28 NATURAL HI STORY <& NORWAY. 



warm and dry, and had been fo for a confiderable time before* 

 But this cafe is common tolsTorway, with other mountainous coun- 

 tries, which I mall here take occafion to illuftrate by fome parallel 

 inftances : We are informed *, that whilft the hammer feafon lafts, 

 from cape Comarin to the coaft of Coromandel, it is winter during 

 that time, from Diu to the aforefaid cape. In like manner, on one 

 fide of the mountain called Gates, or Ballagates, the fields are 

 cloathed m their verdure, and the country appears in all the 

 gaiety and luxuriancy of fummer ; whilft, on the other, it is co- 

 vered with fogs and rain. Something hniilar to this is alfo ob- 

 ferved from Ormus to Cape Rofalgate, where the mips may har- 

 bour and enjoy the moft delightful weather imaginable, whereas 

 beyond the cape they meet with hard gales, rain, &c. A further 

 account of thefe remarkable particulars the reader may meet with 

 in Paul van Caarden's voyage to the Eaft Indies. 



SECT. XV. 



d^p fnows From the consideration of the rain, I am naturally led to fpeak 

 SnsT their" of the fnow, efpecially as both are the fame in fubftance, difTer- 

 Ld a St! s ing only in texture and figure, which depend on the warmth or 

 coldnefs of the air, as I myfelf experienced in coming down a 

 mountain, where, till about half way, we had fnow, but a little 

 lower the flakes of fnow were melted into drops of rain. Now in 

 Bergen thefe fnows feldom lie long; for it muft be a very extraor- 

 dinary winter, when the fledges are ufed a fortnight fucceilively ; 

 whereas in the other northern provinces the fnows are very thick and 

 lafting, and lie long ; and on the fummits of the mountains, or 

 in the cavities far north, which are inacceflible to the fun-beams, 

 the fnow lies throughout the whole year ; and the contrail: be- 

 twixt the lively verdure of the fields and the gliftering whitenefs of 

 the mountains is not difagreeable. The upper region of the air, 

 (where the atmofphere being thinner than near the earth, the 

 fun-beams are lefs intercepted and reverberated) is always ex- 

 tremely cold, even in the warmeft countries. This is the cafe in 

 Switzerland and Italy, and even in Perfia, according to Taver- 



* Concerning this I refer the reader to the northern voyages with Mr. Robert 

 Boyle's Inftructions for travelling with advantage, where we find the above obferva- 

 tions on the difference of the air in hot countries at a-fmall diftance from each 

 9ther. 



2 nier, 



