362 
GltEENLAND VOYAGE. 
pension of clouds in the air, where the tendency 
to quit their position is induced by a force per¬ 
haps not one-tenth so great as the former. In 
the case of the retention of clouds upon moun¬ 
tains, it might be objected, that, notwithstanding 
a gale may be blowing in the lower parts of the 
atmosphere, the air on the tops of the mountains 
may be calm. It must be admitted, that the 
various currents known to exist in the atmo¬ 
sphere, at the same time, in different strata, 
might justify this supposition, were there no 
facts that could be brought forward to prove the 
prevalence of the wind aloft as well as below, in 
instances where the clouds were retained. These 
facts, indeed, being so much within every person’s 
observation, who has visited mountainous coun¬ 
tries, scarcely require an example. Two instances, 
however, may be given. On a former voyage, 
when the highest summit of Ostroe was observed 
to be covered with a stationary cloud, during a 
strong gale, the lower atmosphere was full of those 
scattered clouds called by the sailors “ scud,” 
whose flight, in storms, is so striking and rapid. 
Some of these patches of cloud were evidently at 
the same level as that of the highest land; be¬ 
cause, in a large patch passing across the summit, 
it was sometimes observed that a portion of it 
coalesced with the cloud reposing thereon, and 
