

 they derive great benefit from this animal, as is well known. 



37. The guanacos are of the same species as the tame domesticated 

 llamas, except that they are wild. The vicufias are of the same figure 

 and build, but slenderer ; their wool is of a lustrous chestnut color, 

 or that of lye-cured raisins, and finer than silk ; their belly is white ; 

 they are very timid and swift-footed ; they live in general up by the 

 snow, for they have the cold and frozen upland as their headquarters. 

 The tarugas are somewhat larger, and are also wild. All these animals 

 grow bezoar stones in their stomachs, owing to the medicinal herbs 

 which they crop and chew. These animals are only to be found in 

 the Kingdom of Chile and the cold regions of Peru ; they have not 

 been seen in any other part of the world ; ordinarily they breed and 

 graze in frigid country ; taken away from it, they die off. 



38. With regard to these animals, my judgment is that when the 

 Flood had only recently abated and the mainland of the one world 

 was connected with the other, or at any rate so close that the sea had 

 not yet severed them, they moved from one country to another, graz- 

 ing along, and in what they call Tierra del Fuego, which still is not 

 well explored or known, they passed into that New World in that 

 quarter, and spread over the Kingdom of Chile and Peru ; there alone 

 have they persisted and multiplied, for only in that region are they 

 to be found, and it is not known that they exist in any other part of 

 the world ; and in their case it is not necessary to assume a new crea- 

 tion, for we know from Holy Writ that of every kind of animal, 

 God commanded that at the time of the Flood a pair should enter 

 the Ark, for breeding, nor with them does one have to assume a new 

 product, for they are perfect animals, not of the imperfect products 



