It appears
to me, that it is fully as much owing to the transparency of the
air confounding objects at different distances, and likewise partly
to the novelty of an unusual degree of fatigue arising from a
little exertion,--habit being thus opposed to the evidence of the
senses. I am sure that this extreme clearness of the air gives a
peculiar character to the landscape, all objects appearing to be
brought nearly into one plane, as in a drawing or panorama. The
transparency is, I presume, owing to the equable and high state of
atmospheric dryness. This dryness was shown by the manner in which
woodwork shrank (as I soon found by the trouble my geological
hammer gave me); by articles of food, such as bread and sugar,
becoming extremely hard; and by the preservation of the skin and
parts of the flesh of the beasts which had perished on the road. To
the same cause we must attribute the singular facility with which
electricity is excited. My flannel-waistcoat, when rubbed in the
dark, appeared as if it had been washed with phosphorus,--every
hair on a dog's back crackled;--even the linen sheets, and leathern
straps of the saddle, when handled, emitted sparks.
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