HARDWICKE'S SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 



199 



advice, which is not given in any of the guide books. 

 If you are at all nervous or giddy, don't go up 

 Helvellyn by Swirrel Edge. I am aware that this 

 advice is given with respect to one of the other ways 

 tourists go up Helvellyn — Striding Edge — in most of 

 the guide books. But none mention this way as being 

 at all dangerous, bad, or uncomfortable ; indeed, I 

 read in Baddeley's Guide Book that as the way up by 

 Striding Edge is dangerous and very narrow, " giddily 

 inclined people will feel more comfortable in going up 

 Swirrel Edge." 



Soon after leaving Patterdale, we found some 

 Galium saxatile. The way up was excellent, till, 

 after crossing the end of the Red 1'arn, we got 

 out into the ridge between Helvellyn and Catche- 

 decam. And even then, till we came to the last 

 climb, it was not bad. But then the climb up was as 

 bad as going along the Mauvais Pas at Chamounix, 

 and worse, while all along the latter there is a railing 

 to hold on to and here none. Large rocks had to be 

 clambered over as best one could, while the precipice 

 on one side did not add to our feelings of " comfort." 

 One of our party felt so uncomfortable as to stop 

 behind while we reached the top. We found a good 

 many people up there that had tried coming down the 

 Swirrel Edge, but turned back. But we were well 

 rewarded for our trouble; for, from the top, we could 

 not have had a better view. From the Scotch hills 

 on our north, to Morecambe Bay on our south, and 

 the Yorkshire hills in the far east, every outline was 

 perfectly clear ; in the foreground Scawfell and Bow- 

 fell were particularly prominent. The top consists of 

 loose stones, very similar to pumice stone, and in 

 many places beautiful quartz crystals are to be found. 

 We came down a much better way by Dollywaggen 

 Pike and the Grisdale Tarn, and were glad we did so, 

 as the views of the part by Windermere and Coniston 

 were better than from the top. The following plants, 

 though not to be seen so late in the season, are said 

 to grow on Helvellyn : Cerastium alpinum, Chryso- 

 splenium oppositifolium, Ilieracium alpinum, Juncus 

 triglumis, Oxyria reniformis, Rhodiola rosea, Salix 

 herbacea, Saxifraga hirculus, hypnoides, oppositifolia, 

 nivalis, Thalidrum alpinum, Woodsia ilvcnsis. Of 

 Vaccinium Vitis-Idcca we found the leaves near the 

 top. 



We had many beautiful walks about Patterdale. 

 The Greenside Lead mills were very interesting, and 

 we saw how the material as it comes from the mines 

 is crushed, sifted, and washed to separate the lead, 

 which sinks by its own weight. Afterwards the ore 

 is smelted, to separate the silver with which it is 

 largely mixed. Above the mines, near a reservoir, grow 

 Erica tetralix and Empetrum nigrum. The Aira Force 

 made another walk. The falls, 80 feet high, are in a 

 lovely little glen, the rocks on either side carpeted with 

 ferns and mosses bathed by the spray. On the road, 

 about half a mile before the turning to the falls, Narthe- 

 ciurn ossifragum and Hydrocotyle vulgaris grew plenti- 



fully in a bog. Another lovely walk was along the 

 lake side in the direction of Howtown. The slopes of 

 Place Fell are here covered with Junipents communis, 

 while Blechnum spicant, Calluna vulgaris, and Erica 

 cinerea grow in one or two places. In their full 

 beauty are Lycopodium clavatum, 'jilpinum, selago, 

 Alchemilla alpina, Cryptogramme crispa. Farther 

 on, near a little cascade, Corydalis claviculata covers 

 some of the bushes. We returned by the Boredale 

 glen, and found in a bridge near Sandwick, Asplenium 

 Ruta-muraria, which, with A. trichotjianes grow in 

 bridges or other places where there is mortar, but 

 not elsewhere, and hence, occur but sparingly. 

 Cystoptcris fragilis grows up the glen in one or two 

 places. But all the valleys and glens have their own 

 beauty. Deepdale is interesting from the numerous 

 glacier moraines at its extremity ; Glencoin as being 

 divided into two parts by a ridge, while Dovedale ha6 

 been mentioned as a locality for one or two plants. 



We spent a couple of days at Keswick, and did 

 that most frequented coach drive the " Buttermere 

 excursion." At first the road runs along at some 

 distance from the lake, and is separated from it by 

 woods, in one of which we saw a notice that " The 

 ferns are strictly preserved." Having seen numerous 

 advertisements about of " all the choice British and 

 local ferns for sale " we understood the necessity of 

 preserving ferns if one wanted to save them from ex- 

 termination. Lodore Falls were perhaps improved 

 by recent rains. Hymenophyllum and Thalictrum 

 majus are supposed to grow here, but no traces of them 

 were to be seen. Sedum Telcphium was growing on a 

 wall. At Grange, a rock close to the bridge is 

 scratched and polished by glacier action. 



A tradition reports that the inhabitants of Borrow- 

 dale once built up a wall to try and keep in the 

 cuckoo, believing that if they did they would have 

 everlasting spring, but they found the wall too low 

 for the purpose. 



The rocky sides of the valley are richly wooded, 

 and a clear torrent runs along the bottom. Here is 

 the Bowder Stone, a huge boulder standing on edge, 

 on such a narrow base that two people on opposite 

 sides can shake hands through a hole at the bottom. 

 Then on to Seatoller, where a steep climb brought us 

 to the top of the Hornster Pass. Many of the Patter- 

 dale flora, Drosera rotundifolia, Alchemilla alpina, 

 the Lycopodiums and Saxifraga aizoides grow here 

 freely. This is an extremely wild situation. The 

 towering crags on either side are scarred .with slate 

 quarries from which the best building slate is pro- 

 cured. Formerly the quarrymen ran down some 

 hundred feet of loose screes with the slates on their 

 heads, but rails are now laid to the place where the 

 slates are found. From this point till near Butter- 

 mere Water, the road is dreadful. At Buttermere 

 we rested, and walked down to Crummock Water, 

 which is well stocked with trout and char. In our 

 drive back by the Vale of Newlands, nothing 



