250 VERY SINGULAR ANIMALS. 



How far a knowledge of natural history in the 

 zoological department is cultivated among the 

 lamas, we may infer from an amusing description 

 given to M. Hue by Sandara, a lama who had 

 passed ten years in one of the grand Lamaseries, 

 of certain " curious animals" he encountered on 

 one of his pilgrimages. " In the country through 

 which we passed," said Sandara, " we saw some 

 very singular animals ; they were not so big as an 

 ordinary cat, and were covered with a sort of hair 

 as hard as iron needles. Whenever one of these 

 creatures perceived us it immediately rolled itself 

 up, so that you could no longer distinguish head, 

 tail, or feet, and it became, as it were, a great ball, 

 all bristling with long, hard thorns. At first these 

 beasts frightened us ; we could not comprehend at 

 all what they were, for the books of prayer say not 

 a word about them. However, by degrees, we got 

 courage enough to examine them closely. As 

 these balls were too prickly to be touched with the 

 hand, we placed a stick horizontally across one of 

 them, and then pressed down both ends until we 

 made the ball open itself a little, and then there 

 came out a little face like a man's, that looked at 

 us fixedly. We cried out in great terror, and ran 

 away as hard as we could. At last, however, we 

 grew accustomed to the little animals, and they 

 even served us for an amusement ; for it was good 



