136 A SPRING AND SUMMER IN LAPLAND. 



as 25° (about 13° below zero, Fahrenheit) — and, 

 mind, I had no pea-jacket ! I durst not take my 

 boots off till I got fairly home ; but the blazing 

 fire, and a cup of hot coffee with which the peasant 

 provided me, quickly brought me round; and as 

 soon as I was a little refreshed I hobbled home. 

 I had to cut off my boots. When I pulled my 

 stockings off and bathed my feet in cold water, 

 they looked just like raw meat ; and any one who 

 knows what it is to ride hunting in a pair of tight 

 tops can to some extent fancy what I felt. How- 

 ever, beyond great pain in my feet, I suffered no 

 serious inconvenience, and twelve hours in the 

 blankets set me all right again. 



Twice before in my life have I spent as long 

 and dismal a night as this — once lying out on the 

 bowsprit of a Swedish schooner, when we were 

 caught in the race of Alderney, and, drifting along 

 the east coast of that island, with breakers on our 

 starboard, we expected to strike every hour ; and 

 another time, when bushed in an Australian forest 

 during a storm of thunder and lightning, which 

 raged the whole night with such violence as only 

 a thunder-storm can rage south of the equator. 

 But on neither occasion did I experience the feel- 

 ings of this night in the snow. 



And now, if any of my readers should fancy I 

 have made "much ado about nothing," and spun 



