This country likewise produces Vicuñas, animals equal in size to a goat
in our country, but not horned, and clothed with wool of a darkish
yellow colour, softer than silk, and much esteemed by Europeans. A
garment made of this wool cools the body when the sun is oppressively
hot. It is said to cure pains in the kidneys, and to assuage the torture
of the gout. The flesh of the vicuña, though unsavoury to the palate, is
eaten by the Indians; it is also used as medicine. A man who had got a
disorder in his eyes, from walking for a long time amidst snow in Peru,
was presently relieved of the pain by a piece of vicuña's flesh, applied
to the part affected, by an Indian woman.