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LARGER IMAGE
Llamas were found domesticated when South America was first discovered by the Spaniards, and as there were then no Mules or Horses there, these creatures were employed exclusively as beasts of burden, as well as for their flesh, their wool, and hides. Their disposition and their habits also resemble those of the Camel. They have their own peculiar gait and speed, from which they cannot well be made to vary. When irritated they foam at the mouth and spit, sulking and lying down when overloaded. As beasts of draught their most important use is to convey the ores from the mines of Potosi and elsewhere in the Andean range. From the account of Augustin de Zerate, who was a Peruvian Spanish Government official in the middle of the sixteenth century, we learn that “in places where there is no snow the natives want water, and to supply this deficiency they fill the skins of Sheep [Llamas being meant] with water, and make other living Sheep carry them, for it must be remarked that these Sheep of Peru are large enough to serve as beasts of burden. They can carry about one hundred pounds or more, and the Spaniards used to ride them, and they would go four or five leagues a day. When they are weary they lie down upon the ground, and as there is no means of making them get up, either by beating or assailing them, the load must of necessity be taken off. When there is a man on one of them, if the beast is tired he turns his head round and discharges his saliva, which has an offensive odour, into the rider’s face. These animals are of great use and service to their masters, for their wool is very good and fine, particularly that of the breed called Pacas, which have very long fleeces; and the expense of their food is trifling, as a handful of maize suffices them, and they can go four or five days without water. Their flesh is as good as that of the fat Sheep of Castile.”
LLAMA.
It is somewhat difficult to decide exactly the relations of the wild to the domesticated species of the Llamas. It seems most probable that there are two true species, known as the Huanacos (Lama huanacos) and the Vicuna (Lama vicugna), of the former of which the true Llama is a domesticated variety, as the Alpaca is of the latter.
The HUANACO—or Guanaco, as it is sometimes written—has a more elongated head and more slender legs than the Vicuna, at the same time that there are elongated warty tubercles upon the hinder limbs not found in the latter species. Its height at the shoulder is three feet and a half. The fur is uniformly brown, at the same time that it is rough and short. It can be domesticated without difficulty. Its tail is short and hairy. Its native haunts are the highlands of Peru and Chili, as well as farther south, where it lives in herds, which descend to the valleys in the winter months. When hunted they have a habit of now and again facing their pursuers, after which they gallop off afresh. When attacked at close quarters they defend themselves by striking with their fore-feet. From Mr. Darwin’s account of the animal in the “Voyage of the Beagle,” we learn that it “abounds over the whole of the temperate parts of South America, from the wooded islands of Tierra del Fuego, the rough Patagonia, the hilly parts of the La Plata, Chili, even to the Cordillera of Peru. Although preferring an elevated site, it yields in this respect to its near relative the Vicuna; on the plains of Southern Patagonia we saw them in greater numbers than in any other part. Generally 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 numerous. Generally the Guanacoes are wild and extremely 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 apparently slow—but really quick—canter along some narrow beaten track to a neighbouring hill. If, however, by chance he should abruptly meet a single animal, or several together, they will generally stand motionless, and intently gaze at him; then, perhaps, move on a few yards, turn round, and look again. What is the cause of this difference in their shyness? Do they mistake a man in the distance for their chief enemy, the Puma, or does curiosity overcome their timidity? That they are curious is certain; for if a person lies on the ground and plays strange antics, such as throwing up his feet in the air, they will almost always approach by degrees to reconnoitre him.... On the mountains of Tierra del Fuego, and in other places, I have more than once seen a 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.... The Guanacoes readily take to the water; several times at Port Valdez they were seen swimming from island to island. Byron, in his ‘Voyage,’ says he saw them drinking salt water. Some of our officers likewise saw a herd drinking the briny fluid from Salina, near Cape Blanca. I imagine, in several parts of the country, if they do not drink salt water they drink none at all. In the middle of the day they frequently roll in the dust in saucer-shaped hollows.... The Guanacoes appear to have favourite spots for dying in. On the banks of the St. Cruz the ground was actually white with bones in certain circumscribed places, which were generally bushy, and all near the river. On one such spot I counted between ten and twenty heads, some gnawed, as if by beasts of prey.”
The Domestic Llama resembles its wild ancestor in most respects. Its colour may, however, be variegated, or even white. Its woolly coat is longer, but not so fine, and when it is removed by shearing the animal is conspicuously spotted.
The VICUNA is a smaller animal of a light lion-brown colour, with a short and hairy face; its neck is lengthy, as in its allies; its height about two feet six inches. Its wool is particularly fine, and has been much employed, undyed, as a material for clothing. It is active and spiteful, inhabiting a region higher and therefore colder than the Huanaco.
The Alpaca is its domestic form, with thicker and much darker wool, as well as shorter limbs. Its colour is often nearly black, or black varied with white or brown.
The manufacture of alpaca stuffs dates from the year 1836, when Mr. (afterwards Sir) Titus Salt commenced weaving the unusually long-haired wool, which at the time found no sale in the markets on account of its not being suited to the existing combing apparatus. Since that period alpaca has been much employed as a fabric, possibly to be again replaced in great measure by the sheep wool of the Australian and other British colonies.