296 EXCESSIVE RAIN-FALL. 



the very heart of the Lake District, in the most 

 central spot amongst the mountains, these in 

 a manner radiating from hence, and the lakes 

 likewise similarly arranged, as if their basins 

 were rents diverging from this centre. That 

 fiumara-like bed, the bright sky, the mild dry 

 air, mild at least in comparison with that of 

 the fell we have just left, do not suggest that 

 this mountain valley has a greater fall of rain, 

 than with one exception, any spot even in 

 Europe, where a rain-gauge has been kept.* 

 Yet such I believe is the fact; as many as 160 

 inches having been registered here in twelve 

 months, f A peculiarity this, undoubtedly owing 

 to the position; and what we witness now, 

 denoting extreme drought, is doubtless owing 

 in part to the same cause, conducive to the 

 water running off rapidly, in conjunction with 



* The exception alluded to is "the Stye" or Sprinkling 

 Fell, about a mile and half from Seathwaite, in a south- 

 westerly direction, and 580 feet above it : there it has 

 been inferred from limited observations that about one 

 third more rains falls than at Seathwaite. See Phil. 

 Trans, for 1851. 



f In one month, the month of February, 1848, the 

 enormous quantity of thirty inches of rain was registered 

 here. 



