A Run To The Lakes: Borrowdale.

village of Eosthwaite , ancl the charming residence ¦ of Mr . Fisher , of Seatollar , we arrived at the head of the valley , at the villag-e of Seathwaite . There are three phenomena to be observed here : first , the four magnificent yew-trees , joined in one , commemorated by Wordsworth , in the lines besianina - —

"Fraternal four of Borrowdale ;" secondly , the celebrated lead mine , or plumbago mine , which lies right overhead , on the face of the hill ; and , lastly , the rain-gauge . The yew trees we saw ; but the mine is not working at present ;

and unfortunately it did not rain that day , so that the respectable lady ' who makes . the observations could not discourse of the rain-fall in operation . We learned , however , that for the last half-year it had been considerably under the averag-e ,- and , what is of greater consequencethatalthough the

, , greatest quantity of rain falls here in all England , there are many low-lying districts which are blessed with a far greater number of rainy days . We shall -explain this paradox as we proceed . In the year 1851 Mr . Otley , of Keswick , recorded a series of observations of local rain-fall

from a rain-gauge kept near the town , ancl his results were hi ghest in the year 1846 , being 67- 678 in . ; lowest in the year 1844 , being 40-629 in . ; and on the average of ten years ( 1842-51 ) , 57-162 in . About the same period Mr . Millar , of Whitehaven , made an elaborate average of the principal stations in the Lake district , and a comparison of these

averages with those of London , Edinburgh , Dublin , & c . ; and from this computation we learn that while London was 24-800 in ., Edinburgh , 25-600 in ., Dublin 30-087 in ., Liverpool 34-700 in ., and Manchester 37 ' 300 in ., the Lake district averaged respectively—Keswick , 57-162 in . ; Great Gable , 89400 iii

- . ; Styhead , 92-800 in . ; Grasmere , 107-500 in . and Seathwaite , 140-600 in . A still later average , quoted in one of the guide-books , gives us —Keswick , 60 in . ; Crummock , 85 in . ; Ambleside , 82 in . ; Kendal , 61 in . ; and Troutbeck , 81 iu . To these we will just add from our own observations that in

Keswick last year the rain-fall , as observed by Mr . Fisher Crosthwaite , was 71 in . ; and in Seathwaite , in Borrowdale , the village we had the curiosity to go and see , 173 in . * It is highly proper to point out that , although there is more rain in the mountain districts than in low countries , there is also

more brilliant weather . To quote the language of Dr . Leitch in the Lancet , " the rain conies clown more heartily , and the weather clears up more cordially here than elsewhere . " The barometer has been very accurately ob-• served in Keswick , ancl varies from 29 in . to 30 in .

But we have not succeeded in procuring any trustworth y series of thermometrical returns . The temperature of the district , we should say ,

reasoning a priori , is lower in summer and higher in winter than any of the lowland districts . But we can speak from experience of the difference between noon ancl midnight , ancl more particularly of the difference between the temperature in the sun and in the shadewhich latterwe imagineis

, , , much greater than that of any other district in all England . For example , to pass from the direct action of the sun ' s rays on the side of a hill to the shadow of the neighbouring' woods is something excessively like plunging into cold water on a very hot day . As to the force and direction of

the wind , we regret that none of Admiral Fitzroy ' s nautical observers are stationed in the district ; otherwise we might then compute the degree of force on Scawfell and Skiddaw of that Atlantic south-wester which carries with it all the moisture

and deposits all the rain . But as it is , we can only state that the difference between the force of the wind on the surface of the lakes and on the tops of the mountains is so great as to bear comparison with the official idea of a calm breeze and a storm . We have just room to add herethat

, the county of Cumberland is deficient in ozone . Of the tabulated returns from fifty-four meteorological stations in the last quarterly return of the Eegistrar General , Cockermouth and Carlisle stand lowest in the scale .

We must finish these dry statistics with a few physiological remarks . In the first place , with regard to the climate of the Lake District , we may observe that from its altitude , its peculiar topography , its exposure to the great atmospheric current of the Atlantic Ocean , its

exuberant vegetation , and its clayey soil , it is necessarily the most humid atmosphere in all England . Accordingly , we might be prepared to find a preponderance of those diseases which are peculiar to an aljane country ; and in this case we should not be altogether disappointed . The

late Jonathan Otley , whom we have mentioned , relates that when he was a boy ( about the period of Dalton ' s observations ) ague was so common in the vale of Keswick , that every country lad coming to service from the low country had to

go through a fit of " shaking which lasted six weeks ! An old shepherd whom we met on the hills in Borrowdale , informed us that there was plenty of ague , accompanied by fever , in his youth . And although there was nothing of that sort now , there was still jjlenty of rheumatism , as he

happened to know ! Although cases of goitre are now exceedingly rare , these were by no means uncommon twenty or thirty years ago ; ancl even yet , we were informed , a swelling of the glands of the neck is not an unfrequent malady . Colds , inflammation of the lungsphthisisand all the

, , diseases which arise from excess of moisture and exposure to low and changing temperature , are of course more or less abundant . And it is impossible for the stranger fresh from the rural districts of Essex and Hampshire not to perceive