THE NATURAL HISTORY OF DISTANT LANDS 69 



Puma. Of the puma or American lion Acosta says 

 that it is not so furious as it appears in pictures. 



Llamas and Alpacas. These he considers to be a 

 kind of sheep. He praises them as of great profit 

 and small charge, for they yield both wool and meat, 

 and carry burdens without either saddle or oats ; they 

 are sheep and asses combined. He speaks of their being 

 hunted by a thousand or more hunters at a time, and 

 also of their being lassoed with lines and plummets of 

 lead. The vicuna he compares to a wild goat, but says 

 elsewhere that it cannot be really a goat, for it has no 

 horns. 



Manatee. This he saw in the Windward Islands, 

 and describes it as a strange kind of fish, if we may call 

 it a fish, for it brings forth its young alive and suckles 

 them. The flesh was so like veal that he had scruples 

 about eating it on a Friday. 



Of other quadrupeds he mentions the peccary, tapir, 

 armadillo, chinchilla, guinea-pig and three-toed sloth, 

 but has nothing interesting to tell about them. 



Humming-birds. Acosta often doubted as he 

 watched them whether they might not be bees or 

 butterflies. 



Flying -fishes. He saw flying-fishes leaping into the 

 air to avoid the pursuit of the dorado. One fell on his 

 ship, and he examined its wings, which he thought to 

 resemble linen cloth or parchment. 



Acosta saw the guano islands, and learned that guano 

 is a valuable fertiliser. He describes from his own 

 experience the symptoms of mountain-sickness. 



It does not belong to our undertaking to quote 

 interesting facts, of which there are many, concerning 

 the Incas of Peru, or the ancient civilisation of Mexico. 

 Enough has already been extracted to show how valuable 



