ANIMALS. 513 



Its natural mildness, but its aptitude for servitude, its modera- 

 tion, and its patience. The Americans early found out its use- 

 ful qualities, and availed themselves of its labours : like the 

 camel, it serves to carry goods over places inaccessible to other 

 beasts of burden ; like that, it is obedient to its driver, and of- 

 ten dies mider, but never resists, his cruelty. 



Of these animals, some are white, others black, but they are 

 mostly brown ; its face resembles that of the camel, and its 

 height is about equal to that of an ass. They are not found in 



ut Ihe commencement of the Spanish revolution, and the populace, in ha. 

 tied to their late minister, were about to throw the llamas into the sea- 

 The governor of Cadiz, however, rescued them ; and they were given in 

 charge of an eminent Spaniard, Don Francisco de Theran, who had a fine 

 zoological garden at San Lucar de Barrameda, in Andalusia. The Frencli 

 armies having subsequently traversed this province. Marshal Soult took 

 the llamas under his care ; and Monsieur Bory de Saint Vincent, a distin- 

 g-uished French naturalist who accompanied the army, studied their habits 

 with great attention, and made some drawings of them, which were after, 

 wards lost at the battle of Vittorla, He paid particular attention to the 

 quality of their wool, and transmitted some specimens of each sort to the 

 Academy of Sciences at Paris. It appears from the report of M. de Saint 

 Vincent and Don Francisco de Theran, that the fleece of the alpa-vigonia 

 (the cross between the vigonia and the alpaca) is much longer, and six times 

 heavier than that of any other variety. From the opportunities which 

 these naturalists had of observing the llamas, the fact was ascertain- 

 ed which lias been stated by some travellers, that the individuals of every 

 sort had the remarkable habit of depositing their dung in one particular 

 spot. It is this habit which betrays the herds to the hunters in the South 

 American mountains. 



The llamas of South America furnish a beautiful example of the deternii. 

 nation of the locality of a particuUir group of animals, according to the ele- 

 vation of the surface, where they find their food. This selection is proba- 

 bly determined by the temperature. The llamas are stationed upon diflcrent 

 stages of the Cordilleras ; and are found, or disappear, throughout that en. 

 ormous chain of mountains, as the summits are elevated or depressed. 

 Thus they range considerably below the line of perpetual snow, from Chili 

 to New Granada, without reaching the isthmus of Panama. 1 he species is 

 not found in Mexico; and this remarkable circiunstance is to be ascribed to 

 the fact that at the isthmus the Cordillera has a less elevation than Is suited 

 to their natures and wants. In the same way some of the Alpine animals 

 of Kurope, (such as the bouquetin,) which never descend into the plains, 

 are found upon mountains at long intervals, although the line of their sum. 

 mils is interrupted. This locality is determined by elevation. The same 

 fact is constantly observed with regard to plants. 



The lliuna was found by the Spaniards at the period of their conquest of 

 South America. It was the only beast of burthen which the natives pos- 

 cessed. Its flesh was eaten by the Indians : — and its wool was woven into 

 clotlu 



