nation which these
savages possess is wonderful, and they can recognise to which tribe any
cattle belong. Mr. Andersson further informs me that the natives frequently
match a particular bull with a particular cow.

The most curious case of selection by semi-civilised people, or indeed by
any people, which I have found recorded, is that given by Garcilazo de la
Vega, a descendant of the Incas, as having been practised in Peru before
the country was subjugated by the Spaniards.[501] The Incas annually held
great hunts, when all the wild animals were driven from an immense circuit
to a central point. The beasts of prey were first destroyed as injurious.
The wild Guanacos and Vicunas were sheared; the old males and females
killed, and the others set at liberty. The various kinds of deer were
examined; the old males and females {208} were likewise killed; "but the
young females, with a certain number of males, selected from the most
beautiful and strong," were given their freedom. Here, then, we have
selection by man aiding natural selection. So that the Incas followed
exactly the reverse system of that which our Scottish sportsmen are accused
of following, namely, of steadily killing the finest stags, thus causing
the whole race to degenerate.[502] In regard to the domesticated llamas and
alpacas, they were separated in the time of the Incas according to colour;
and if by chance one in a flock was born of the wrong colour, it was
eventually put into another flock.

In the genus Auchenia there are four forms,--the Guanaco and Vicuna, found
wild and undoubtedly distinct species; the Llama and Alpaca, known only in
a domesticated condition. These four animals appear so different, that most
professed naturalists, especially those who have studied these animals in
their native country, maintain that they are specifically distinct,
notwithstanding that no one pretends to have seen a wild llama or alpaca.
Mr. Ledger, however, who has closely studied these animals both in Peru and
during their exportation to Australia, and who has made many experiments on
their propagation, adduces arguments[503] which seem to me conclusive, that
the llama is the domesticated descendant of the guanaco, and the alpaca of
the vicuna. And now that we know that these animals many centuries ago were
systematically bred and selected, there is nothing surprising in the great
amount of change which they have undergone.

It appeared to me at one time proba