LLAMAS. 



830 



to supply this they fill the skins of she-op with water, and make other living sheep carry them ; for il 

 must l.c remarked that these sheep of Peru arc large enough to serve as beasts of burden. Th.-v 

 can carry about one hundred pounds, or more, and the Spaniards used to ride them, and they would 

 go four or five leagues a-day. When they are weary they lie down on the ground, and, as there are 

 no means of making them get up, either by beating or assisting them, the load must of necessity be 

 taken oil'. 



" When there is a man on one of them, if the beast is tired, and urged to go on, he turns his head 

 round, and discharges his saliva, which has an unpleasant odour, into the rider's face. These animals 

 are of great use and profit to their masters, for their wool is very good and fine, particularly (1, 

 the species called ' Pacas,' which have very long fleeces; and the expense of their food is trifling, as 

 a handful of maize suffices them, and they can go four or five days without water. Their flesh is as- 

 good as that of the fat sheep of Castile. There are now public shambles for the sale of their fle>h in all 









... "- ';"<'-' ~^^s 



- ^~~- ^fr,,' -; - '-- - 



purls of Peru, which was not the case when the Spaniards came first; for, when one Indian had killed 

 a sheep, his neighbours came and took what they wanted, and then another Indian killed a sheep in 

 his turn." 



With this account the testimony of D'Acosta accords. He mentions, however, particularly, the 

 pecies ; one which is woolly, and called " Paco," by the natives ; the other covered with a slight 

 fli-eee only, and nearly naked, whence it is more fitted for carrying burdens. This is called 

 " Guanaco." 



The guanaco abounds over the whole of the temperate parts of South America, from the wooded 



:s of Ticrr.i del Fuego, through Patagonia, the hilly parts of La Plata, Chili, evni to the 

 Cordillera of Peru. Its wool is in ropiest, being of a fine texture; the general colour is rich, rufous 

 Li-own, the head and ears being gray. The neck is peculiarly long; the tail a little raised and cuived 

 down : the height at the top of the shoulders about three and a half feet. 



(Vnondlv, the gnaiiaeos, which go ill herds, art? wild, and extremely wary. The sportsman 

 freipii-nlly receives the first intimation of their presence by hearing, from a distance, the peculiar 



