ANIMALsS. 67

great number of these animals here, but they are now become much more rare in consequence of the promiscuous license of hunting them. Their wool is very fine, resembling silk or the fur of the beaver,

and the natives deservedly hold it in high estimation; for, besides

other properties, it is also said to resist heat and impart coolness to the wearer.“

The llama,(Auchenia glama,) ordinarily, is from 4 to 5 feet in height, of a light-brown color on the back and sides, and under the belly uniformly white. Sometimes. however, it is dun, grey, or even inclining to purple, and very seldom parti-colored or black. The hair is long, of a texture between silk and wool, but not curled.

The alpaca(Auchenia alpaca) is smaller than the llama, its usual height being only 4 feet. It appears more corpulent, however, owing to its possessing a much longer and a more profuse clothing of hair, which, sometimes, is from 8 to 12 inches in length on the sides. rump, and breast. The fleece of an old individual is represented to weigh 20 or 30 pounds. It partakes of various colors, often being parti-colored, but more frequently white than the other species.

The most valuable breeds are said to come from the central provinces; and here it may not be irrelevant to observe that there are too varieties of alpaca, differing in size, figure, and fleece. The breed called cogds is the most diminutive, and is esteemed for the smallness of bone and symmetry of form. It is chiefly confined to

the Cusco range of mountains, more particularly to that part of it

intervening between the ancient city of the Incas and Haumanga. It is thought to be a remnant of the old royal flocks, or those once owned by the priests of the sun, who are represented as having the choicest breeds. That territory was, besides the principal theatre of agricultural operations, the seat of power, and the centre of Peru- vian civilization.

The Peruvians dry the flesh of the Ilama as well as that of the alpaca, which they are very fond of eating.

The order to which the genus Auchenia belongs offers to the eye of the naturalist but a very small anatomical difference of conformation from that containing the camel, properly so called. The feet are not,

like those of that quadruped, entirely padded with an elastic sole,

but the two toes are separated, each having strong, horny nails, or hoofs, nearly resembling the talons of a bird, with a thick cushion, or pad beneath. These animals are also dissimilar in the formation and arrangement of their teeth, having on each side of the upper jaw one canine tooth more than the camel, but are deficient in a second canine tooth in the lower jaw. Their incisors project fully half an inch from the muzzle-bone, so as to meet the pad fitted above, by which means, and with the aid of the tongue and cleft lip, they are not only enabled to draw together and clip short grass upon the ground, but also, with their long necks, pointed muzzles, and the oblique posture which the head can assume, to collect herbage growing on the hedges, and in the interstices of rocks 7 feet high, as well as the tops of hedges and tall shrubs. Their teeth are, at the same time, so strong,