SOME COUSINS OF THE CAMEL. 227 



and its maintenance. It picks up an easy subsistence from 

 the moss and stunted herbage that grows scantily along 

 the withered sides and steppes of the Cordilleras. 



10. " The structure of its stomach enables it to dis- 

 pense with any supply of water for weeks, nay, months 

 together. Its spongy hoof, armed with a claw or pointed 

 talon to enable it to take secure hold on the ice, never re- 

 quires to be shod ; and the load laid upon its back rests 

 securely in its bed of wool without the aid of girth or 

 saddle. The llamas move in troops of five hundred, or 

 even a thousand, and thus, though each individual carries 

 but little, the aggregate is considerable. The whole cara- 

 van travels on at its regular pace, passing the night in the 

 open air, without suffering from the coldest temperature, 

 and marching in perfect order, and in obediencs to the 

 voice of the driver." 



11. And Hartwick, in " The Tropical World," says : 

 " The llama, and its near relations, the alpaca, the huanacu, 

 and the vicunia, the largest four footed animals which 

 Peru possessed before the Spaniards introduced the horse 

 or the ox. are all natives of the Puna. Long before the 

 invasion of Pizarro, the llama was used by the Peruvians 

 as a beast of burden, and was not less serviceable to them 

 than the camel to the Arabs of the desert. The wool 

 served for the material of a coarse cloth ; the milk and 

 flesh as food ; the skin as a warm covering or mantle ; and 

 without the assistance of the llama it would have been 

 impossible for the Indians to transport goods or provis- 

 ions on the high table-lands of the Andes, or for the 

 Incas to have founded and maintained their vast empire. 



12. " The llama is also historically remarkable as the 

 only animal domesticated by the aboriginal Americans. 

 The reindeer of the north and the bison of the prairies 

 enjoyed then, as they do now, their savage independence ; 



