LETTER XXIX. 



To the same. 



SELBORNE, Feb. ^th, 1776. 



EAR SIR, In heavy fogs, on elevated situ- 

 ations especially, trees are perfect alembics ; 

 and no one that has not attended to such 

 matters can imagine how much water one 

 tree will distil in a night's time, by con- 

 densing the vapour, which trickles down the 

 twigs and boughs, so as to make the ground 

 below quite in a float. In Newton Lane, in October 1775, 

 on a misty day, a particular oak in leaf dropped so fast that 

 the cart-way stood in puddles and the ruts ran with water, 

 though the ground in general was dusty. 



In some of our smaller islands in the West Indies, if I 

 mistake not, there are no springs or rivers ; but the people 

 are supplied with that necessary element, water, merely by the 

 dripping of some large, tall trees, which, standing in the bosom 



