190 LAMAS. 



the top of the head, and are about five feet long, from 

 the breast to the tail. 



Though the increase of horses, and the superior 

 vigour and sagacity of mules, have diminished the 

 importance and consequently the numbers of the 

 lama, still, however, many are kept by the poorer in- 

 habitants. They are to them what the ass is to the 

 peasantry of our own country : a useful and willing 

 quadruped, supported at a small expense, and capa- 

 ble of undergoing much fatigue. When overloaded, 

 they are apt to lie down, and refuse to rise ; yet 

 the larger species will carry cheerfully a full-grown 

 man, and trot, or rather run, with great swiftness 

 for several miles. The weight usually laid upon 

 them does not exceed one hundred and fifty pounds, 

 and this they will convey from fourteen to twenty 

 miles in a day among precipices and over rocks. 

 They often bear without reluctance large baskets 

 containing cochineal, that valuable species of gall 

 insect which adheres to the opuntia, and sucks its 

 crimson-coloured juices ; one of the most important 

 articles of commerce, and which gives to the silks 

 and stuffs of Europe their finest tints. You may 

 also meet these useful creatures among the passes of 

 the Andes, loaded with strong ropes made from the 

 bark of the Maho tree, or bearing timbers of the 

 light-wood, which although heavy to the eye, is 

 buoyant and light as cork, and is used to make 

 floats for conveying merchandise along the sea-coast. 



Lamas in a wild state abound throughout the 

 frightful deserts of the Andes, amidst those lofty 

 mountains which, based on others, and shrouded 

 with snow that never melts, rise to a dizzy height. 



