Brgraphy of the Vrzecacha. 311 
or ten days before they receive their hire: for the 
animals covered up are then supposed to be all dead. 
Some of these men I have talked with have assured 
me that living vizcachas have been found after 
fourteen days—a proof of their great endurance. 
There is nothing strange, I think, in the mere fact 
of the vizcacha being unable to work his way out 
when thus buried alive; for, for all I know to the 
contrary, other species may, when their burrows 
are well covered up, perish in the same manner ; 
but it certainly is remarkable that other vizcachas 
should come from a distance to dig out those that 
are buried alive. In this good office they are ex- 
ceedingly zealous; and I have frequently surprised 
them after sunrise, at a considerable distance from 
their own burrows, diligently scratching at those 
that had been covered up. The vizcachas are fond 
of each other’s society, and live peaceably together ; 
but their goodwill is not restricted to the members 
of their own little community; it extends to the 
whole species, so that as soon as night comes many 
animals leave their own and go to visit the adjacent 
villages. If one approaches a vizcachera at night, 
usually some of the vizcachas on it scamper off to 
distant burrows: these are neighbours merely come 
to pay a friendly visit. This intercourse is so 
frequent that little straight paths are formed from 
one vizcachera to another. The extreme attach- 
ment between members of different communities 
makes it appear less strange that they should assist 
each other : either the desire to see, as usual, their 
buried neighbours becomes intense enough to impel 
them to work their way to them; or cries of 
