Quantity of Fulling Rain. 



17 



whole quantity of rain that fell in Ambleside last year, and 

 distinguishing in what portion of the twenty-four hours it 

 fell :— 



Though so much rain falls here, and water is so abundant, 

 the atmosphere of the lake district is not to be considered a 

 damp one, — rather moderately dry ; seldom very dry ; sel- 

 dom vei'y humid, — which may be owing, as before observed, 

 to the mountainous character of the country, tending to con- 

 dense watery vapours (the same cause that produces the ex- 

 cess of rain), and partly to the mountain declivities, occa- 

 sioning a rapid descent of the rain water into the river 

 courses, and partly also to the nature of the soil, little re- 

 tentive of moisture, in a remarkable manner free from clay, 

 porous and stony, especially of the valleys and of the lower 

 hills, those which are cultivated and inhabited, — freed from 

 peat-moss, and more or less drained. Owing to those pecu- 

 liarities of country and ground, the quantity of water dis- 

 charged by any stream marvellously varies, even in short 

 intervals of time. After absence of rain for many days, it 

 may be reduced to the smallest rivulet, which a child can 

 step across, and, after a few hours of heavy rain, be an 



VOL. XXXIX. NO. LXXVII. — JULY 1845. B 



