HER CURIOUS INTERROGATORIES. 241 



possibly be so warm at one season of the year, 

 and so cold at another. I endeavoured to ac- 

 commodate my answer to her powers of com- 

 prehension, and she seemed satisfied. 



" Lauri was in the right," she observed ; 

 " there are very clever people in Russia.'"' 

 Her acknowledgment of my abilities, however, 

 proved rather inconvenient, for she now over- 

 whelmed me with a host of questions, some of 

 them very absurd, and which to have answered 

 with methodical precision, would have required 

 much time and consideration. For instance, 

 she desired me to tell her how much wood 

 must be burnt, every year, to warm all the 

 countries of the earth ? Whether rain enough 

 "knight not fall, at some time or other, to extin- 

 guish all the fires .P And whether, by means 

 of such a rain, Wahu might not become as 

 cold as Russia ? I endeavoured to cut the 

 matter as short as possible ; and, in order to 

 divert he^ thoughts to other subjects, set wine 

 before her; she liked it very much, and I 

 therefore presented her with a bottle ; but her 

 thirst for knowledge was not thus to be quench- 

 ed, and during a visit of two hours, she asked 



VOL. II. iM 



