140 STEPPES AND DESERTS. 



bable that, among some of the tribes of Western Canada, the buffalo 

 was from early times made an object of care for the sake of its flesh 

 and skin. (Fragments of the Nat. Hist, of Pennsylvania, p. i. p. 4.) 

 In Peru and Quito, the lama is now nowhere found in a state of 

 original wildness. I was told by the natives that the lamas on the 

 western declivity of the Chimborazo had become wild when the 

 ancient residence of the rulers of Quito " Lican" was laid in ashes. 

 In the same manner the oxen in the Ceja de la Montana, in Middle 

 Peru, have become perfectly wild : they are a small and daring race, 

 and often attack the Indians. The natives call them Vacas del 

 Monte, or Yacas cimarronas. (Tschudi, Fauna Peruana, s. 256.) 

 Cuvier's opinion, that the lama had descended from the still wild 

 Guanaco, has been unfortunately still further disseminated by the 

 meritorious traveller Meyen (Reise um die Erde, th. iii. s. 64), 

 but has been completely refuted by von Tschudi. 



The Lama, the Paeo or Alpaca, and the Guanaco, are three 

 originally distinct species of animals. (Tschudi, s. 228 and 237.) 

 The Guanaco (Huanacu in the Quichua language) is the largest of 

 the three; and the Alpaca, measured from the ground to the 

 crown of the head, the smallest. The lama is next to the guanaco 

 in stature. Herds 'of lamas, when they are as numerous as I have 

 seen them in the high plateau between Quito and Eiobamba, are a 

 great ornament to the landscape. The Moromoro of Chili appears 

 to be a mere variety of the lama. Vicunas, Guanacoes, and Al- 

 pacas, still live wild at elevations of from 13,000 to 16,000 feet 

 above the level of the sea. The two latter species are sometimes 

 met with tamed, but the guanaco only rarely. The alpaca does not 

 bear the warmer climate of the lower elevations so well as the 

 lama. Since the introduction of the more useful horses, mules, 

 and asses (the latter acquire great spirit and beauty within the 

 tropics), the custom of rearing and using the lama and the alpaca 

 as beasts of burden, in the mountains and among the mines, has 

 much decreased. But the wool, of such different qualities in 

 respect to fineness, is still an important article in the industry of the 

 inhabitants. of the mountains. In Chili, the wild and the tamed 

 guanaco are distinguished by separate names ; the wild being called 

 Luan ; and the tame Chilihueque. The wide dissemination of the 



