■ MANNERS AND CUSTOMS. 



481 



of the ship's company being placed 

 in the centre of the permanent 

 encampment. It is a mode of 

 provision peculiar, I believe, to 

 Sweden ; and was made, during a 

 former reign, by the application 

 of certain lands of the crown to 

 this purpose. The advantages of 

 this plan of maintenance are ex- 

 tended to the army as well as the 

 navy, for the regiments of pro- 

 vincial militia are all supported in 

 the same way ; and these (if we 

 except the artillery, and a few 

 regiments of guards), form, in 

 fact, the only standing force of 

 the country. 



Jan. 55. — At this time the cold 

 was excessive, generally below 

 20°, and on the 2 1st day of this 

 month the mercury stood at SS'' 

 of Celsius's scale below freezing 

 point, or 28" below zero of Fah- 

 renheit. It if* impossible to re- 

 count all the horrors of such a 

 season : no example had occurred 

 during the last sixty years of one 

 so severe. 1 he peasants attend- 

 ing the market came with their 

 faces, arms, and legs, frozen : 

 the soldiers on guard, though re- 

 lieved every hour, were often taken 

 up in the same condition ; and 

 one, it was said, had been found 

 dead at his post. Besides the mi- 

 serable cases of persons fi ostbitten 

 that daily thronged the hospitals, 

 several deaths took place among 

 tho.'ie who were out of the way of 

 injmediate assistance. A poor 

 woman, to mention one instance, 

 being ignorant of the unusual in- 

 clemency of this morning, had 

 gone early to her usual occupation 

 of washing on the river s-ide ; 

 •carce h.-xlf an hour elapsed before 

 we saw her on her return, borne 



Vol. LIX. 



under our windows to her home 

 a lifeless corpse. 



It will be well to observe, that 

 the extraordinary increase of cold 

 is not directly made known by 

 symptoms such as might be ex- 

 pected ; no external sensation will 

 enable any person to form an es- 

 timate of its comparative rigour. 

 The action of a temperature such 

 as the above is not like the nip- 

 ping of a frost in England, but a 

 general extension of its baneful 

 influence is felt over the whole 

 body, its access being so gra- 

 dual that, for several minutes 

 after leaving a warm room, the 

 air seems to make little or no im- 

 pression : an attempt, however, to 

 endure it for even a quarter of an 

 hour, unless extraordinarily well 

 wrapped up in fur or wadded 

 clothing, would be attended with 

 the higheit degree of danger. 

 Exercise alone is totally unable to 

 keep up the necessary vital warmth : 

 the linen becoming moist is in- 

 stantly converted to a covering of 

 ice, and the animal heat escapes 

 as fast as it is excited. 



Even with the adoption of every 

 possible precaution, very injurious 

 effects will sometimes manifest 

 themselves. A soreness in breath- 

 ing, an oppressive headach, a 

 want of sense in the extiemities, 

 and a stiffness in the thighs, are 

 the first symptoms which give the 

 stranger warning to seek again 

 the timely shelter of his house. 



Frequently did we remark the 

 dead white patch on tiie cheek, 

 the ears, or the nose* of the lower 

 class, who were moderately pro- 

 vided in point of clothing; and 

 to guard against such contingen- 

 cies, it was U5ual to see many of 



il the 



