These were the `guanaco' and `vicuna.'

"Up to a very late period the guanaco was believed to be the llama in
its wild state, and by some the llama run wild. This, however, is not
the case. The four species, llama, alpaca, guanaco, and vicuna as quite
distinct from each other, and although the guanaco can be tamed and
taught to carry burdens, its labour is not of sufficient value to render
this worth while. The alpaca is never used as a beast of burden. Its
fleece is the consideration for which it is domesticated and reared, and
its wool is much finer and more valuable than that of the llama.

"The guanaco is, perhaps, the least prized of the four, as its fleece is
of indifferent quality, and its flesh is not esteemed. The vicuna, on
the contrary, yields a wool which is eagerly sought after, and which in
the Andes towns will sell for at least five times its weight in alpaca
wool. Ponchos woven out of it are deemed the finest made, and command
the fabulous price of 20 pounds or 30 pounds sterling. A rich
proprietor in the cordilleras is often seen with such a poncho, and the
quality of the garment, the length of time it will turn rain, etcetera,
are favourite subjects of conversation with the wearers of them. Of
course everybody in those parts possesses one, as everybody in England
or the United States must have a great coat; but the ponchos of the
poorer classes of Peruvians--the Indian labourers, shepherds, and
miners--are usually manufactured out of the coarse wool of the llama.
Only the `ricos' can afford the beautiful fabric of the vicuna's fleece.

"The wool of the vicuna being so much in demand, it will be easily
conceived that hunting the animal is a profitable pursuit; and so it is.
In many parts of the Andes there are regular vicuna hunters, while, in
other places, whole tribes of Peruvian Indians spend a part of every
year in the chase of this animal and the guanaco. When we go farther
south, in the direction of Patagonia, we find other tribes who subsist
principally upon the guanaco, the vicuna, and the rhea or South-American
ostrich.

"Hunting the vicuna is by no means an easy calling. The hunter must
betake himself to the highest and coldest regions of the Andes--far from
civilised life, and far from its comforts. He has to encamp in the open
air, and sleep in a cave or a rude hut, built by his own hands. He has
to endure a climate as severe as a Lapland winter, often in places where
not a s