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. Huc 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 somo
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 bristhng 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