126 VIEWS OF NATURE. 



population. Pedro de Ciega de Leon* seems to imply, 

 although assuredly as a very rare exception to the general 

 mode of life, that lamas were employed on the Peruvian moun- 

 tain plain of Callao for drawing the plough.f Ploughing was 

 however, generally conducted in Peru by men only.| Barter 

 has made it appear probable that the American buffalo had 

 from an early period been reared among some West Canada 

 tribes on account of its flesh and hide. In Peru and Quito 

 the lama is nowhere found in its original wild condition. 

 According to the statements made to me by the natives, the 

 lamas on the western declivity of the Chimborazo became 

 wild at the time when Lican. the ancient residence of the 

 rulers of Quito, was laid in ashes. In Central Peru, in the 

 Ceja de la Montana, cattle have in like manner become 

 completely wild ; a small but daring race that often attacks 

 the Indians. The natives call them " Vacas del Monte " 

 or"Vacas Cimarronas."|| Cuvier's assertion that the lama 

 had descended from the guanaco, still in a wild state, which 

 had unfortunately been extensively propagated by the admir- 

 able observer, Meyen,^f has now been completely refuted by 

 Tschudi. 



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

 originally distinct species of animals.** The Guanaco (Hua- 

 nacu in the Qquichua 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 

 height. Herds of Llamas, when as numerous as I have seen 

 them on the elevated plateaux between Quito and Riobamba, 

 are a great ornament to the landscape. The Moromoro of Chili 

 appears to be a mere variety of the lama. The different species 

 of camel-like sheep found still wild at elevations of from 13,000 

 to upwards of 16,000 feet above the level of the sea, are the 

 Vicuna, the Guanaco, and the Alpaca ; of these the two latter 

 species are also found tame, although this is but rarely the 



* Chronica del Peru, Sevilla, 1553, cap. 110, p. 264. 

 f See Gay, Zoologia de Chili, Mamiferos, 1847, p. 154. 

 J See the Inca Garcilaso, Commentaries reales, P. 1, lib. v. cap. 2, 

 p. 133; and Prescott, Hist, of the Conquest of Peru, 1847, vol. i. p. 13G 

 Fragments of the Nat. Hist, of Pennsylvania, P. 1, p. 4. 

 II Tschudi, Fauna Peruana, s. 256. 

 II Iteise urn die Erde, th. iii. s. 64. 

 ** Tschudi, s. 22*, 237. 



