THE LLAMAS 



1005 



He observes, for instance, that the size of the alpaca, "although less than that 

 of the llama, is far greater than that of the vicuna. Its skull and teeth wholly 

 agree with those of the former, and the naked patches on the legs, so distinctive of 

 the guanaco as compared with the vicuna, are very often, although not always, 

 present, the exceptions being easily explainable in the case of an animal bred and 

 selected for generations solely with an eye to the thickness and extent of its furry 

 covering. The occasional growth of the fur over the naked patches is not therefore 





p. 





THE ALPACA. 



(One-eighteenth natural size.) 



to be wondered at. The probabilities also are much in favor of the Peruvians hav- 

 ing domesticated one wild species only rather than two, and of their having gradu- 

 ally developed two races out of it the one large, strong, and suitable for the 

 carriage of burdens, and the other smaller in size, but exceptional in its capacity for 

 producing a quantity of useful wool. ' ' 



Alpacas are kept throughout the year in large herds on the high 

 plateaus of Bolivia and Southern Peru, and are only driven down to 

 the villages at the shearing season. The wool is of two kinds a longer and 



Uses 



