ORDER RUMINANTIA. 53 



very few attendants, among precipices and over rocks with 

 great steadiness. 



As their flesh is edible, the hide useful, and wool a valu- 

 able article in manufacture, they are so profitable, that 

 little doubt can arise that the procreation of breeds of these 

 animals in New Holland, and even in the mountainous 

 parts of Southern Europe, would be attended with valuable 

 results in rural economy. In Spain, some endeavours of 

 this kind have been made ; but the apathy and want of per- 

 severance which seems to extend over all the enterprises 

 of that people have rendered them abortive. Several of 

 the facts and opinions here adduced are due to a friend, 

 who travelled by land from Valparaiso to Carthagena. 



Beside the species which we shall describe, with some 

 positive means of discriminating, authors have noticed the 

 Chilihuque, Camelus Araucanus of Molina, and, perhaps, 

 the Mormorus of Nieremberg. In size it is reported equal 

 to the Lama, but in appearance resembling a ram, with 

 pendulous ears, long neck and legs, and tail resembling 

 that of a sheep, but shorter and varying in colour in dif- 

 ferent individuals. But as this animal is asserted to have 

 been the species originally domesticated by the Caciques, 

 and even to have drawn a sort of plough, the trifling dif- 

 ferences which separate it from the Lama may be regarded 

 as the result of a particular breed, more completely de- 

 graded by long domestication and severe labour. 



The Huemel (Equus Bisulus, Mol.) is perhaps a real 

 species of this genus, which from its neighing voice and 

 some fancied resemblance in size and colour with the Ass, 

 has been admitted without sufficient reflection in the cata- 

 logue of nomenclators, as a species of horse. It is de- 

 scribed as wild, strong, and swift, and residing in the rocky 

 regions of the Cordilleras of Chili, as far south as the 

 Strait of Magellan. 



The Lama. (Camelus Glama. Lin.) This species is 



