TO CASHMEEE AND LITTLE TIBET. 585 



and Primroses have their upper limit ; and it may be said that its 

 Alpine proJDensities are only restricted by the absence of vegetation 

 and the incapability of the soil for being burrowed in. It inhabits 

 alike the elevated plateau of Tibet, or the heads of its most aljoine 

 valleys. It is eminently social in its habits. The traveller, after crossing 

 a lofty ridge and traversing a snow field, descends into a bleak tract 

 where there is nothing to remind him of an animated creation besides the 

 companions or attendants Avho may be with him, and suddenly sees 

 below him a large community of animals which look golden-coloured in 

 the distance, young and old collected together within a small space. 

 On the top of a large stone or rock is seen a prominent figure on the 

 watch, who, by the vivacity of his movements and the intentness of his 

 gaze, shows the interest he takes in the approach of the stranger. He 

 raises himself erect on his hind legs, turns one side of the head and 

 then the other in quick succession towards the object of his siispicion, and, 

 on assuring himself of its nature, utters a loud clear and shrill cry ; the 

 other members of the community instantly take the alarm, the young 

 make at once for the burrows, and the old endeavour to get a sight of 

 the object of alarm, and if the nature of the ground prevents this, they 

 also betake themselves to the burrows. The sentinel meanwhile keeps 

 quickly repeating his cry, and maintains his ground till the advance of 

 the stranger to within a few yards endangers his personal safety, and he 

 rapidly retreats. After the lapse of a few minutes a head is seen 

 cautiously protruded out of one of the holes, making a rapid circuit of 

 inspection. If any cause of alarm is observed it is speedily withdrawn, 

 and no cry uttered ; if nothing is seen the body comes out with extreme 

 caution, and if the stranger has gone on he is soon apprized by a shrill 

 cry from behind him that the sentinel has again taken to the post where 

 he first saw him, and the community is informed that the object of 

 alarm has passed by, and the members again issue forth to bask in the 

 sun. The station for the burrows is usually near the base of the 

 sloping ridge of a valley, or, if the ground is level, the most elevated 

 part of it is selected, so as to guard against flooding from melted snow 

 or rain. With regard to soil the animal a^apears to be indifferent. At 

 Sookarim Murbul, below Boorzillah, the ground is entirely composed 

 of fragments of granite, covered by a scanty stratum of clayey soil. 

 Here the burrows were numerous, and their excavation must have been 

 attended with difficulties which would have defeated a less skilful 

 pioneer. The excavated matter at the mouth of the burrow con- 

 sisted entirely of granite, pebbles, and gravel, and its direction must 

 have been devious to a degree, from the intervening blocks of granite 

 met with in the course of digging. The burrow at its mouth goes off 

 downwards at a considerable angle. If a raised block of stone happens 

 to be near, the excavated materials are thrown up into a careless 

 mound. But if not, the ejected gravel is dressed up into an elevated 

 broad glacis, which slopes rapidly into the mouth of the burrow. This 

 spot is the favourite station of the Drin, where he may be observed 

 basking for hours in the sim. Near the same place I saw several indi- 

 viduals perched on blocks of stone forming the talus of a granite cliff, 

 and uttering their shrill cry on my ajsproach. Here the habitation of 

 the Drin appeared to be merely the casual crevices left between the 

 blocks of stone. The burrows, where the ground admits, are close 

 too-ether, and as much so as in the most crowded rabbit warren in 



