No. 399.] 129 



I should have compUed wilh his request at' an earlier period, had 

 I not hoped that the return of tranquility in Bolivia would enable me 

 to procure, from pubUc and private sources, the means to do so in a 

 manner corresponding, in some good measure, to your wishes. But 

 the revolutionary state in which I found the country on my arrival 

 here, and which can hardly be said to have had any cessation up to 

 the present time, exhibits even now so little prospect of an early 

 conclusion, that I think it proper to delay no longer a reply to the 

 letter of Mr. Brown. 



The "Alpacca " is one of four animals to which the Spaniards in 

 South America gave the general name of " Carneros de la tierra^'^ 

 sheep of the country, in distinction from those which they introduced 

 themselves. Of these the " Llama " is the most useful, and the 

 "Vicuna" the most beautiful. The former is somewhat larger than 

 a stag, of various colors, with a long neck, a well shaped head, which 

 it carries proudly erect, and a tread as majestic as that of royalty. 

 Of its long and coarse wool, the Indians make clothing ; its flesh 

 serves them frequently for food ; and from its services as a beast of 

 burden they, many of them, gain a livelihood. The usual burden for 

 a " Llama," is three arrobas, 75 lbs., and it seldom travels more than 

 fifteen miles a day ; but it can go by paths which are impassable 

 even for mules, and requires no other sustenance for 24 hours than a 

 few pounds of straw. It has been proposed to cross the Llama with 

 the stronger and fleeter camel of the old world, and such an experiment 

 might be attended with valuable results. 



The "Vicuna" is much smaller than the "Llama," a little taller 

 perhaps than a common English sheep, but with not so large a body. 

 It has a long, slender neck, and its head, which it carries high, and a 

 little projecting, attracts attention both for its delicate shape and its 

 brilliant eyes. Its color is usually a ligjit tawny brown, with white 

 belly and legs ; and it has a short, thick fine wool. The " Vicufias'" 

 are still quite numerous in the higher parts of Peru and Bolivia ; but 

 from the difficulty of domesticating them, they have heretofore only 

 supplied their wool to commerce at the expense of their lives. 



[Assembly, No. 199.] 9 



