120 



SKETCH or THE HISTORY OF MAMMALIA. 



and nearly naked ; eyes large and lull ; fur long, thick, 

 close, soft, and woolly. 



The chinchilla appears to have attracted in very early 

 times the notice of travellers, though the accounts scat- 

 tered in their works have been but little regarded by 

 naturalists. In 1824 Schrnidtmeyer, in his travels over 

 the Andes into Chile, notices the chinchilla as a " woolly 

 field-mouse which lives underground, and chiefly feeds 

 on wild onions. Its fine fur is well known in Europe ; 

 that which comes from Upper Peru is rougher and larger 

 than the chinchilla of Chile, but not always so beautiful 



<6.— Chinchilla. 



in its colour. Great numbers of these animals are caught 

 in the neighbourhood of Coquimbo and Copiapo, gene- 

 rally by boys with dogs, and sold to traders, who bring 

 them to Santiago and Valparaiso, from whence they are 

 exported. The Peruvian skins are either brought to 

 Buenos Ayres from the eastern parts of the Andes or 

 sent to Lima. The extensive use of this fur has lately 



