46 J. F. Miller, Esq., on the Quantity of Bain 



the table will shew, that the wettest portions of the lake dis- 

 trict are those situate at the head or eastern extremities of 

 those valleys formed by our highest mountain ridges, amongst 

 which are the Great Gabel, Sea Fell, Glaramara, Red Pike, 

 High Style, and Honister : the first being apparently the 

 grand central point of attraction and condensation for the 

 warm vapour arriving in a south-westerly current, across 

 the Atlantic ; and it is a remarkable coincidence, that nearly 

 all our lakes bear in the direction of Gabel, so that, if ex- 

 tended onward in a direct line, they would all converge at 

 the base of this noble mountain. 



Immense as is the deposit of rain at Gatesgarth, Grasmere, 

 Wastdale, and other portions of the district, as shewn in a 

 former table, even these enormous quantities sink into com- 

 parative insignificance when compared with the fall at Seath- 

 waite, a small hamlet at the head of the vale of Borrowdale. 

 It exceeds the wettest of the other localities by 27*74 inches, 

 or by one-fourth nearly. Now it is chiefly the deposit in the 

 vale of Borrowdale which supplies the majestic river Derwent, 

 and the extensive and picturesque lakes of Derwent and Bas- 

 senthwaite, so that we might, a priori, have expected to find 

 the greatest amount of rain in this section of the district. 



The great difference in the fall between places closely con- 

 tiguous to each other is very remarkable. The proportion 

 which obtains between Ennerdale Lake and a farm-house 

 about li mile distant, is as two tQ one nearly. Loweswater, 

 Buttermere, and Gatesgarth, are all in the same line of 

 valley, surrounded by the same ridges of mountains, and are 

 each distant about two miles from the other. Buttermere 

 exceeds Loweswater by eighteen inches, or one-fourth ; and 

 Gatesgarth, at the head of the valley, exceeds Buttermere by 

 36*65 inches, or nearly one-half. Here the difference between 

 the head and foot of the valley, in a distance of four or five 

 miles, is 54*588 inches. But the sudden increase in the fall 

 towards the head of the valleys, is appreciable at much more 

 limited distances. At Wastdale Head, I have two gauges of 

 precisely the same size and shape, and within half-a-quarter 



