| scription of domesticable animal. 
138 
the sheep, and recently the object of great in- 
terest for its sheep-like habits, and especially for 
its wool, but really belonging to the camel family, 
and formerly considered by naturalists as an ac- 
tual species of camel. The whole of the genus 
Auchenia or Llama, so far as known, possesses 
points of considerable interest to the British 
stock farmer, and at least another species of it, 
besides the Alpaca, presents strong claims for 
adoption as a domestic animal upon British hill- 
farms. Hence, were we strictly methodical, we 
would reserve a notice of all the species for an 
| article on the word Luama; but, as the Alpaca 
is the species of greatest interest, and has become 
popularly known among farmers, and is the me- 
dium through which interest in the other species 
is felt, and forms the topic of much mercantile 
speculation respecting both the naturalization of 
the animal and the produce of its wool, we make 
logic give way to utility, and set up the Alpaca 
as the representative of the whole genus Awch- 
| end. 
The llama was classed by Linnzeus, and other 
| distinguished naturalists of the last century, as 
a camel; and it was constituted a separate and 
distinct genus by Illiger, and named Auchenia in 
| allusion to the comparatively great length and 
slenderness of its neck. It differs from the 
camel in being a much smaller animal, in having 
' no hump on its back, and in wanting the broad 
_ elastic pad on the foot, which is so admirably 
adapted for traversing the arid wastes of the 
sandy wilderness; but it closely resembles the 
camel in the general structure and cellular ap- 
| paratus of the stomach, in the remarkable power 
of enduring prolonged thirst, in the expression 
of its large, full, overhung eye, in the division 
and mobility of its upper lip, in its fissured 
nostrils, slender neck, and meagre limbs, and in 
the long, woolly, and finely filamentous character 
of its clothing. The foot of the llama is directly 
and most beautifully adapted for climbing craggy, 
alpine heights, and proceeding with a free and 
fearless step among the chasms, pinnacles, and 
rocky wastes of mountain precipices; and, in 
common with the entire structure and all the 
instincts and natural habits of the animal, indi- 
cates the purpose of the infinitely wise and bene- 
ficent Creator, that the llama should enjoy com- 
fort to itself, and minister to the wants of man, 
amidst rugged and savage uplands of too stern a 
character, or too lofty an altitude, to be easily 
traversed, or profitably stocked, by any other de- 
Two springy 
toes, terminating in strong, short hoofs, and pro- 
vided beneath with rough, elongated cushions, 
constitute the body of each foot; the toes are 
completely divided from each other, yet lie 
mutually close, and assist each other’s action ; 
and the hoofs are laterally compressed, pointed 
at the tip, and hooked over nearly in the form of 
ALPACA. 
The native country of all the species of llama 
is the most grandly mountainous in the world, 
the alpine portion of Chili and Peru, the sublime 
region of the Andes or Cordilleras from the equa- 
tor to nearly the southern extremity of South 
America, second in altitude only to the Him- 
alayan mountains of Hindostan, rising in suc- 
cessive ranges tier over tier from the seaboard of - 
the Pacific to altitudes far above the line of per- 
petual snow, and possessing, between base and 
summit, an epitome of all the climates and al- 
most all the countries of the globe. Along the 
seaward base of this stupendous region extends 
a narrow belt of plain, scorched with the rays of 
a vertical sun, and almost never refreshed by a 
fall of rain, yet so invigorated by heavy dews 
from the clouds, and animated by fertilizing rills 
from the mountains, as to enjoy a perpetual 
spring, and luxuriate in the richest vegetation. 
But along the acclivities, the summits, and the 
vast terraces of the lower ranges, tropical heats 
and plants are suddenly succeeded by those of 
the temperate zone; and after the summits of 
the middle ranges are attained, the rays of the 
sun lose their fervour and energy, the air is 
chilled, and vegetation dwarfed by freezing 
winds, and the ascents of the land are a series | 
of rocky, barren, icy regions, called by the na- 
tives punas, rising ridge above ridge in a struggle 
for terrific wildness and sterility, and succeeded 
in the far sky-soaring distance by an upper world 
of rocky crests and deep ravines, of alpine pin- 
nacles and massive crags, of awful precipices and 
horrid chasms, which human foot has never trod, 
and the eagle’s wing has scarcely overshadowed. 
In the zone of these wondrous regions, a little 
below the line of perpetual snow, and at altitudes 
of from 8,000 to 12,000 feet above the level of the 
sea, flocks of the domesticated species of the 
llama subsist themselves on the wild and scanty 
herbage, and constitute the chief care and the 
principal wealth of the mountaineer Indian ; 
and in a still higher zone, at altitudes of from 
12,000 to 14,000 feet above the level of the sea, 
under almost perpetual mist and snow, and in 
situations chiefly inaccessible to the foot or even 
the eye of man, live the wild species of the 
lama, travelling from peak to peak with the 
facility of the chamois and the swiftness of the 
gazelle, and seeming to find sustenance and com- 
fort almost from the naked rocks and glittering 
snows. “ Here, amidst broken and precipitous 
peaks, on the parapets and projecting ledges, 
slightly covered with earth, or in the valleys 
formed by the mountain ridges, like the Pyre- 
nean chamois, the llama and alpaca pick up a pre- 
carious subsistence from the mosses, lichens, ten- 
der shrubs, and grassy plants, which make their 
appearance as the snow recedes; or, descending 
lower down, revel in the pajonales, or, as they are 
called in some parts of the country, ichtales, 
claws, their upper surface like an acute ridge, | natural meadows of the ichu plant, the favourite 
and their under surface linearly concave. 
haunts of the tame and wild kinds. Thus the 
