495 



LLAMA. 



LLAMA. 



438 



duodenum is considerably dilated at its commencement. No. 566 C 

 exhibits a small portion of the stomach of an adult Llama, showing 

 the canal which passes along the upper part of the reticulum, and 

 conducts the ruminated food from the osaophagus to the third cavity. 

 The muscular fibres of the greater ridge, forming the upper boundary 

 of this canal, are displayed : some of the fibres wind round the 

 aperture of the third cavity, while others return and pass into the 

 lesser ridge. It is these latter fibres, observes Professor Owen, which, 

 by a forcible contraction, draw up the orifice of the third cavity 

 towards the cardia, and close the communication between the oesophagus 

 and water-bag. The commencement of the reticulum, analogous to 

 the third or supernumerary cavity in the Camel, is kept distended by 

 a bristle. No. 566 D is a portion of the greater group of cells from 

 the paunch of an adult Llama. The cuticle which lines these cells 

 is turned down, and the subjacent membrane removed, to show the 

 muscular fibres of the larger fasciculi, and also those of the lesser 

 connecting bands, which are distinctly muscular, and evidently calcu- 

 lated to close the orifices of the cells. Professor Owen further 

 observes that, after death, when these contractile parts have ceased to 

 act, the smaller matters contained in the paunch, such as grains of 

 oats, &c., may pass into these cells ; but their contents he always 

 found to be chiefly fluid. No. 566 E is the reticulum, second cavity, 

 or ti \v;iter-bag of the Llama. This cavity, Professor Owen remarks, 

 ia not lined with cuticle, as in the horned ruminants ; the other 

 differences are pointed out in the description of the following pre- 

 paration. The muscular fibres of two of the larger ridges have been 

 dissected ; they form by no means such powerful fasciculi as in the 

 corresponding ridges of the paunch-cells. The middle fibres in each 

 ridge become tendinous ; but the lateral fibres continue muscular, ami 

 pass off to the different connecting ridges, from which they spread 

 over the entire circumference of the cells, and constitute the second 

 or internal muscular tunic of this part of the stomach. On the 

 opposite side of the preparation a portion of the external layer of 

 fibres is exhibited. (' Catalogue,' voL i.) 



We here see that the structure in thU very essential part of the 

 organisation is similar in both the forms of the Candida, and that 

 the Llamas of the New World, as well as the Camela of the Old 

 World, are provided with the means of preserving fluids in cells 

 appropriated to that office. Such a provision is consistent with the 

 localities and habits of both ; for if the parched deserts wherein the 

 lot of the Camel ia cast require such a modification of the stomach, 

 the Llama, whose stronghold is the mountain-chain that traverses the 

 southern parts of America, and which is found high up on the Andes, 

 often out of the reach of lakes, requires little less. 



Professor Owen, in his interesting paper ' On the Anatomy of the 

 Nubian Giraffe,' states that the action of the abdominal parietes in 

 rumination is much stronger in the Camel than in the Giraffe ; and he 

 observes that it is a singular fact, and one which has not hitherto been 

 noticed, that the Cameline Ruminants differ from the true Ruminants 

 in the mode in which the cud is chewed. In the Camels it is ground 

 alternately in opposite directions from side to side : in the Oxen, 

 Sheep, Antelopes, and Deer, the lower jaw is ground against the upper 

 in the same direction, by a rotatory motion. The movements may be 

 successively from right to loft, or from left to right, but they are 

 never alternate throughout the masticatory process, as in the Camels 

 and here again, he remarks, in the rotatory motion of the jaws of the 

 Giraffe, while masticating the cud, we have evidence of its affinity to 

 the Horned Ruminants. (' ZooL Trans.,' vol. ii.) 



With regard to external characters, we have, both in the Llamas 

 and the Camels, the long neck and comparatively small head, and the 

 prolonged moveable upper lip, deeply fissured vertically ; we miss, in 

 both, the naked muzzle, and find the apertures of the nostrils mere 

 fissures capable of being shut at pleasure. The differences in the 

 dentition have been already noticed ; and though we look in vain for 

 the humps of the true Camels on the backs of the Llamas, yet there 

 is, according to Molina, a conformation in the latter resembling that 

 excrescence, and consisting of an excess of nutritious matter, in the 

 shape of a thick coat of fat under the skin, which is absorbed as a 

 compensation for occasional want of food. The most marked difference 

 appears to exist in the structure of the feet ; and this difference is, as 

 we shall presently see, demanded by the several localities and habits 

 of the two groups. No structure can be imagined more admirably 

 contrived for the support and passage of an animal over arid sands 

 than the elastic pad which forms the sole of the Camel's foot, and on 

 which the conjoined toes rest. 



But the problem to be solved was the adaptation, in an animal of 

 generally similar structure, of a foot to the exigencies of the case. The 

 pad which connects the toes of the Camel beneath would have 

 afforded no very sure footing to an animal destined to climb the 

 precipices of the Andes; and we accordingly find, in the Llama, toes 

 with strong and curved nails, completely separated from each other, 

 and each defended by its own pad or cushion, so as to present the 

 moot perfect modification of the parts with a view to firm progression, 

 either in ascent or descent, whilst there is nothing ift the structure 

 calculated to impede great rapidity upon comparatively plain ground. 



Considerable doubt is still entertained as to the number of species 

 belonging to the genus A uchenia, and we shall endeavour to trace 

 eornj of the accounts given, beginning with some of the earlier 



Camel's Foot ; skin removed. 



Foot of Llama, with the skin on. 



historians and zoologists, and continuing the inquiry down to the 

 present time. 



The Spaniards, when they conquered South America, found the 

 Llama, which seems to have been the only beast of burden possessed 

 by the natives, to whom it likewise gave food and raiment ; for the 

 flesh was eaten by them, and the hair or wool was woven iuto cloth. 

 We cannot be surprised that so useful an animal should have been 

 called by the conquerors a sheep, especially when we recollect the 

 qualities of its flesh and of its wool; and accordingly we find the 

 Llamas described as sheep by the earlier Spanish writers. Thus, 

 Au?ustin de Zarate, treasurer-general in Peru in 1544, in his account 

 of the conquest, speaks of the Llama, as it was observed in the moun- 

 tains of Chili, as a sheep of burden. He says that in situations where 

 there ia no snow, the natives, to supply the want of water, fill the 

 skins of sheep with that fluid, and make other living sheep carry the 

 skins ; for he remarks that these Peruvian sheep are large enough to 

 serve as beasts of burden. De Zarate evidently had the eye of a 

 zoologist, for he says that these sheep resemble the camel in shape, 

 though they have no hump. He states that they can carry about a 

 hundred pounds or more, that the Spaniards used to ride them, and 

 that then- rate of travelling was four or five leagues a day. His descrip- 

 tion appears to be that of an eye-witness, and bears upon it the 

 impress of truth. When they are tired, says De Zarate, they lie down, 

 and the load must be taken off, for neither beating nor help will 

 make them get up. Their weariness ia manifested in a very disagree- 

 able way when a man is on one of them ; for our author says that if 

 the beast is pressed on under such circumstances, it turns its head 

 and discharges its saliva, which has a bad odour, into its rider's face. 

 He speaks of them as of great utility and profit to their masters, 

 praises their good and fine wool, particularly that of the species 

 named ' pacas,' which have very long fleeces ; and shows that their keep 

 costs little or nothing, either in money or trouble, for they are satisfied 

 with a handful of maize, and are able to go for four or five days 

 without water. He declares that their flesh is as well-flavoured as 

 that of a fat Castilian sheep, and notices the public shambles for the 

 sale of it in all parts of Peru then frequented by these animals. But, 

 he remarks, this was not the case on the first arrival of the Spaniards; 

 for v> hen an Indian killed a sheep at that time, his neighbours came 

 for what they wanted, and then another Indian would kill a sheep 

 in his turn. 



The Llama soon found its way to Europe; for we find, in the 

 ' Icones Animalium ' (Gesner, &c.), a figure of one with a collar round 

 his neck, led by a man, apparently his keeper. This figure is by no 

 means badly executed, and is given as the AllocamdiLs of Scaliger, 

 who speaks of it a s an animal ' in terra Gigantium ' (Patagonia probably), 

 with the head, the ears, and the neck of a mule, the body of a camel, 

 and the tail of a horse : " Quamobrem ex Camelo et aliis composi- 

 tum 'A\\oKa/t7)Aoi' appellavimus." The figure, it appears, was taken 

 from a print, with the following account : " In the year of our Lord 

 1558, on the 19th day of June, this wonderful animal was brought 

 to Middleburgh (Mittelburgum Selandia), having never before been 

 seen by the princes of Germany, nor recorded by Pliny nor other 

 ancient writers. They said it was an Indian Sheep from Piro (perhaps 

 Peru), a region nearly 6000 miles distant from Antwerp." Then 

 follows the description, from which it may be gathered that the 

 animal was either a brown Llauia or a pied one. The neck is stated 

 to have been very white, " cygneo colore caudidissimum," and the 

 body rufous, " rufum aut puniceum." 



John de Laet (fol., Leyden, 1633) appears to have collected most 

 of the Spanish authorities up to his time. He quotes Garcilasso as 

 saying that the domestic animals of the Peruvians are of two kinds, 

 the greater and the less ; which the Peruvians, as a common name, 

 call Llama, that is, cattle or sheep (pecudes) ; thus the shepherds say 

 Llama Miehec. They call the greater cattle (majits pecus) Huanacu- 



