THE BROWN LLAMA. 
281 
maison, is a uniform bright brown ; its under parts, and 
the inside of the limbs, are white ; and its head and 
ears of a deep dusky gray. Its tail is rather short, 
raised a httle from the body, curved downwards, and 
covered above with long woolly hairs. The legs are 
moderately thick ; the upper lip very prominent and 
deeply divided ; and the neck longer than the fore legs, 
and consequently bearing a very unusual proportion to 
the height of the animal. It is remarkably distin- 
guished by its activity and upright bearing, and by the 
spirited expression of its physiognomy, which is not 
unmixed with an air of spiteful malice. In temper it 
is far from docile ; it readily accepts of bread or biscuits 
from the hands of the visiters, but is equally ready to 
take offence at any supposed injury or insult, and to 
revenge itself by discharging its saliva upon the offend- 
ing party. This is the usual expedient to which these 
animals have recourse when teased or irritated, and it 
is certainly by no means an agreeable salute, although 
the mucus thus discharged has none of those corrosive 
properties which Frezier and other writers have ascribed 
to it. 
In their native state the Llamas inhabit the Cordil- 
leras of the Andes, but principally in Peru and Chili. 
They are rare in Columbia and Paraguay, and seldom 
make their appearance on the eastern side of the chain. 
They associate together in herds of one or two hundred 
individuals, and subsist entirely, according to Frezier, 
on a peculiar kind of grass or reed called ycho, that 
covers the mountains on the sides of which they dwell, 
^hile they can procure green herbage they are never 
known to drink, and it may therefore be presumed that 
they have the power of secreting from their food suffi- 
cient liquid to satiate their thirst. They do not appear 
to be so insensible of cold as the Vicugnas, which are 
