78 NATURAL HISTORY . 



months. When hunted they have a habit of now and again facing their pursuers, after which they 

 gallop off afresh. When attacked at close quarters they defend themselves by striking with their 

 fore-feet. From Mr. Darwin's account of the animal in the " Voyage of the Beagle" we learn that 

 it " abounds over the whole of the temperate parts of South America, from the wooded islands of 

 Tierra del Fuego, the rough Patagonia, the hilly parts of the La Plata, Chili, even to the Cordillera 

 of Peru. Although preferring an elevated site, it yields in this respect to its near relative the 

 Vicuna ; on the plains of Southern Patagonia we saw them in greater numbers than, in any other 

 part. Generally they go in small herds, from half a dozen to thirty together, but on the banks of 

 the St. Cruz we saw one herd which must have contained at least five hundred. On the northeni 

 shores of the Strait of Magellan they are also very numerous. Generally the Guanacoes are wild 

 and extremely wary. The sportsman frequently receives the first intimation of their presence by 

 hearing from a distance the peculiar shrill neighing note of alarm. If he then looks attentively, he 

 will perhaps see the herd standing in a line on some distant hill. On approaching them, a few more 

 squeals are given, and then off they set at an apparently slow but really quick canter along some 

 narrow beaten track to a neighbouring hill. If, however, by chance he should abruptly meet a single 

 animal, or several together, they will generally stand motionless, and intently gaze at him ; then, 

 perhaps, move on a few yards, turn round, and look again. What is the cause of this difference 

 in their shyness 1 Do they mistake a man in the distance for their chief enemy, the Puma, or 

 does curiosity overcome their timidity 1 That they are curious is certain ; for if a person lies on 

 the ground and plays strange antics, such as throwing up his feet in the air, they will almost 

 always approach by degrees to reconnoitre him. . . . On the mountains of Tierra del Fuego, 

 and in other places, I have more than once seen a Guanaco, on being approached, not only neigh and 

 squeal, but prance and leap about in the most ridiculous manner, apparently in defiance as a chal- 

 lenge. . . . The Guanacoes readily take to the water; several times at Port Valdez they were 

 seen swimming from island to island. Byron, in his ' Voyage,' says he saw them drinking salt 

 water. Some of our officers likewise saw a herd drinking the briny fluid from Salina, near Cape 

 Blanca. I imagine, in several parts of the country, if they do not drink salt water they drink, none 

 at all. In the middle of the day they frequently roll in the dust in saucer-shaped hollows. . . . 

 The Guanacoes appear to have favourite spots for dying in. On the banks of the St. Cruz the 

 ground was actually white with bones in certain circumscribed places, which were generally bushy, 

 and all near the river. On one such spot I counted between ten and twenty heads, some gnawed, as 

 if by beasts of prey." 



The Domestic Llama resembles its wild ancestor in most respects. Its colour may, however, be 

 variegated, or even white. Its woolly coat is longer, but not so fine, and when it is removed by 

 shearing the animal is conspicuously spotted. 



The VICUNA is a smaller animal of a light lion-brown colour, with a short and hairy face ; its 

 neck is lengthy, as in its allies ; its height about two feet six inches. Its wool is particularly 

 fine, and has been much employed, undyed, as a material for clothing. It is active and spiteful, 

 inhabiting a region higher and therefore colder than the Huanaco. 



The Alpaca is its domestic form, with thicker and much darker wool, as well as shorter limbs. 

 Its colour is often nearly black, or black varied with white or brown. 



The manufacture of alpaca stuffs dates from the year 1836, when Mr. (afterwards Sir) Titus Salt 

 commenced weaving the unusually long-haired wool, which at the time found 110 sale in the markets 

 on account of its not being suited to the existing combing apparatus. Since that period alpaca 

 has been much employed as a fabric, possibly to be again replaced in great measure by the sheep wool 

 of the Australian and other British colonies. 



FOSSIL RUMINANTIA. 



The study of fossil fornis throws as much light upon the development of existing types of 

 Ruminantia as it does in the case of the Perissodactyla. Until the last of the three great geologic 

 epochs none have been found; whilst in the Tertiary strata from Eocene, Miocene, and Pliocene 

 formations, numerous species are known, resembling existing types more closely as they are discovered 

 in the more recently deposited strata. 



