Ch. VIII. SOUTH AMERICA. 441 



thefe are, the vicuna and the gnanaco : the only dif- 

 ference between them being, that the vicuna is fome- 

 thing fmaller, its wool fhorrer and finer, and brown all 

 over the body, except the belly, which is whitifh. 

 The guanaca on the contrary is much larger, its wool 

 long and harfh ; but the fhape of both is pretty near 

 alike. Thefe laft are of great fervice in the mines, 

 carrying metals in fuch rugged roads as would beim^ 

 prad:icable to any other bealt. 



In the houfes is bred a creature called chucha ; but 

 jn the other fouthern provinces it is known by the In- 

 dian name of muca-muca ; it refembles a rat, but 

 confiderablv bigger, with a long; fnout, not unlike that ' 

 of a hog the feet and tail are exadly the fame as 

 thofe of a rat : but the hair is longer and black. In 

 the lower part of its belly, from the beginning of the 

 ftomach to the natural orifice of the fex, runs a fort of 

 bag, formed of two membranous fkins, which grow- 

 ing from the lower ribs, and joining in the middle, 

 follow the conformation of the belly, which they in- 

 clofe : in the middle of it is an aperture extending 

 about two-thirds of its length, and which the creature • 

 opens and fhuts at pleaiure by means of mufcles, 

 doubtlefs formed by nature for this purpofe. After 

 bringing forth her young, fhe depofits them in this 

 bag, and carries them as a fecond pregnancy till they 

 are fit for weaning ; fhe then relaxes the mufcles, and 

 the young come out as a fecond brood. Monfieur 

 de JufTieu and M. Seniergues, when at Qiiito, made 

 an experiment, at which Don George Juan and I 

 were both prel'ent. The dam had been dead three 

 days, and began to fmell very difagreeably ; the orifice 

 of the bag remained ftill fhut, but the young ones we 

 found full of life within, each with a teat in its mouth ^ 

 from which, at the time we took them off, fome fmall 

 drops of milk came out. The male I never faw ; 

 but was told that it was of the fame bignefs and 

 fliape as the female, except the bag \ the tefticles 

 2 of 



