Peru, according to Gregoire de Bolivar, is the native country of the lamas: they have indeed been conducted into other provinces, as New Spain, &c. but this is rather from curiosity than utility. But in Peru, from Potosi to Caracas, these animals are in great numbers; they constitute the chief riches of the Indians, and add not a little to the wealth of the Spaniards, who rear them. Their flesh is excellent food; their wool may be spun into beautiful cloathing; and they are capable of carrying heavy loads in the most rugged and dangerous ways. The strongest of them will travel with from one hundred and fifty, to two hundred and fifty pounds weight on their backs; their pace is but slow, and their journey is seldom above fifteen miles a day; but, then, they are sure-footed, descend precipices, and travel safely among the most craggy rocks, where even men can scarce accompany them. They commonly travel for five days together, and then they are obliged to rest, which they do of their own accord for two or three days before they resume their journey. They are much employed in carrying the riches dug out of the mines of Potosi. Bolivar affirms, that in his time about three hundred thousand of these animals were thus kept in actual employ.
The growth of the lama is very quick, and its life is but of short duration. This animal couples at three years of age, and remains strong and vigorous till twelve, after which it begins to decline, and becomes entirely useless at fifteen.[AK] Their nature appears to be modelled on that of the Americans; they are gentle and phlegmatic, and do every thing with the greatest leisure and caution. When they stop on their journeys to rest, they bend their knees very cautiously, in order to lower their bodies without disordering their load; and as soon as they hear their driver whistle, they rise up again with the same precaution, and proceed on their journey. They feed as they go along, whenever they can find grass; but they never eat in the night, even though they have fasted all day; they employ that time to ruminate. When they sleep or ruminate, they rest with their feet folded under their bellies. When overloaded, or fatigued, they sink down, and will not rise again though the driver strikes him with his utmost force. His last resource to urge them forward by means of anguish, is to compress their testicles; this often is of no effect, and if the driver continues his torments the animal grows desperate, and kills himself by violently beating his head against the earth: they do not make any defence either with their feet or teeth, and it may be said, they have no other arms than those of indignation. When persecuted they spit in the face of those who oppress them; and the Indians say, that this saliva is of such an acrimonious nature, as to cause very dangerous eruptions on the skin.
[AK] At Chili, according to Molina, they consider thirty years as the ordinary term of the life of a lama; and it is certain that these animals begin to propagate at the age of three years.
The lama is about four feet high; its body, comprehending the neck and head[AL], is five or six feet long. The head is small and well proportioned; the eyes large, the nose somewhat long, the lips thick, the upper one being divided, and the under a little pendulous. He has neither incisive nor canine teeth in the upper jaw. His ears are four inches long, which he moves with great agility. His tail is seldom above eight inches long; small, straight, and a little turned up at the end. He is cloven footed, like the ox, but he has a kind of spur behind, which assists the animal to support himself over precipices and rugged ways. His back, crupper, and tail, are cloathed with a short wool, but it is very long on the belly and sides. These animals differ in colour; some are white, others black, but most of them a mixed brown. The dung of the lamas is like that of the goat. The genital members in the male are slender and turned back, so that it passes its water backwards; they are much inclined to venery, although they copulate with difficulty. The female has a very small aperture; she prostrates herself to receive the male, whom she invites with her sighs; but a whole day is sometimes passed before they can accomplish their purpose; and all this time is spent in growling, quarrelling, and spitting at each other; and as these long preludes fatigue them, the Indians assist them to commence the operation. They seldom produce more than one at a time. The mother has but two teats, and the young one follows her as soon as it is brought forth. The flesh of the young lamas is excellent food, but that of the old ones is dry and tough. In general, both the flesh and wool of the domestic lamas is preferable to that of the wild: their skin is firm: the Indians make their shoes of it, and the Spaniards use it for harness. These useful, and even necessary, animals in the countries they inhabit, are attended with no expence to their masters; as they are cloven-footed they do not require to be shod, and their wool renders saddles unnecessary. Satisfied with a small portion of vegetables and grass they want neither corn nor hay; and they are still more moderate in what they drink, as their mouths are continually moistened with saliva, which they have in greater quantity than any other animal.
[AL] Their necks are as long as those of the camel, to which animal they have a great resemblance, excepting the bunch on the back.
The huanacus, or wild lamas, are stronger, brisker, and swifter, than the domestic ones; they run like a stag, and climb over the most craggy precipices like the goat: their wool is shorter, and their colour tawny. These animals, even when in a state of freedom, assemble in herds, sometimes to the number of two or three hundred. When they see any of the human species, they regard him at first with astonishment, without marking any fear or surprise; but shortly, as if by common consent, they blow through their nostrils, neigh somewhat like horses, and then by a general flight, take refuge on the tops of the mountains. They are fonder of the north than the south side of the hills. They climb, and often remain above the snowy tracts of the mountains; and when travelling on the ice covered with hoar-frost, they seem in the best condition, and appear vigorous in proportion to the coldness of their situation. The natives hunt the wild lama for the sake of its fleece: the dogs have much trouble to follow them; and if they once gain the rocks, both hunters and dogs are obliged to desist from the pursuit. They are very numerous all along the chain of the Cordeliers which are full 3000 fathoms above the level of the sea at Peru, and preserve that elevation from Chili, to the straits of Magellan; but on the coast of New Spain, where the mountains sink in height, none of these animals are to be found.
The pacos are a subordinate kind to the lamas, much in the same proportion as the ass is to the horse: they are smaller, and not so serviceable, but their fleeces are more useful. Their wool is fine and long, and it constitutes a sort of merchandize, as dear and valuable as silk. When in a domestic state they are called alpaques; they are then sometimes black, or brown mixed with yellow, but the natural colour of the pacos is that of a dried rose-leaf, which is so fixed, that it undergoes no alteration under the hands of the manufacturer. They not only make good gloves and stockings of this wool, but also form it into quilts and carpets, which sell at a very high price, and form a valuable part of the Spanish commerce.
The pacos possesses many things in common with the lamas; they belong to the same country, are of the same dispositions, manners, and nearly the same temperament; they also resemble the lamas in their figure; being however smaller, their legs shorter, and their muzzles thicker and closer: they have no horns; they inhabit and pasture on the highest parts of the mountains. Snow and ice seem rather to refresh than to disagree with them: they keep together in flocks, and run very swift; they are very timid, and as soon as they perceive any person they take flight, driving their young before them. The ancient monarchs of Peru rigorously prohibited the hunting of them, because they multiply so slowly; and since the arrival of the Spaniards in those parts their number is greatly decreased. The flesh of these animals is not so good as that of the huanacus, and they are only sought after for their fleece, and the bezoars they produce. The method of taking them, proves their extreme timidity, or rather their weakness. The hunters drive a flock of them into a narrow passage, across which they have stretched cords about four feet from the ground, with a number of pieces of linen or woollen cloth hanging to them. The animals are so intimidated at these rags, agitated by the wind, that they stop, and crowding together in a heap, great numbers of them are killed with the greatest ease. But if there happen to be any hunacus among the flock, as they are less timid than the pacos, they leap over the cords; the example is immediately followed by the whole group, and then they escape from their pursuers.
In respect to the domestic pacos; they are employed to carry burdens, like the lamas; but they carry a much less weight even in proportion to their size. They are likewise of a more stubborn nature, and when once they lie down with their load, they will suffer themselves to be cut to pieces sooner than rise. The Indians never make use of the milk of these animals, because they have scarcely enough to supply their own young. The great profit derived from their wool, induced the Spaniards to endeavour to naturalize them in Europe: they transported numbers of them into Spain, but the climate was so inimical to their nature that they every one perished: nevertheless, I am persuaded, as I have already observed, that these animals, more valuable than the lamas, might live and procreate upon our mountains, especially upon the Pyrennees. Those who brought them into Spain, did not consider that they cannot exist even in Peru, but in the cold regions, that is on the tops of the highest mountains; that they are never to be found in the valleys, and die if brought into warm countries. That on the contrary, they are still very numerous in the neighbourhood of the Straits of Magellan, where the cold is much greater than in the south of Europe; and that, consequently, in order to preserve them, they should be landed, not in Spain, but in Scotland, or even in Norway; or probably with greater certainty at the foot of the Pyrenean, Alpine, or other mountains, where they might climb to the region that most agrees with their nature. I have dwelt the more on this subject, because I imagine these animals would prove an excellent acquisition to Europe, and would produce more real advantage than all the metals of the New World, which only load us with a useless weight; for before the discovery of those mines, a pennyweight of gold or silver was of as much value as an ounce is at this present time.
Animals which feed upon vegetables, and live on the high mountains of Asia and Africa, produce the oriental bezoar, the virtues of which are so highly extolled. The animals of the mountains of Europe, where the qualities of the plants are more temperate, only produce the ægagropili; and in South America those animals which dwell upon the mountains of the torrid zone, afford another kind of bezoar, called occidental, more solid, and perhaps possessing greater virtues than the oriental. The wild pacos produces it in great quantities, as do the huanacus; and it is also extracted from the stags or roe-bucks of New Spain. The lamas and the pacos afford the best bezoar when in their natural or wild state: those produced in their state of slavery are small, black, and of but little or no virtue. The best bezoars are those of a dark green colour, which commonly proceed from the wild pacos, especially those which feed in the snow on the tops of the mountains. Of these, both the male and female produce bezoars; and these Peruvian bezoars are the next in rank to the oriental, and are much more esteemed than those of New Spain, which are produced by stags, and are the least efficacious of any.