1 40 SEEING, BUT NOT SEEN. 



occupied an area of about twenty acres. Everywhere 

 the ground was mined, and opened up, and covered with 

 indurated cones which bore witness to the assiduous sub- 

 terranean toil of these animals. We sounded several of 

 the holes with our ramrods; but so great was their depth 

 that we could not reach a single individual of the re- 

 public. 



There was but one resource left us, if we would see the 

 marmots at our ease ; namely, to conceal ourselves, and 

 wait with patience until mistrust had given place to con- 

 fidence. Nature favoured our design ; for, on the borders 

 of the village, and in the hollow of the valley, she had 

 planted a row of dwarf cedars, whose tufted branches 

 were well adapted to hide us from the sharpest eyes, and 

 permit us to see without being seen. 



We withdrew, therefore, with the least possible noise, 

 and, each having chosen his position, we remained almost 

 motionless, preserving entire silence, and our eyes fixed 

 on the village, whose gates and windows, though wide 

 open, did not appear to be frequented. 



After awhile, a few cunning old fellows cautiously 

 thrust forth the tip of their nose at the entrance of one 

 of the galleries, and then immediately vanished. Others 

 made a rapid leap outside, but only to rush from one 

 orifice to another. 



At length, some of the marmots, reassured by the tran- 

 quillity which reigned around, and persuaded that all 

 danger was past, glided out of their dens ; they traversed 

 hastily a space tolerably distant from the hole whence 

 they had emerged, to enter into another burrow. You 

 might have thought they were going to visit a friend or 

 relation to relate the fright they had experienced, to dis- 



