66 THE LAMA, 



will carry a man an hundred miles a day, for nine or ten days 

 together, through uninhabitable deserts of parched sand, re- 

 quiring neither whip nor spur to quicken its pace. Both the 

 dromedary and camel are extremely sensible of good treatment, 

 and in pursuing their fatiguing journies, are much enlivened by 

 singing, or the sound of the pipe. Not many of the females are 

 put to labour, being generally kept for the purpose of breed- 

 ing. They usually produce one at a birth : the time of gesta- 

 tion, of both the camel and the dromedary, is twelve months : 

 the period of its attainment to full strength and perfection, is the 

 age of six years, and the duration of its life is reckoned from 

 forty to fifty years. 



As the dromedary is only a variety of the camel, the same re- 

 flections on the gracious dispensation of an all-wise Providence 

 must again occur, in contemplating the varied bounties of the 

 Creator, in forming two different tribes of this excellent quad- 

 ruped, and assigning to one a more confined, and to the other a 

 more extensive, sphere of utility. 



Our attention is next called to a quadruped, which, from the 

 similarity of its qualities to those of the species just presented 

 to view, has obtained the appellation of the Camel of the new 

 world; and in regard to its utility, making allowances for its in- 

 feriority in size and strength, is little less valuable than that of 

 the old continent. 



THE LAMA, 



Of Peru and Chili, resembles, in its shape, the Arabian camel, 

 but is destitute of the dorsal hunch : its height is from three to 

 four feet : its neck is long, its head small, and its colour white, 

 black, or russet, or a mixture of all these dispersed in spots. 

 The female produces only one at a birth. The duration of the 

 life of this animal is about twelve years, and its disposition is 

 gentle, patient, and tractable. 



The Lama was the only beast of burden which America origin- 

 ally produced ; and, notwithstanding the introduction of mules, 

 is still used for the conveyance of merchandise, Boliver says, 

 that, in his time, three hundred thousand of these animals were 

 employed in carrying the silver ore, dug out of the mines of 

 Potosi, over the rugged hills and narrow paths of the Andes. 

 They are exceedingly sure-footed, and with a load of about an 

 hundred weight, will climb the most craggy rocks, and descend 

 the steepest precipices. In their journies, they will sometimes 

 walk four or five days successively, before they seem desirous of 

 repose ; and they then rest spontaneously twenty or thirty hours, 

 before they resume their toil. Sometimes, when they are inclined 

 to rest a few minutes only, they bend their knees, and lower their 



