the top of the head, and are about five feet long, from the breast to the tail.

Though the increase of horses, and the superior vigour and sagacity of mules, have diminished the importance and consequently the numbers of the lama, still, however, many are kept by the poorer inhabitants. They are to them what the ass is to the peasantry of our own country: a useful and willing quadruped, supported at a small expense, and capable of undergoing much fatigue. When overloaded, they are apt to lie down, and refuse to rise; yet the larger species will carry cheerfully a full-grown man, and trot, or rather run, with great swiftness for several miles. The weight usually laid upon them does not exceed one hundred and fifty pounds, and this they will convey from fourteen to twenty miles in a day among precipices and over rocks. They often bear without reluctance large baskets containing cochineal, that valuable species of gall insect which adheres to the opuntia, and sucks its crimson-coloured juices; one of the most important articles of commerce, and which gives to the silks and stuffs of Europe their finest tints. You may also meet these useful creatures among the passes of the Andes, loaded with strong ropes made from the bark of the Maho tree, or bearing timbers of the light-wood, which although heavy to the eye, is buoyant and light as cork, and is used to make floats for conveying merchandise along the sea-coast.

Lamas in a wild state abound throughout the frightful deserts of the Andes, amidst those lofty mountains which, based on others, and shrouded with snow that never melts, rise to a dizzy height.

DESERTS OF COTOPAXI.

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In those dreary regions, in the wildest tracts of stone and sand, beside the mountain of Cotopaxi, a beautiful natural phenomenon occasionally relieves the melancholy excited by the hideous roaring of the mountain, and the mournful sound of the gusty winds that sweep across the desert. Ulloa noticed this appearance at the break of day, when the mountain on which he stood was encompassed with thick clouds, till the rising sun dispersed them into vapour. Suddenly appeared on the opposite side to that where the sun rose, the image of Don Ulloa and his companions, within three concentric rainbows, all of different colours, and bounded with an arch entirely white. They were perpendicular to the horizon, and as each individual moved, the phenomenon moved also in the same direction and order. The party consisted of six persons, and each one discerned the glory with which his image was enveloped, though he saw not that which equally distinguished the others. As the sun ascended, the diameter of the arches gradually began to change; till at length the beautiful vision disappeared.

Wild Asses are common in the magnificent and varied scenery which the lamas inhabit. They are most numerous around the village of Mira, in Peru, and hunters frequently go forth in pursuit of them, mounted on horses trained for the sport, and attended by Indians on foot. When arrived at the hunting grounds, they form a circle around the herd, and drive them towards the nearest valley, in order to noose and halter them. But this is attended with considerable difficulty, for the wild ass is a

powerful and ferocious creature; when he finds himself in danger of being taken, he makes furious efforts to escape, and if one of the company forces a way through the circle of his enemies, the others follow him with irresistible impetuosity. Fleet as horses, and almost of unconquerable spirit, they rush onward with incredible velocity; neither rocks nor precipices, neither rivers nor deep ravines, retard them in their headlong course; if attacked, they adroitly defend themselves with their heels and mouths; and this so instantaneously, that without slackening their speed, they often maim the stoutest of their pursuers.

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But when noosed, they are thrown down, and secured with ropes; and thus they continue, till, exhausted with struggling, they allow themselves to be fastened to one of their tame brethren, and conducted home. Yet even this is attended with danger, as, when apparently subdued, they will often suddenly spring up and seriously injure the person who endeavours to control them. But if once constrained to bear a load, even the most active and ferocious lays aside his love of liberty and independence. It seems as if the being loaded subdued at once his spirit, and he soon assumes the quiet and plodding look which distinguishes his tribe. No longer a ranger through the desert, snuffing the fresh air in his joyous course, himself as free and uncontrolled, he quietly goes along the road, and obeys, without a murmur the commands even of childhood and old age.

Wild asses, when ranging in their native deserts, will not permit a horse to feed among them. Should one happen to stray into the places where they pasture, they fall upon him before he has time to escape, and soon destroy him.

Few persons like to live in their vicinity, for the noise which they make is terrible. If one begins to bray, another answers, and presently the whole brotherhood unite in chorus. The echoes are then awakened, and no language can adequately describe the tremendous clamour which ensues.

The Guanaco (C. huancus) of the Andes, and the Paco or Alpaca, covered with long, soft, woolly, delicate, and elastic hair, approaching that of the Angora goat, are aboriginal throughout a wide

extent of country. Lightly bounding and graceful creatures, they seem in character with the beautiful vegetable productions of their native regions, Peru and the Brazils.

The pomegranate and the lemon, the orange and the fig-tree, the citron and the cocoa, which grow luxuriantly in these countries, are well known to the inhabitants of Britain, and require no particular description here, but we shall dwell more at length on the wallaba, and Peruvian bark. The first is common in the woods; it is a resinous tree, somewhat resembling mahogany.

Trees yielding the Jesuit's bark grow generally in the interior of Peru. They rise to a commanding height on the mountains of Quito, tapering upwards