CHAPTER V.

THE MUNTJACS--THE ROEBUCK--CHINESE DEER--REINDEER--AMERICAN DEER--DEERLETS--CAMEL TRIBE--LLAMAS.

The MUNTJACS--Distribution--Characters--THE INDIAN MUNTJAC, OR KIDANG--Hunting--THE CHINESE MUNTJAC--Habits--DAVID’S MUNTJAC--“Shanyang”--THE ROEBUCK--THE CHINESE WATER DEER--Peculiarity--Chinese Superstition regarding it--THE CHINESE ELAPHURE--Peculiarity of its Antlers--THE REINDEER--Distribution--Character--Colouration--Antlers--Canadian Breeds--Food--THE AMERICAN DEER--THE VIRGINIAN DEER--THE MULE DEER--THE BLACK-TAILED DEER--THE GUAZUS--THE BROCKETS--THE VENADA, OR PUDU DEER--THE CHEVROTAINS, OR DEERLETS--Antlerless--Their Position--Bones of their Feet--General Form and Proportions--Species--THE MEMINNA, OR INDIAN DEERLET--THE JAVAN DEERLET--THE KANCHIL--THE STANLEYAN DEERLET--THE WATER DEERLET--THE CAMEL TRIBE--Their Feet--Stomach--Its Peculiarity--The Water Cells--THE (TRUE) CAMEL--Description--The Pads of Hardened Skin--Its Endurance--Its Disposition--Anecdote of its Revengeful Nature--THE BACTRIAN CAMEL--THE LLAMAS--Description--Habits--Used as Beasts of Burden--Wild and Domesticated Species--THE HUANACO--THE LLAMA--THE VICUNA--THE ALPACA--The Alpaca Industry--FOSSIL RUMINANTIA--Strata in which they are found--_Chœropotamus_--_Hyopotamus_--_Dichobune_--_Xiphodon_-- _Cainotherium_--_Oreodon_--_Sivatherium_--Fossil Deer, Oxen, Goats, Sheep, Camels, Llamas, Antelopes, Giraffes--The Irish Elk--Its huge Antlers--Its Skeleton--Ally--Distribution.

THE MUNTJACS.[38]

The Muntjacs form a group of small and elegant Deer found in India, Burmah, China, the Malay Peninsula, and the large islands of the Indo-Malay Archipelago. They differ from all other members of the family in that their diminutive antlers are supported on lengthy bony pedestals, covered with a hairy skin much like the horn-processes of the Giraffe. Most, also, have a pair of elongated longitudinal ridges between the eyes, within the folds of which small glands are situated, at the same time that there is a dark crest of retroverted hair, tending to the shape of a horseshoe, upon the forehead. In the males the upper canine teeth develop into tusks, which project externally some way below the lip, though not so far as in the Musk, forming efficient instruments of attack.

The INDIAN MUNTJAC, OR KIDANG, is the best known species. Its antlers attain a larger size than those of any of the others, although they are not more than four inches long, composed of an undivided beam, at the base of which there is a diminutive brow-tyne. Its size is slightly less than that of the Roebuck, its colour uniformly foxy red-brown, with the throat, hind part of abdomen, and under surface of tail white. A black line runs up the inner side of each antler-pedestal of the male, instead of forming the frontal horseshoe of the female.

Dr. Horsfield tells us that in Java, where it is much hunted, “the Muntjac selects for its retreat certain districts, to which it forms a peculiar attachment, and which it never voluntarily deserts. Many of these are known as the favourite resort of the animal for several generations. They consist of moderately elevated grounds, diversified by ridges and valleys, tending towards the acclivities of the more considerable mountains, or approaching the confines of extensive forests.... The Muntjac has a strong scent, and is easily tracked by Dogs. When pursued it does not go off, like the Stag, in any accidental direction; its flight, indeed, is very swift at first, but it soon relaxes, and taking a circular course, returns to the spot from which it was started. After several circular returns, if the pursuit be continued, the Kidang thrusts its head into a thicket, and in this situation remains fixed and motionless, as if in a place of security, and regardless of the approach of the sportsman.”

In China the Muntjacs are smaller than those of India and Java; their antlers are less developed at the same time that the tint of their coats is less rufous, and the neck is not white. They were first described by Mr. Ogilby under the name of Reeves’ Muntjac, a larger form having been more recently discovered by M. A. Milne-Edwards and Mr. Swinhoe. With reference to its habits the last-named naturalist tells us that “this species affects the low ranges of hills which are covered with long, coarse grass and tangled thicket. It is there usually found in small herds, basking in the sun, or lying in hidden lairs. They are very seldom approached near, except by stealth. The least noise startles them, and they dash away with bounds through the yielding grass, occasionally showing their rounded backs above the herbage. They have, however, their regular creeps and passes through the covert, near which the natives lie when stalking them, while others drive them. The little startled creatures hurry from danger along these beaten tracks, and are then picked off with the matchlock.” In captivity they soon become very docile, even when taken in the adult state. The flesh of this animal is very tender and palatable.

The enterprising missionary Père David, among his numerous discoveries in Chinese zoology, sent from Moupin, in Western China, to Paris, skins of a peculiar Muntjac, which is of special interest. Having canine tusks, a black frontal hairy horseshoe, and the proportions of a Muntjac generally, its antlers are not more than an inch long, at the same time that their pedestals are correspondingly reduced in length as well as thickness. Its body-colour is mouse-brown, verging on grey, whilst the hairy covering is coarse. It may be called DAVID’S MUNTJAC.

Very shortly after the above-mentioned skins arrived at Paris, Mr. Michie, of Shanghai, forwarded to Mr. Swinhoe in England another specimen from Ningpo, which, although derived so far east of Moupin, is almost indistinguishable from that belonging to the latter district. The animal is there known as the “Shanyang,” or Wild Goat. It is an undoubted Muntjac, although peculiar in not possessing the glands on the forehead found in the more common species.

THE ROEBUCK.[39]

This elegant, small, and almost tailless Deer is, like the Red Deer, a native of Great Britain, as well as of all Northern Europe and Asia below the line of perpetual snow. In Asia the individuals attain a greater size than in Europe. The adult Roebuck stands a little over two feet high at the shoulder. Its colour is a dark reddish-brown in summer, becoming yellowish-grey in the cold weather. There is a large patch of white on the rump. The antlers, which are peculiarly near together at their bases, rarely exceed a foot in length, possessing three points, the rugose unbranched beam continuing from the considerable burr for half a foot unbranched; then bifurcating fore and aft, the posterior branch again bifurcating. The destruction of the forests throughout Britain has driven the Roebuck farther north, till now it is most common in the north of Scotland, although it still survives in the woods of Westmoreland and Cumberland. Its disposition is wild, shy, and cautious. Its favourite resort is the thick underwood of forests, living singly or in small companies of a pair with their young, which latter--contrary to what we find in the case of most other Deer--are two or three in number. Its venison makes very indifferent food.

THE CHINESE WATER DEER.[40]

This is an entirely isolated small species, not bigger than an Indian Muntjac, discovered by Mr. Swinhoe, _in which there are no antlers_, the canine teeth of the upper jaw being developed into immense tusks which project downwards, as in the Musk and Muntjacs. The legs are short, and the body lengthy. The body-colour is a light red-brown all over. There is no tuft of hair on the head as in the Muntjacs, to which by some it might be imagined to be allied. From Mr. Swinhoe’s account of the species we learn that “In the large riverine islands of the Yangtsze, above Chinkiang, these animals occur in large numbers, living among the tall rushes that are there grown for thatching and other purposes. The rushes are cut down in the spring; and the Deer then swim away to the main shore and retire to the cover of the hills.... Fortunately for the Deer, the Chinese have an extraordinary dislike for their flesh. I could not ascertain why; but it must be from some strange superstition, as the Celestials are otherwise pretty omnivorous. The Deer are killed only for the European markets [of Shanghai], and sold at a low price. Their venison is coarse, and without much taste.... The Chinese at Shanghai call this animal the _Ke_, but at Chinkiang they are named _Chang_--the classical term for the Muntjac.”

THE CHINESE ELAPHURE.[41]

This most interesting Deer was discovered in 1865 by the indefatigable French naturalist, M. Armand David. In his account of the animal, Dr. Sclater[42] tells us that M. David first observed it whilst looking over the wall of the Imperial Hunting-park at Pekin, to which no European is allowed admission. There it is found in a semi-domesticated state, its native place probably being Eastern Mantchuria. In 1869, Sir Rutherford Alcock succeeded in sending a living pair to England, which were exhibited for some time in the London Zoological Gardens, and from which much information has been obtained with reference to their habits. It resembles the Swamp Deer of India (_Rucervus Duvaucelli_) in its proportions and size, standing nearly four feet at the shoulder. The legs are somewhat heavy and the feet expanded, but it is in its antlers that the Elaphure is quite different from any other Deer. They are represented in the accompanying engraving, from which the abrupt ascent of the beam, with an enormous back-tyne arising from the lower end, and no brow-tyne, may be most clearly seen. The beam branches higher up, but its furcations follow none of the ordinary rules of cervine antler-growth.

The body-colour of the animal is light and rufous, paler on the under parts. A black line runs some way down the back, being most conspicuous at the shoulders. The tail is not longer than in the Fallow Deer, and is hairy at the tip. Mr. Swinhoe tells us that the Chinese name is Sze-poo-seang, which signifies “like none of the four”--to wit, the Horse, the Cow, the Deer, or the Goat.

THE REINDEER.[43]

The Reindeer, which differs from all its allies in that the females carry antlers as well as the males, forms so important an element in the social economy of the Laplanders that more has been written on its habits than of any other species of the family. It is found distributed throughout the Arctic regions of Europe, Asia, and America, extending farther south in the last-named of these in the same way as the isothermal line of 32° Fahr., as might be expected from the relation borne by its economy to its temperature. In Spitzbergen, Finland, and Lapland it attains the greatest size, being inferior in strength and stature in Norway and Sweden. In Iceland it has been introduced and thrives. The Caribou is the name by which it goes in the New World, where it extends through Greenland, Canada, and Newfoundland. The horns of the American variety differ from those of the Old World so much that it is not difficult to recognise their origin; nevertheless, attempts which have been made to establish the specific difference of the two forms have not found much favour with naturalists generally.

The animal, with a characteristic deer-like form, is powerfully built, with short limbs and heavy neck. The feet have the false hoofs well developed, while the fissure between the median toes is so much extended upwards, and the ligaments which bind them together are so loose, that their hoofs spread out considerably when pressed upon the ground, and so increase the surface for support upon the yielding snow--their most frequent foothold. Upon raising the limbs in rapid action these hoofs make a sharp snap at the moment when they close together.

Individuals vary much in tint as well as with the season. Some are entirely white, whilst in winter the coat is always lighter than in summer. Deep brown is the prevailing tint, and there is generally a band of white above each hoof. As in the Elk--another Arctic ruminating animal--the muffle of the nose is covered with hair, and is not moist. The fur is of two sorts--an outer covering of longer, harsh, brittle hair, and an under-coat of closely-matted and much finer, wool-like texture, which serves as an excellent protection against the inclement temperature, and makes the skins so valuable for articles of clothing in the Arctic regions.

The antlers are strikingly large for the size of their owners. Although they vary considerably in detail, the general plan of their construction is always the same, agreeing with that of the Virginian Deer and the Barasingha. As in the Wapiti and Red Deer, the brow-antlers on each side are, however, re-duplicated, so that a bez is present. This, as well as the brow-tyne, is branched, or palmated, wherein it is peculiar; and further, in the Caribous one of the brow-tynes is generally aborted, in order to allow of the great development of its fellow of the opposite side into a palmated triangle, flattened from side to side, directed straight forward in the middle line of the head, and attached by its apex to the beam. The function of this share-like expansion in the economy of the animal can hardly be other than to remove the snow which covers its favourite food, each movement of the lowered head from side to side effecting this result. The beam is lengthy, curved boldly upwards and forwards, with a small snag at the back, about half-way from each end. Its extremity is branched and often palmated, much like the horns of the Fallow Deer. The beam may reach a length not more than three inches less than five feet. In the females the same plan of structure of the antlers exists as in the males. They are considerably smaller in every respect, more slender, and scarcely palmated, if at all so.

The Woodland Caribou and the Barren-ground Caribou are the names given to a larger and a smaller breed in Canada. Both are hunted by the Indians for their flesh as well as for their hides, the venison obtained from the latter being held in high estimation. The pounded meat, when mixed with melted fat, is known as pemmican. The tongue is esteemed a great delicacy.

The Reindeer, from the nature of the country it inhabits, is compelled to lead a migratory life, in which the natives of Lapland, who have to depend entirely for their sustenance on the animal, have to participate. Troops of them during the winter months reside in the woods, feeding on the lichens that depend from boughs of the trees, as well as on those that grow upon the ground beneath. In the spring they repair to the mountains in order to escape the swarms of stinging Gnats and Gad-flies which infest the air, and inflict wounds in the skin of most serious severity.

THE AMERICAN DEER.

In America there are several species of Deer which differ considerably from those of the Old World. In our remarks on these animals we will not include among them the Wapiti and the Elk: the Wapiti, because it is nothing but a large representative of the Red Deer of Great Britain; the Elk, because it stands very much by itself, at the same time that it is found in the Arctic Old World as well as in America. We ourselves think that the Reindeer conforms to the American type of structure, and have therefore described it in relation with the New World Deer, although most authors class it not far from the Elk.

None of the typical Deer of America attain any considerable size, and their antlers are decidedly small when contrasted with those of the Old World. The species which will be first described is the VIRGINIAN DEER, which is the “Common” Deer of North America, and is slightly smaller than the Fallow Deer. Its colour is uniform, being of a reddish-yellow in summer and light grey in winter. The individual members of the species are small in Mexico, and get larger as they live more north. The antlers belong to the extreme rucervine type, their beams turning outwards and forwards in a very characteristic manner, with several points directed upwards from their convex border. The brow-tyne is short and pointed upwards instead of forwards. The tail is nearly a foot and a half in length. In disposition it is timid and wild, and is therefore domesticated with difficulty. Its flesh was in times gone by one of the staple articles of food of the aborigines. Audubon and other authors have described in detail the various modes employed in capturing these Deer, including the “still hunt,” “jack hunt,” “fire hunt,” &c., according to the nature of the country.

The MULE DEER and the BLACK-TAILED DEER are not far distantly related North American species. The former is slightly larger than the Virginian and of a heavier build. Its tail is short, tufted, and white; its colour a dark grey in winter, dull yellow in summer. Its name was suggested from its lengthy ears. The latter is smaller, and has shorter legs. Its colour is tawny grey, the short tail black above and white below. Of both these species the antlers differ from the Virginian Deer in detail, only the brow tyne of the Black-tailed species being rudimentary, at the same time that the snags on the convex margin of the beam spring from a single stem instead of independently. In the Mule Deer they are smaller and less branched. Lord Walsingham, in writing of them, remarks, “They appear to frequent the thick willow clumps and other brushwood bordering the streams and swamps. They were extremely difficult to distinguish among the foliage, and remarkably quick when alarmed. As they bound off over logs and fallen trees, or dash through the thicket, they have a habit of swinging their broad white tails with a conspicuous flourish, which becomes annoying to a sportsman, to whom they never afford anything but a snap shot, which is very apt to fail.”

The GUAZUS are small South American Deer with large ears and short tails, in which the antlers want the brow tyne, and have the beam branched in almost exactly the same way as Schomburgk’s Deer when not quite full grown. The Guazuti, one of them, is not more than two feet six inches in height.

The BROCKETS are equally small, with minute antlers of a most simple form--whence the name--they being unbranched and shelving backwards. The colour of the fur in the Guava Viva and Brazilian Brocket is pale brown, and shining red-brown in the Red Brocket and the Eyebrowed Brocket.

The VENADA, OR PUDU DEER, is not bigger than Reeves’ Muntjac or a Hare. Its colour is red-brown, and it has minute antlers, not far separated from one another. It inhabits the western coast of South America.

THE CHEVROTAINS, OR DEERLETS.[44]

It is not until within the last few years that naturalists have separated off from the true Deer a group of diminutive animals which look like them in miniature, but are entirely destitute of antlers. These little creatures, known as Chevrotains, for which we take the liberty of coining the name Deerlets, were placed together with the Musk into a single section, characterised by the fact that the males possess large tusks situated in the upper jaw, which project downwards, and are conspicuous even when the mouth is fully closed, grooving the lower lip on each side. Now, however, they are entirely separated off from the Deer and Ox tribes, to constitute an independent family, because of the peculiarities of many of their parts. They have a complex stomach composed of paunch, honeycomb-bag, and reed, the manyplies being so much reduced in size, that it may practically be said not to be present.

From the bones of their feet it is evident, too, that they cannot be correctly classed with the more ordinary Ruminants, and that they tend towards the other family of the Cloven-hoofed Ungulata, namely, the Swine. Each foot of the common Pig possesses four toes, that corresponding to our thumb in the fore-limb, and to our great toe in the hind being absent, as has been previously explained. The bones of all these toes are quite separate from one another, as in those of man, at the same time that those of the outer and inner digits in each limb are smaller than those which bear the larger hoofs. In the true Ruminants and in the Camel tribe these larger toes are partly fused together, the bones of digit three and digit four corresponding to those situated in the human palm and sole, being joined from end to end to form the “cannon-bone;” whilst those of digit two and digit five are reduced to mere imperfect splinters, or are sometimes altogether lost, as in the Giraffe and in the Camel. Now, in the Deerlets, these bones are not blended at all in the fore-limbs of the Water Deerlet of West Africa, in which, as in all the other species, digit two and digit five are perfect from end to end. They therefore stand, in this respect, as in others easily explained, intermediate between the Swine and the true Ruminants.

All the Deerlets are particularly delicate, diminutive, and graceful animals, the slenderness and clear-cut outline of their limbs being exceedingly striking. With bodies as big as that of a Hare or Rabbit, their legs are not so thick as a cedar pen-holder or a clay pipe-stem. Their proportions are very much those of the small Water Bucks of Africa, and of many of the kinds of Deer, especially the Hog Deer of India, in which the body, as in them, is not carried very high above the ground. The want of antlers in both sexes makes them resemble Hinds rather than Stags at first sight, whilst their elegantly-pointed noses, and large dark eyes, add to their general interesting appearance.

Of the Deerlets there are five species--the Meminna, the Kanchil, the Javan, the Stanleyan, and the Water Deerlets. The first four are confined to India, Ceylon, Malacca, Java, and Sumatra, the last being found in Sierra Leone and the Gambia district. These differ slightly in their size and markings, the MEMINNA, or INDIAN DEERLET, being nearly eighteen inches long, and about eight inches high at the shoulder, the tail being very short. As in its allies, the white spotting of the surface is disturbed by two or more streaks of the same which run along the flanks.

The JAVAN DEERLET, known sometimes as the Napu, is smaller than the preceding. It is of a rust-brown colour above and white beneath, three white stripes radiating backwards, one along the middle line, and the other two laterally from the front of the neck. The short tail is white-tipped. The naked and moist muzzle is black. The Javan Deerlet is gentle in disposition, and somewhat uninteresting in captivity. Specimens are frequently brought to Great Britain, and live if carefully protected from the cold.

The KANCHIL is still smaller in size, at the same time that it is darker in colour, especially along the back. Its activity and cunning are remarkable, so much so that Sir Stamford Raffles, in his original description of the creature, tells us that it is a common Malay expression, with reference to a great rogue, that he is “as cunning as a Kanchil.” Feigning to be dead when caught, its captor incautiously releases his hold, when the animal is immediately up and away before any means can be employed for its recapture. It is also said that when pursued by Dogs it will jump up towards a bough, and there hook itself by means of its lengthy tusks until its tormentors have passed under it.

The STANLEYAN DEERLET was named after the grandfather of the present Earl of Derby, in whose menagerie at Knowsley the species was first recognised.

The WATER DEERLET of West Africa is slightly larger than the Meminna. Its deep glossy brown coat is also streaked with white lines, and is irregularly spotted.

THE CAMEL TRIBE, OR TYLOPODA.

The name _Tylopoda_, by which the Camels, together with the Llamas, are known to naturalists, is derived from two Greek words (τύλος, a knot or callus, and πούς, a foot), signifying that the feet, instead of being protected by hoofs, are covered with a hardened skin, enclosing the cushion-like soles of the feet, which are so constructed that they spread out laterally when brought in contact with the ground, an arrangement of evident advantage to desert-ranging animals. The tips of each of the two toes are protected by nails, as can be seen in the accompanying drawing.

There are also other points in which these creatures differ from the more ordinary Ruminantia. In the front of the upper jaw there are two teeth--one on each side, placed laterally--which correspond to the side cutting teeth in man, and to the similarly-situated “nippers” of the Horse. In the Deer, Ox, Sheep, and their allies there is not a trace of these, as has been previously explained (page 4). As to the limbs, it may also be mentioned that the true knee-joints--which in animals like the Horse are almost entirely hidden within the general skin-covering of the body--are much more conspicuous and free.

The stomach is peculiar; it wants the “manyplies,” or third compartment, but possesses the “paunch,” “honeycomb-bag,” and “abomasum,” the last-named of which is of great length. In the walls of the paunch there are present two extensive collections of “water-cells,” which serve their owners in good stead whilst traversing the desert or residing in regions where fresh water is not to be procured except with difficulty.

Fig. A is a view of the stomach from below (or, in other words, from the side farthest from the backbone), in which it is seen that the clusters of water-cells (_a_ and _b_) are arranged, one (_a_) the larger, along part of the right border of the viscus, whilst the second (_b_) is transverse, the remainder of the walls being smooth. These water-cells, seen from within in Fig. B, are formed by the development of septa, both transverse and longitudinal, in the substance of the paunch-wall. They are deep and narrow, much like the cells of a honeycomb, and have a muscular membrane covering their mouths, in which there is an oval orifice opposite to each compartment capable of being further dilated or completely closed, probably at the will of the animal. When fully distended, these paunch-cells in the Arabian Camel are capable of storing a gallon and a half of water. The second stomach, or reticulum, is also modified in the same direction, the usually extremely shallow cells being deep, at the same time that food is never found in them after death. Of the last compartment, or “abomasum,” it may be noted that it is nearly cylindrical in shape, its walls being very muscular. It is in this stomach that true digestion is carried on.

Of the Camels two species are known, differing in the number of the humps upon their backs. Nothing is known of either variety in the wild state. We will commence with the description of

THE (TRUE) CAMEL.[45]

The One-humped Camel of Arabia is frequently termed the Dromedary, but this latter name is correctly applicable only to the swift variety of the species which is employed for riding, the heavier-built One-humped Pack-Camel not being included under the designation.

It is the Arabian Camel--the _Ship of the Desert_--which is much more serviceable to man than its Bactrian ally. Its distribution has extended westwards along North Africa, from which attempts have been made to introduce it into Spain. Eastwards it is found as far as India.

In the Camel the limbs and neck are lengthy. A single bulky hump is present on the middle of the back, composed of fatty cells held together by strong bands of fibrous tissue which cross in all directions. Like all similar accumulations, it varies much in size according to the condition of the animal, dwindling almost to nothing after protracted hard work and bad feeding, being firm and full in times of ease and plenty. When on the point of commencing a long journey, there is nothing on which an Arab lays so much stress as on the condition of his Camel’s hump, which, from what we have just said, must be considered to be nothing more or less than a reserved store of food.

Upon the chest, the elbows, the fore-knees (true wrists), knees, and hocks, callous pads of hardened skin are found, upon which the creature supports its weight whilst kneeling down, a position in which it always rests, and one which it assumes when being loaded. These pads are present in the new-born Camel-calf, proving, contrary to the view maintained by some, that they are not the direct result of pressure, but are special provisions in accordance with the requirements of the species, arrived at by a process of natural selection, those individuals alone surviving in which there is the power of resisting the injurious effects of protracted strain upon a few spots of the skin.

The coat is, in the summer, scanty; in the winter, of considerable length, and matted into lumps. The two-toed feet are very much expanded, and tipped with a pair of small hoofs. The lips are covered with hair, the upper one being split up for some distance in the middle line. The nostrils, when closed, are linear, and from their construction prevent sand from entering the air-passages when the animal desires it. The tail is of fair length, reaching to the ankle-joint. There is a fixity about its attitudes, and a formality about its paces, which is quite characteristic. Its power of enduring fatigue upon its scanty fare, whilst carrying a weight as great as 600 lbs., together with its endurance, makes it invaluable in its desert home.

A stolid obstinacy is its usual disposition. Mr. Palgrave, criticising the reputation that the animal has for docility, remarks:--“If docile means stupid, well and good; in such a case the Camel is the very model of docility. But if the epithet is intended to designate an animal that takes an interest in its rider so far as a beast can; that in some way understands his intentions, or shares them in a subordinate fashion; that obeys from a sort of submissive or half fellow-feeling with his master, like the Horse or Elephant: then I say that the Camel is by no means docile--very much the contrary. He takes no heed of his rider, pays no attention whether he be on his back or not, walks straight on when once set agoing, merely because he is too stupid to turn aside; and then, should some tempting thorn or green branch allure him out of the path, continues to walk on in the new direction simply because he is too dull to turn back into the right road. In a word, he is from first to last an undomesticated and savage animal rendered serviceable by stupidity alone, without much skill on his master’s part, and any co-operation on his own, save that of an extreme passiveness. Neither attachment nor even habit impresses him; never tame, though not wide awake enough to be exactly wild.”

Nevertheless the animal gives indications of intelligence when badly treated, if we may judge from its revengeful nature, well illustrated in the following account:--

“A valuable Camel, working in an oil-mill, was severely beaten by its driver. Perceiving that the Camel had treasured up the injury, and was only waiting a favourable opportunity for revenge, he kept a strict watch upon the animal. Time passed away; the Camel, perceiving that it was watched, was quiet and obedient, and the driver began to think that the beating was forgotten, when one night, after the lapse of several months, the man was sleeping on a raised platform in the mill, whilst, as is customary, the Camel was stabled in a corner. Happening to awake, the driver observed by the bright moonlight that, when all was quiet, the animal looked cautiously around, rose softly, and stealing towards a spot where a bundle of clothes and a bernous, thrown carelessly on the ground, resembled a sleeping figure, cast itself with violence upon them, rolling with all its weight, and tearing them most viciously with its teeth. Satisfied that its revenge was complete, the Camel was returning to its corner, when the driver sat up and spoke. At the sound of his voice, and perceiving the mistake it had made, the animal was so mortified at the failure and discovery of its scheme, that it dashed its head against the wall and died on the spot.”

THE BACTRIAN CAMEL.[46]

The Two-humped Camel is found in the regions to the east and north of the home of its One-humped ally, extending as far as Pekin and Lake Baikal. It it a heavier, shorter-legged, and thicker-coated species, at the same time that the feet are more adapted to a less yielding soil from their greater callousness. The hair is specially abundant upon the top of the head, the arm, wrist, throat, and humps. There is no variety of this species corresponding to the Dromedary One-humped Camel.

THE LLAMAS.[47]

The Llamas, when the term is employed in its wider sense, include the American representatives of the Camel tribe, none of which have any trace of the dorsal hump or humps found in their Old World allies. They are mountain animals, found in the Cordilleras of Peru and Chili, in this respect also differing from the desert-loving Camels, with which they agree in all important structural peculiarities, including the stomach, lips, nostrils, and coat. The feet are somewhat modified in accordance with the rocky nature of the mountain regions which they inhabit, the sole-pads being less considerable, and almost completely divided into two hard cushions, with a long and hooked nail in the front of each.

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.”

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.

FOSSIL RUMINANTIA.

The study of fossil forms throws as much light upon the development of existing types of Ruminantia as it does in the case of the Perissodactyla. Until the last of the three great geologic epochs none have been found; whilst in the Tertiary strata from Eocene, Miocene, and Pliocene formations, numerous species are known, resembling existing types more closely as they are discovered in the more recently deposited strata.

As might be anticipated from what has been said above, and as is indicated in the table of classification of the Artiodactyla on page 336, Vol. II., the oldest forms of cloven-hoofed Mammalia must have been intermediate in structure between the Pigs and Ruminants. Such a creature existed at the close of the Eocene period in _Chœropotamus_, discovered first by the illustrious Cuvier in the palæontologically most interesting gypsum beds at Montmartre. Another specimen has also been found near Ryde, in the Isle of Wight. The creature was pig-like in size, and in the tuberculated structure of its grinders, the parts, together with the lower jaw, alone discovered as yet.

_Hyopotamus_, _Dichobune_, _Xiphodon_, and _Cainotherium_ were four-toed Upper Eocene transitional forms approaching the Ruminants, but all possessing upper cutting-teeth, the last-named differing but little from the Deerlets. _Oreodon_ is a genus of small pig-like animals, appearing first in the Miocene of North America, and evidently closely related to the Ruminantia. _Sivatherium_ was a gigantic Ruminant with four horns in pairs, and evidently a trunk. Its remains are found in the Miocene deposits of the Sewalik hills of India. Deer, Oxen, Goats, and Sheep first appeared in the Pliocene period, as did Camels and Llamas. Antelopes and Giraffes existed earlier, namely, in the Late Miocene. It is a fact of interest that Camels are abundant in the Miocene and Pliocene of North America, whilst they are only very scantily distributed in the same strata of the Old World, Arabia and Asia being their sole living habitat.

Among the most interesting of the Pleistocene species which has been discovered in Great Britain is the gigantic Irish deer, a species originally included with the Elk, on account of the palmation and outward inclination of its huge antlers, in some specimens only a few inches less than eleven feet in span, and each more than five feet long in a straight line from burr to tip. In general form the antlers do not strikingly differ from those of the Common Fallow Deer. The brow-tyne is quite simple at its base, and generally slightly bifid at its extremity, there being no true “bez.” The beam is cylindroid as far as the insignificant “trez,” beyond which it is flattened out into a gigantic triangular expansion, or “palm,” with the free base developed into snags, usually about seven in number, and a fairly independent posterior tyne.

At the withers the skeleton, which is quite cervine in every detail, measures as much as six feet; its great peculiarity in the male being the large size of the cervical or neck vertebræ, necessarily extra strong that they may support the massive antlers, about seventy pounds in weight. In the females, which had no cranial appendages, the vertebræ of the neck were one-third smaller.

The accompanying figure is an attempt to represent the species under consideration, as it must have appeared when living. It is worthy of note, however, that as the coat of the Fallow Deer, which may be its nearest ally, is brilliantly spotted, the great Irish Deer may have resembled it in that respect.

The first fairly complete skeleton of the species was found in the Isle of Man. Others have been obtained from Waterford and elsewhere in Ireland.

A. H. GARROD.

ORDER RODENTIA.