| deer. 
140 
varieties of the guanaco, the first being distin- 
guished simply by an ample development of its 
wool. The alpaca, however, appears to us to pos- 
sess quite a sufficient breadth of peculiar charac- 
ter to entitle it to the rank of a separate species. 
The brown llama figured in the Naturalist’s Li- 
brary, and supposed there to be a distinct species, 
appears to be merely a dark-woolled individual of 
the domestic Nama; and the Chilihueque, which 
the writer of the article ‘ Brown Llama’ in that 
work seems to think a different animal from any 
of the ascertained species of llama, is just the 
domestic llama as found among the Chilese,—the 
names Chilihueque, Hanaca, and Guanaco, being 
merely variations of one another,—and the first 
of these names being applied by the Chilese to 
the domestic llama, while the second and the 
third are applied by most writers to the wild 
guanaco, or original form to which the domestic 
| lama belonged. 
The taruga or taruca is rather obscurely known, 
and figures principally in the accounts of De Laet. 
Though seemingly most allied to the alpaca, it pos- 
sesses the distinctive characters of a solitary or 
ungregarious habit, and of light and pendulous 
ears. It is larger, swifter, and of a more burnt 
colour than the vicugna; and it rarely associates 
with its fellows, but wanders solitarily about pre- 
cipices and among wild crags. In the time of 
the Incas, it was very abundant, and even ap- 
proached the immediate vicinity of towns. Gar- 
cilasso de la Vega mistook it for a species of small 
Its solitary habit, combined with its simi- 
larity in constitution and value to the alpaca, 
may possibly, at some very early period, instigate 
a search for it, and recommend its introduction 
to the most broken and rocky districts of Scot- 
land and Wales, where herbage is too scanty to 
afford sustenance to flocks. 
The domestic Hama differs from the guanaco 
chiefly in such properties as result from long 
| domestication, but is both stouter in the body 
and shorter in the neck; and it must be under-. 
stood as the variety principally referred to in 
all statements respecting the former Peruvians’ 
domestic animals and beasts of. burden. How 
early it became domesticated, is not known; but 
at the date of the Spanish invasion, it was found 
performing nearly the same offices to the Peru- 
vians, which the camel still performs to the 
Arabs. Its neck is very long; its tail is a little 
raised and curved down; its height at the top of 
the shoulders is about three feet and a half; its 
colour is occasionally brown, but usually either 
white or a mixture of white and brown; and its 
wool is considerably developed, and, but for the 
superior quality of that of the alpaca and the 
vicugna, would be in great request. It feeds 
chiefly upon mountain herbage, particularly upon 
a coarse rushy grass called ichu or ycho; and 
when it can obtain a sufficiency of this food, it is 
never known to drink; yet it possesses these re- 
_ markable habits of sustenance, as well as some 
ALPACA. 
other valuable properties, quite in common with 
the guanaco, the alpaca, and the vicugna. Its sa-. 
liva is always abundant and exceedingly offen- 
sive ; yet though formerly thought to be acrid, has 
been ascertained to be perfectly innocuous. The 
animal is, in general, very quiet and quite inof- 
fensive ; yet it occasionally yields to rather slight 
provocation; and when fairly irritated, it ener- 
getically strikes with its fore-feet, and inflicts 
very severe blows. Though still of much econo- 
mical value in its native land, it has been almost 
wholly superseded as a beast of burden by the 
introduction of the horse, the ass, and especially 
the mule, and has been lessened in its importance 
for wool and flesh by the introduction of the 
sheep, the goat, and the ox. 
The guanaco is more slender, and has the ap- 
pearance of more spirit and energy than the do- 
mesticated llama ; but it soon accustoms itself to 
captivity. Its wool is finer than that of the do- 
mestic llama, but not so long; and its colour is 
grey in the head and ears, and a rich rufous 
brown in the body. It lives among the moun- 
tains during summer; but descends to the val- 
leys, and is hunted by dogs and men on the ap- 
proach of winter. “The guanaco,” says Mr. Dar- 
win, in the Voyage of the Beagle, “abounds over 
the whole of the temperate parts of South Amer- 
ica, from the wooded islands of Tierra del Fuego, 
through Patagonia, the hilly parts of La Plata, 
Chili, even to the Cordillera of Peru. Although 
preferring an elevated site, it yields in this re- 
spect to its near relative, the vicugna; on the 
plains of Southern Patagonia, we saw them in 
greater numbers than in any other part. Gen- 
erally they go in small herds from half-a-dozen 
to thirty together ; but on the banks of the St. 
Cruz, we saw one herd which must have contained 
at least five hundred. On the northern shores of 
the strait of Magellan, they are also very numer- 
ous. Generally the guanacoes are wild and ex- 
tremely wary. The sportsman frequently receives 
the first intimation of their presence by hearing 
from a distance the peculiar, shrill, neighing note 
of alarm. If he then looks attentively, he will 
perhaps see the herd standing in a line on some 
distant hill, On approaching them, a few more 
squeals are given, and then off they set at an ap- 
parently slow but really quick canter along some 
narrow beaten tract to a neighbouring hill. On 
the mountains of Tierra del Fuego, and in other 
places, I have more than once seen @ guanaco, on 
being approached, not only neigh and squeal, but 
prance and leap about in the most ridiculous 
manner, apparently in defiance as a challenge. 
These animals are very easily domesticated, and I 
have seen some thus kept near the houses, al- 
though at large on their native plains. They 
are, in this state, very bold, and readily attack a 
man by striking him from behind with both 
knees. The wild guanacoes, however, have no 
idea of defence; even a single dog will secure 
one of these large animals till the huntsman can 
