184 THE TOWER MENAGERIE. 
distinction, although we venture not at present to speak 
decidedly respecting it. 
The Llamas congregate together in considerable herds 
on the sides of the Andes, and generally in the colder 
and more elevated regions. When the Spaniards first 
arrived in Peru they were the only beasts of burden 
employed by the natives; and even at the present day, 
when horses have become so excessively common, they 
are usually preferred for passing the mountains, on 
which their sureness of footing, exceeding even that of 
the mule, gives them a manifest superiority. Generally 
speaking they are quiet, docile and timid; but they 
occasionally exihibit much spitefulness, especially if 
teased or ill treated. Their mode of evincing this is 
very peculiar, and consists in darting their saliva through 
their nostrils with considerable force. Like all the other 
Ruminants they subsist entirely on vegetables. Those 
in the Tower Menagerie have a particular fondness for 
carrots; and if one of these is abstracted from them 
while they are eating, their anger is immediately roused, 
and they spit, as it is termed, with the greatest vehe- 
mence, covering with their saliva a surface of three or 
four yards in extent. One of the animals in the cut is 
represented in the act. 
