262 LULEAI^ LAPLAND. 



suggest that such accidents were rather to 

 be attributed to the force of the wind, for 

 that the clouds could not of themselves lij:'t, 

 or carry away, any thing. He laughed at 

 me, saying surely I had never seen any 

 clouds. For my part, it seemed to me that 

 he could have never been any where but in 

 the clouds. I replied, that whenever the 

 weather is foggy I walk in clouds, and when 

 the fog is condensed, and no longer sup- 

 ported in the air, it immediately rains be- 

 neath my feet. At all such reasoning, be- 

 ing above his comprehension, he only 

 lauirhed with a sardonic smile. Still less 

 was he satisfied with my explanation how 

 watery bubbles may be lifted up into the 

 air, as he told me the clouds were solid 

 bodies. On my denying this, he reinforced 

 his assertion with a text of scripture, silen- 

 cing me by authority, and then laughing at 

 my ignorance. He next condescended to 

 inform me that after rain a phlegm is al- 

 ways to be found on the mountains, where 

 the clouds have touched them. Upon my 



