168 THE CAMEL. 



The patience of this animal # is most extraordinar}', 

 and it is to be feared its sufferings are likewise in the 

 extreme ; for, when loaded, it sends forth the most 

 pitious complaints, though it never offers to resist its 

 oppressor's power: at the slightest sign it falls upon its 

 knees, and lies flat upon its belly to receive the load, 

 and remains in that posture until the driver is mounted, 

 when, at the word of command, it will instantly rise. 

 If the driver begins singing, it seems to animate its 

 spirits ; and it pursues its journey, without resting, 

 until night, when it submissively bends its knees to 

 be unladen, after a toilsome and fatiguing day. 



THE LAMA. 



As almost all the quadrupeds of the new world arc 

 smaller than those they resemble in the old ; so the 

 lama, which bears a strong affinity to the camel in 

 size and proportion, is infinitely less. Though this 

 animal is a native of America, it is not to be found in 

 every part ; but chiefly abounds upon those mountains 

 that stretch from New Spain to Magellan's Straits ; and 

 in Pontosi, and the other provinces of Peru, they are 

 highly estimated, and thought excellent food. Over 

 the most rugged and dangerous paths they are capable 

 of carrying burdens with the greatest safety, provided 

 they do not exceed an hundred weight ; and we are 

 told there are more than three hundred thousand of 

 them employed in transporting silver from the valuable 

 mines of Potosi. Their hair, or rather wool, is gene- 

 rally of a brown colour ; though some few are black, 

 and others white ; the texture of it is both fine and 

 glossy, and is spun into a beautiful kind of cloth. 



* The camel goes with young about twelve months, and only brings 

 forth one at a time ; and its life is protracted to forty or fifty years. 



