104 WAFTED SOOT. 



in connection with it, I may mention that 

 whilst on the fells, at least in my neighbour- 

 hood, they become of a very dark and un- 

 comely hue, as if smirched with soot, which I 

 believe to be really the case, soot wafted 

 from the nearest manufacturing districts to our 

 hills; which said soot, I would hope may, in com- 

 pensation, whilst freeing them from a nuisance, 

 help to fertilise our upland pastures. What 

 confirms me in forming this opinion of the source 

 of the blackening matter is, that I have often 

 seen a black pellicle, or thin film on our lakes 

 and mountain tarns, occurring simultaneously 

 with light rain in an almost calm state of the 

 atmosphere after dark and windy weather ; and 

 moreover from finding the matter of the tarn- 

 film, and of that adhering to the fleeces of the 

 sheep, to possess the chemical qualities of 

 soot. 



AMICUS. I can readily believe what you say, 

 and adopt your opinion, considering how 

 heavier matters than soot, or the substance of 

 smoke, are conveyed by the wind to distances 

 that may be called immense. When in the 

 Mediterranean, it was in 1830, I witnessed at 

 Malta a shower of dust that hid the sun, con- 



