292 Dr Hamilton's Observations on the Llama, 



contending armies. It would appear from the statements of 

 some of the earlier writers on Peru, particularly Acosta, who 

 wrote soon after the Spanish conquest, that llamas were then 

 used for carrying silver from Potosi to Arica, on the coast of 

 the Pacific Ocean, prior to its being shipped for Europe ; but 

 neither llamas nor alpacas have been employed for any such 

 purpose during a long period, for the distance is so great, and 

 the march of llamas so slow, as to make some other mode of 

 transit necessary. Acosta states that the distance from Po- 

 tosi to Arica is seventy leagues ; hence it may be sujiposed 

 that he never went over the ground, and that some of the 

 earlier writers on Peru, like others of more recent date, often 

 wrote without a competent knowledge of their subject, and 

 drew on the imagination for facts alleged by them. 



Of late years, much care has been taken to obtain more 

 accurate information as to places and distances in Peru than 

 can be had either from recorded statements or Spanish maps, 

 most of which, either fi'om design or ignorance, were often 

 most erroneously given. The distance from Arica to Potosi, 

 via Oruro, is 170 leagues, or 510 English miles, and the 

 distance between the same places, by the Desert of Caran- 

 ja, which is taking the hypotenuse of the triangle, is 154 

 leagues, or about 460 miles, by both of which routes I have 

 travelled to Potosi and the coast. On the Desert route there 

 is only one village seen, that of Andamarca, which is occu- 

 pied by Indians, who speak the Amara language, and is 

 seventy leagues from Potosi, and eighty-four from Arica or 

 Tacna, 



Llamas are not used for the conveyance of silver from Po- 

 tosi to the coast ; but the tin, which is obtained from the mines 

 of Oruro, is brought to Arica by llamas and alpacas. The 

 journey from Oruro to Arica, which is 100 leagues, takes one 

 month with these creatures, for with burdens they travel only 

 three or four leagues in twenty -four hours, and there are days 

 of rest. 



When a llama or alpaca is tired, he gives vent to his feel- 

 ings by a peculiar cry, which is different from the sound 

 which he utters when teased or irritated.* 



'^ These Indians believe, that if the cud or saliva which is ejected to a 



