28 THE WONDERS OF THE ANIMAL KINGDOM. 



of the same colour as the sides of the body, but the throat approximates more closely to the white. 

 Its neck is long and covered with wool, and as its head is always held in an erect position, the animal 

 has an air of nobleness and lightness which nature has refused to the camel. The feet are divided 

 into two toes ; the horn of each toe is about an inch and a half long, black and smooth, rounded 

 externally, but flat underneath; the fore knees are remarkable for their thickness, whilst in the 

 hinder legs, about the middle, there is a cavity under the skin of about the depth of two inches. 



Although the Llama is not to be compared to the camel in point of size, strength, or perseverance, yet 

 the Americans find a substitute in it, with which they seem to be highly satisfied. It indeed ap- 

 peal's to be formed for that indolent race of masters whom it is obliged to serve, and who have actually 

 reduced it from its wild and savage state, to one of subjection and domestication. It is one of those 

 animals on which the change of climate appears to have no visible effect, prospering and breeding 

 equally in a hot as in a cold climate : for, being naturally provided with a warm covering, it does not 

 require to be housed, and being satisfied with vegetables and grass, it requires for its subsistence 

 neither corn nor hay. It exceeds the camel in temperance, particularly in drink, it having been known 

 to live eighteen months without any water : in fact, of all animals, it appears to require water the least, 

 being supplied by nature with saliva in so large a quantity, that it spits it out on every occasion, and 

 particularly when it is offended ; this saliva seems to be the only offensive weapon with which this harm- 

 less creature is invested to testify its resentment. When it is overloaded or fatigued, or impelled by all 

 the torturing arts of its keeper, it falls on its belly, and pours out against him a quantity of this 

 fluid, of which the Indians in general are very much afraid, as they assert that it is of a very acri- 

 monious nature, either burning the skin, or causing very dangerous eruptions. The animals from which 

 our drawing is taken, and which are now confined in the Zoological Gardens, are exceedingly partial to 

 carrots; if a root be given to them, and an attempt be made to take it from them, their anger imme- 

 diately rises, and they eject their saliva with the greatest vehemence, covering a surface of three or 

 four yards in extent. The noxious quality of the saliva is denied by Bingley, who says that when 

 the Llama was exhibited in Piccadilly in 1S05, he had the saliva thrown on his hand, and the keeper 

 informed him that he had had it frequently thrown into his face, without experiencing any injurious 

 effects ; that it is wholly innocuous cannot, however, be admitted on rational grounds, for as it is 

 evidently given to the animal as a means of defence and annoyance, it must be necessarily invested 

 with some properties of a repellant and corrosive nature. 



When the Llamas are amongst their native mountains, they associate in immense herds on the 

 highest and steepest parts. Here they frequently climb rocks, along which no man has the temerity 

 to follow them, and while the remainder are quietly feeding, one of them is always stationed as a 

 sentinel on the point of some adjacent rock. When this animal observes any one approaching, it gives 

 a kind of neigh, and the herd, taking the a.arm, run off with incredible speed. They gallop to a 

 considerable distance, then stop, turn round and gaze at their pursuers till they come near, and im- 

 mediately set off again. They outrun all the dogs, so that the natives have no other mode of killing 

 them than with sruns. 



