192 



MAMMALIA. 



before they became the pastures of such numerous 

 herds of cattle. 



The only native ruminantia of the southern part of 

 the American continent are the lamas, which, though 

 much smaller animals, are somewhat allied to the 

 camels. They are, however, fitted for treading on 

 very different ground. The foot of the camel, which 

 is planted with a heavy downward stamp, and lifted 

 straight up and high, is adapted for sand ; but it is a 

 very bad foot for rough and stony surfaces. Though 

 the lama inhabits latitudes in America which corre- 

 spond very nearly with those inhabited by the camel 

 in the eastern continent, the feet of the lama are 

 adapted for surfaces of a very different description 

 from those trodden upon by the camels. The camel 

 is an animal of the sandy plain, but the lama is a 

 mountaineer ; and the different species are found 

 along the ridges of the Andes, largest we believe in 

 the equatorial parts, but more numerous and more 

 active farther to the south, where the pastures are 

 better. Instead of the two toes in the lama being 

 united on the under part, and forming one entire 

 padded foot as they do in the camel, they are well 

 separated, and each is furnished with a complete pad, 

 as may be seen in the following cut. 



The foot is remarkably well adapted for holding 1 

 on upon the rough surfaces of rocks and precipices"; 

 and thus though the lama is but a small animal, not 

 larger or stronger than a common deer, it is very 

 sure-footed on mountain paths; and before the intro- 

 duction of the mule, which is now the beast of burden 

 chiefly employed in those countries, it was much 

 esteemed by the native Peruvians. 



Although the characteristic foot of the ruminantia 

 be in all cases a divided one, consisting of two prin- 

 cipal hoofs upon which the animal treads in walk- 

 ing, without the small supplemental ones coming to 

 the ground, except where that is soft, and the animal 

 sinks deep, yet there is still a very remarkable adap- 

 tation in this simple foot to the places which the 

 animal inhabits. The larger buffaloes which inhabit 

 marshy places, and, generally speaking, the whole of 

 the ox tribe, which prefer humid surfaces to dry and 

 elevated ones, have the hoofs very broad, so as to 

 present an extended base to the soft ground. This 

 form of foot gradually changes as we proceed from 

 humid pastures to those which are dry and elevated ; 

 and when at last we come to the goats and antelopes 

 which inhabit the craggy steeps of lofty mountains, 

 we find the hoofs very small, hard in their texture, 

 and firm in their edges. In proportion too as the 

 foot acquires this mountain character, there is a cor- 

 responding increase of elasticity, not in the leg merely 

 but in the whole frame of the animal ; so that while 

 these ruminantia which inhabit the moist plains are 



slow and unwieldy in their motions, the mountaineers 

 are among the most light and bounding of all the 

 mammalia ; and there are no animals, not possessed of 

 hands, or prehensile feet of some kind or other, which 

 can preserve their balance so well upon such narrow 

 footing. Some of the rock goats and rock antelopes 

 can stand firmly upon a pinnacle of rock hardly more 

 extensive than the human hand, and not only so, but 

 they can bound from this narrow footing with won- 

 derful elasiicity, and alight securely upon a fresh one 

 equally narrow. 



In mentioning this order of animals, we cannot pass 

 over their extreme utility to man, and the numerous 

 ways in which they are useful. The milk of the 

 ruminant mammalia is much more abundant than that 

 of any of the others, and it is superior in quality, 

 being one of the most healthy substances that is 

 known. The manufacture of this milk into cheese, 

 or that of its cream into butter, employs a great 

 number of people ; while the commerce in these arti- 

 cles is an extensive branch of trade. The flesh of the 

 ruminants is a staple article of food in all nations ; 

 and though there are some articles which the luxurious 

 esteem more as rarities, there is no kind of animal 

 food upon which a man can feed so constantly and 

 preserve an equal state of health. The skins of these 

 are so valuable as leather, that they form an indispensa- 

 ble article of human clothing, and in many of the 

 arts ; and the skins of the different genera, and those 

 of the same genus, at different ages, and in the dif- 

 ferent sexes, admit of being dressed in a great variety 

 of ways, so that each is applied to its own specific 

 purpose. The wool and hair are also articles of 

 great value ; and no part of the dead animal is with- 

 out its use. 



But notwithstanding those numerous and important 

 uses of the substance of the animals, they are nothing 

 to the uses of the animals themselves in a live state. 

 The great quantity of vegetable matter which cattle 

 convert into manure for the fields, and the peculiar 

 adaptation of this to the nourishing of corn and of 

 the more kindly grasses, render these animals indis- 

 pensable to the farmer ; and we may say with truth, 

 that there is not upon the face of the earth a single 

 spot so fertile as that it could bear corn crops even 

 ten years without the assistance of cattle. The beauty 

 of the animals too is something ; for if the greatest 

 master of colours limns a landscape with the utmost 

 effort of his art, and forgets cattle, it looks cold and 

 desert ; and one would prefer a single cow touched 

 by the broad and brilliant pencil of Cuyp to all the 

 still life in the world. In fact, those animals appear 

 to have been the grand means whereby the human 

 race were at first brought from their savage habits. 

 The naked hunter of the woods, who is understood to 

 have subsisted chiefly upon the flesh of animals, and 

 to have been hardly less ferocious in his manners 

 than the carnivorous mammalia, became in time a 

 shepherd, feeding upon milk, and clothing himself 

 with the skins, and ultimately w : ith the fleeces of his 

 flock, till their great value taught him to love the 

 gentle creatures ; and when this step was once taken, 

 the milk of human kindness was poured around the 

 human heart, the attachment of man to the animal 

 kingdom was placed upon a finer and firmer basis 

 than the mere desire of eating their flesh ; and the 

 moment that a gratification in supplement to that of 

 the mere animal appetites was afforded, the first grand 

 step in civilisation was taken ; nor was it long ere 



