THE LLAMA, ALPACA, AND VICUNA. 



483 



Agriculture is of course confined within the narrowest limits. In some parts barley 

 will grow ; but it never ripens, and is cut green for forage. The only cultivated vege- 

 table is the mata, the tuberous roots of which resemble the potato, and form a great 

 part of the food of the inhabitants. It grows best at an elevation of more than 12,000 

 feet. Vegetation is scanty. Here and there is a solitary dwarfed quinua, or wild 

 olive, or patch covered with reddish-brown ratania shrubs, which, with the droppings 

 of the llamas and vicunas, constitute the sole fuel of the region. The whole land- 

 scape presents a scene of bare rock, or of steppe-like expanses covered with dun 

 meagre herbage. The profusion of flowers which appear in many Alpine regions is 

 here utterly wanting. 



The animal kingdom is more amply represented on this bleak table-land. But its 

 native members are almost wholly confined to the camelida family, of which there are 

 four well-marked species, — the llama, the alpaca, the vicuna, and the huanacu, — who 

 find nourishment in the grassy patches. Before the advent of the Europeans these 

 llamas constituted the only beasts of burden, and even now they are largely employed 

 for that purpose. To the ancient Peruvians they were what the camel is to the Arabs. 

 Their flesh and milk served as food, their skins for a mantle, and from their wool a 

 coarse cloth was manufactured ; and they formed the only means except human labor 

 of transporting burdens from one place to another. Even now, when to a great extent 

 superseded by the stronger horse and mule, there are regions where they are indis- 

 pensable. The silver mines are often approached only by precipices so abrupt that 

 even the hoof of the sure-footed mule would find no foot-hold. The ordinary load of a 

 llama is a hundred pounds ; but as they never feed after sunset, they must be allowed 

 to graze on the way, so that they can travel only ten or fifteen miles a day. The 

 llama is the only animal ever domesticated by the aborigines of America. 



The llama is about the size of the deer, but bears a strong resemblance to the camel, 

 having the same formation of toes and stomach, and the same callosities upon the 

 breast and knees, but the unsightly hump is wanting. The microscope reveals that 

 the resemblance extends even to the globules of the blood, which are elliptical in the 

 camelides and some species of deer, but circular in all other quadrupeds. 



The huanacu was long supposed to be only the wild variety of the llama ; but 

 naturalists now point out specific differences. The huanacu is larger ; its wool is 

 shorter and coarser ; it presents no variety of color. They are very shy, and live in 

 small troops of from five to seven. When caught young they may be tamed, but 

 still show traces of their wild nature, and can hardly ever be trained to carry burdens. 



The alpaca is smaller than the llama, and bears some resemblance to the sheep ; but 

 its neck is longer, and it has a more elegantly formed head. Its wool is long, fine, 

 of a silky lustre, varying in color from almost white to black. The wool is especially 

 valuable since it can be woven with common wool, silk, or cotton, and within a few 

 years has become an article of considerable commercial value. Attempts, none of 

 which have as yet proved successful, have been made to introduce the alpaca into 

 other countries. They are kept in large herds grazing all the year round upon the 

 bleak table-lands, and are only driven to the pens to be shorn. 



The vicuna is of a more graceful shape than the llama ; its wool is shorter and 

 more curly, and of such extreme fineness as to be very valuable. It inhabits the 

 most secluded valleys, and during the rainy season climbs far up the sides of the Cor- 



