61 



a mile apart, (Seathvvaite and Stonethwaite), while the deposit at 

 Ennerdale lake, and a farm-house three miles westward, is as two to one 

 nearly." 



The same law is observable in the valleys of Derwentwater and 

 Bassenthwaite. At the foot of Bassenthwaite, Mr. Hoskins registered in 

 1871, thirty-six inches; at the head of the lake, at Mirehouse, Mrs. 

 Spedding had forty inches ; at the Post-office, Keswick, I measured 

 forty-six inches ; at Barrow House, Mr. Langton, fifty-nine inches ; and 

 at Seathwaite, the head of Borrowdale, one hundred and fifteen inches 

 were measured. This shows that the fall was nearly double at Seathwaite 

 to that at Barrow, although only four miles distant, the difference being 

 fifty-six inches, and nearly three times the quantity which fell at Keswick. 



This was in a year below the average. 



The contrast between the years 187 1 and 1872 is very striking, as 

 will be seen by the following instances of places in this immediate 

 neighbourhood, viz : — 



182-05 72'3o. 



I have before alluded to the general notion that Keswick is the 

 rainiest place in Britain, and some affirm in the Lake district also. 

 This, however, is contrary to the fact, but the close proximity of the 

 metropolis of the lakes to Borrowdale, may have tended to fix this 

 popular error. Mr. G. J. Symon's excellent annual book, entitled 

 "British Rain-fall," shows that in 1S71 Grasmere had twenty-six inches 

 more than Keswick ; that Ambleside had twenty -five ; Lesketh Howe, 

 26; Kirkstone Pass, 52; Haweswater, 37; Patterdale, 32; Windermere, 

 14; and Bowness 13 inches more than we had. 



But, lest it should be thought that a single year is hardly a fair 



