Snow-falls. 



30 NATURAL HISTORY of NORWAY. 



long on the ground, deftroys thoufands of young trees : like- 

 wife when it falls late in the fpring, and after the trees begin to 

 put out their leaves, which, however, happens very rarely, feme 

 trees, and efpecially the alders, wither and die ; a prognoftic of 

 which is the leaves turning to a browniili hue.' It has been known, 

 and particularly in the year 1742, many people were eye-witneffes. 

 of it, that a fpecies of black maggots fell along with the fnow, 

 whereby extreme damage was done to the grain and pafture. But 

 among the mifchiefs occafioned by fnow, the greaterl are the 

 Snee-fkreed, or Snee-fond, that is, when a mafs of fnow, falling 

 from a precipice, overwhelms both men and cattle, overfets boats 

 in the lakes *, and, which is but too often the cafe, demolifhes 

 cottages and houfes, infomuch that even whole villages are born 

 down, crumed, and totally deftroyed ; but this laft calamity is 

 rather an effect of the incredible violence of the wind, dri- 

 ving on the mafles of fnow, when they begin to give way, than 

 of thofe mafles themfelves, houfes having been feen to fall fome 

 feconds before the fnow had reached them. Thefe fnow-falls are 

 of two kinds ; the firft, when in frofty weather the light fnow is 

 fuddenly fet in motion, and in its progrefs fcatteied over all the 

 country, which the peafants call Meel-fond, and is not attended 

 with fuch damages as the other, which is known by the name of 

 Kremfond ; thefe happen, when by the mifts and rains in fpring, 

 the fnow, which by moifture is confolidated, falls in a mafs, 

 which, tho' flower in its defcent, leaves ftronger impreilions 011 

 the fides of the mountains, bearing down every thing in its way, 

 even the ftrongeft new buildings. 

 a whole pa- By a fnow-fall of the firft kind, a whole parifh, fituate between 



riili loft in the .. t ,'„' ; , r , 



foow. Quindherret and Hardanger, a century or two ago (for the pre- 



cife time is not certainly known) was wholly covered, and fo re- 



* Thefe accidents it feems are not unknown in Switzerland : " Souvent il tombe 

 du haut des rriontagnes des maffes de neige prodigieufes, que les attemans appellent 

 Lawinen et les Romains Avelanches, qui tombant avec impetuofite, font 11 n bruit 

 auffi grand que celui du tonnere. Non feulenfent elles enveloppent gens et betes, 

 mais elles entrainent et emportent des arbres et des maifons entieres. Le poete CJau- 

 dien qui vivoit au iv fiecle, nous apprend qu'on connoiffoit deja. ces chofes de foa 

 tems : 



> multos haufere profunda 



Vafta mole nives, cumque ipfis faepe juvencis 

 Naufraga candenti merguntur plauftra Barathro ; 

 Interdum fubitam gtacie labente ruinam 

 Mons dedit, &c. Delices de la Suifie, Tom. 1. p. 27. 



manis 



