. Mammals of other lands;. Mammals. 272 THE LIVING ANIMALS OF THE WORLD between ten and twenty heads. . The animals in most cases must have crawled, before dying, beneath and amongst the ; The Llama This is the first of the two domesticated offshoots of the guanaco, the other being the Alpaca. The Llama is a larger beast than the guanaco, and variable in colour. The ancient Peruvians bred it as a beast of burden or for riding, and before the Spanish conquest kept it in enormous numbers. Soon after the Spanish conquest " it was not uncommon to meet droves of from 300 to 500, or
. Mammals of other lands;. Mammals. 272 THE LIVING ANIMALS OF THE WORLD between ten and twenty heads. . The animals in most cases must have crawled, before dying, beneath and amongst the ; The Llama This is the first of the two domesticated offshoots of the guanaco, the other being the Alpaca. The Llama is a larger beast than the guanaco, and variable in colour. The ancient Peruvians bred it as a beast of burden or for riding, and before the Spanish conquest kept it in enormous numbers. Soon after the Spanish conquest " it was not uncommon to meet droves of from 300 to 500, or even 1,000 llamas, each laden with silver ingots, and the whole in charge of a single native. . Only the male llamas were used as beasts of burden, while the smaller females were kept for their milk and flesh. In traveling along the roads, the droves marched in single file, under the guidance of a leader; and such a line would traverse the highest passes of the Cordillera, and skirt the most stupendous precipices with perfect safety. . The Spanish conquerors of Peru spoke of llama-flesh as being fully equal to the best mutton, and they established shops in the towns for its regular sale. At the time of the conquest it is estimated that upwards of 300,000 llamas were employed in the transport of the product of the mines of Potosi ; The Alpaca This animal is bred solely for the sake of its wool, which is of great length and fineness. From it is made the well-known fabric which bears, in consequence, the name " ; The alpaca is kept in herds on the high grounds of Bolivia and South Peru, whence it is annually driven down to be sheared. The Licas dyed the wool — which is of two qualities, a fine and a coarse — with bright colours, and made it up into cloth or blankets, as the occasion served. The earliest account of this animal is by Augustin de Zarate, the Treasurer-General of Peru in 1544. He speaks of the beast as a sheep; but since he describes i
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