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ANIMALS. 69

chilled as almost to present the desolate aspect of the Arctic regrons; and yet such are the tracts upon which the vicuna and the guanaco abound and run wild, far above the abode of man, and are hunted for their flesh and skins. It is remarkable, however, that they do not inhabit Quito, Santa Fé, Caracas,&c., although the climate of the mountains of those parts is similar to that of High Peru.

The comparatively small size of these animals, as well as the vege- table forms by which they are surrounded, clearly indicates that the climate of the Andes is not favorable either to animal or vegetable growth. It has also been remarked, that there the human species is subject to the same law; man decreasing in bulk and stature in pro- portion as he dwells near the meuntain summits. In Peru, the winter sets in towards June, and is severely felt on the highlands, where the snow remains upon the ground six, and in some places eight months in the year. As soon as the narrow and green strip of land bordering upon the Pacific is passed, the traveller begins to ascend the slopes; and when he attains the first table-land, observes a com- plete change in the climate and the appearance of vegetation. Except in the„ungas, or hollows, where an alluvial soil has been collected, and where the Indian plants his sugar-cane, banana, and esculent roots, the country wears a naked and barren aspect.

The female llama and alpaca go with young eleven or twelve months, and rarely produce more than one at a birth. They are weaned when half a year old, but are not put at work before they have completed the third year. They begin to bear when two years old.

The Ilama and alpaca, as well as the alpaca and vicufia. can be induced to breed together, and of the former union there aro“Cauent instances to be met with in Europe as well as in Peru. From this alliance, a beautiful hybrid results, if possible, finer to the eye than either parent, and also more easily trained to work, but, like the mule, it does not procreate.

From the sterility of this hybridous race, it would follow that the alpaca is a distinct variety of the llama tribe, differing as much from its allied species as the horse does from the ass; and, consequently, that the two domestic animals of the Peruvians were not brought to their present state by means of crossing. Their intermixture is a modern expedient by the Spaniards. It is a rule of the vital economy, that life only springs from life, and every being is consequently endowed with the property of generating an offspring, inheriting a nature similar to its own. When the species vary, this rule ceases to act; whence, although possessing a strong physiological resem- blance in many important points of their organization, there must necessarily be some material difference between the llama and alpaca in the functions of generation, which it is more than presumable equally extends to the wild species, and that difference produces an irregularity at variance with Nature's laws, constituting an essential condition of life. It appears from the report of M. Bory de Saint Vincent, a distinguished naturalist, who accompanied the French