THE RUMINANT ORDER. 
239 
wider. Its eyes are large, intelligent, and mild ; its throat is of a 
yellowish colour ; its breast, the lower part of its belly, and the 
inside of its thighs are white, while the remainder of its body is 
brown. 
The rich fleece of this animal surpasses in fineness and softness 
any other wool with which we are acquainted. In order to obtain 
possession of its skin the American hunters pursue it even oyer the 
steepest summits of the Andes, when, by driving, they force them 
into pens, composed of tightly stretched cords, covered with rags 
of various colours, which frighten and prevent the prey attempt- 
ing to escape. One of these battues sometimes produces from five 
hundred to a thousand skins. Instead of destroying the Yicunas, 
the proper course would be to make them submit to the yoke of 
Man ; for great profit might be derived from their fleece. 
A great many attempts have been made to acclimatise the two 
last-mentioned species in France. If the French were to succeed 
in introducing Llamas on the Pyrenees, the Alps, the mountains 
of Yosges, and the Cevennes, &c., they would become an impor- 
tant source of wealth. With this view, the Jardin des Plantes 
and the Jardin Zoologique d* Acclimation, at Paris, have reared -a 
large number. 
Family of Common Ruminants. — This natural group compre- 
hends the greatest number of Ruminants. The feature which dis- 
tinguishes the animals composing it, not only from the Camel 
family, but also from all the other Ruminants, is the existence of 
two horns on the forehead of the male, and sometimes of the female. 
The structure of these appendages presents various characteristic 
differences, and has caused the division of this large and important 
family into three tribes, namely, Ruminants with hairy and per- 
manent horns, hollow-horned Ruminants, and Ruminants which 
shed their horns. 
It has been thought necessary to form a fourth division in the 
same family, comprehending Common Ruminants without horns. 
This division only contains the genus Musk-Deer (. Moschus , Linn.) 
Ruminants with hairy and permanent horns . — This tribe consists 
of a single genus, that of the Giraffe, which has also but one 
species. 
The height of the Giraffe ( Cervus Camelopardalis , Linn.), the 
