myards. The _angasto_ has
hair or wool so long that its limbs are almost hidden, just before
shearing-time, in the tresses that hang from the body half way to the
ground. The _calperze_, a bird no larger than a Norfolk turkey, has
the hinder part developed to an enormous size, so that the graceful
peacock-like neck and shoulders appear as if lost in the huge
proportions of the body, and the little wings are totally unfit to
raise it in the air; while it lays almost daily eggs as large as those
of the ostrich and of peculiar richness and flavour. Nearly all the
domestic birds kept for the sake of eggs or feathers have wings that
look as if they had been clipped, and are incapable of flight.
Creatures valued for their flesh, such as the _quorno_ (somewhat like
the eland, but with the single horn so common among its congeners in
Mars, and with a soft white hide), and the _viste_, a bird about the
size of the peacock, with the form of the partridge and the flavour of
grouse or black game, preserve more natural proportions. The
wing-quills of the latter, however, having been systematically plucked
for hundreds of generations, are now dwarfed and useless. These
animals are not encouraged to make fat on the one hand, or to develop
powerful muscles and sinews on the other. They are fed for part of the
year on the higher and thinner pastures of the mountains. When brought
down to the meadows of the plain, they are allowed to graze only for a
few hours before sunset and after sunrise. They thus preserve much of
the flavour of game or mountain sheep and cattle, which the oxen and
poultry of Europe have lost; flavour, not quantity, being the chief
object of care with Martial graziers. Sometimes, however, some
peculiarity perfectly useless, or even inconvenient, appears to be
naturally associated with that which is artificially developed. Thus
the beak of the _elnerve_ is weak and often splits, so as to render
its rearing troublesome and entail considerable losses; while the
horns of the wool-bearing animals are long and strong enough to be
formidable, but so rough and coarsely grained that they are turned to
no account for use or ornament.

We were rapidly approaching the foot of the hills, where the river
made another and abrupt turn. At this point the produce of the whole
upper valley is generally embarked, and supplies from all other
quarters are here received and distributed. In consequence, a town
large and important for this