i8 NATURAL HISTORY of NORWAY: 



It is neceffary to ufe great caution in providing againft fuch 

 weather, in which an unexperienced or unguarded traveller may- 

 be deprived of his nofe and ears; it is particularly expedient to 

 cover the face, and for this the moll approved method is to fix a 

 piece of gaufe under the hat ; which both retains the warm efflu- 

 via ifTuing from the body, and keeps off the piercing air better 

 than would be imagined ; allowing at the fame time fight enough, 

 to guide the horfe. Some now and then rub their faces with a 

 handful of fnow, as enabling it, better than by warmth, to bear 

 the cold ; but in long journeys over the higheft mountains, where 

 the air is much keener, and the winter quite infupportable, no 

 precautions would avail, without the convenience of the moun- 

 tain-Stoves, as they are called, which are kept at the public charge 

 for the repofe and warmth of travellers. Of the necefiity of thefe, 

 and the impradticablenefs of the mountainous and defart parts in 

 the winter-months, the Swedes afford a melancholy inftance; 

 and as the like is fcarce to be found in the hiftory of any age, 

 Several tKou- 1 fhall here give a fhort account of it. In February 171 5, feven 

 periih°i n the thoufand, fome fay nine thoufand Swedifh foldiers, together with 

 their officers, perifhed in a molt, deplorable manner on the 

 mountain of Ruden, or Tyda], which feparates Jempteland in 

 Sweden, from the Diocefe of Drontheim, without any other 

 enemy than the extreme cold ; which furprifed them on the ridge 

 of that mountain, where nobody could come to their aillflance. 

 The affair happened in this manner : 



In the autumn of the preceding year, this corps, which then 

 confifted of ten thoufand men, had penetrated into the country, 

 and appeared to have a defign upon Drontheim; thereby to clear 

 a paffage for the main army, which was at that time under the 

 command of the king in perfon, and had made an irruption 

 near Frederickfhall, and to facilitate its farther progrefs into 



of Chriftianfand, bears the following teftimony, " It cannot be denied, that the air 

 towards the north is in winter-time full of innumerable particles of fnow and ice, 

 which are frequently fo large and fenfible, that when the wind blows freih, they dart 

 into the face, and give it a pain like the fmart of a fwitch ; and they are not only felt, 

 but when the cold is very intenfe, and the fun mines clear, thefe particles may be 

 vifibly difcerned, glittering like fo many little Stars." And this accounts, why the 

 north wind is of a more penetrating coldnefs than any other, that in its paffage, it 

 fweeps along the fnowy mountains of the north, and thus becomes impregnated, as 

 1 it were, and loaded with thefe particles, or lamellae niveae et glaciales, which among 



us occafion fuch a fharp cold. Suppkm. II. Aclor. Vratisl. Art. 4. p. 7.1, 



Nor- 



