70 



diameter up to stones weighing several tons. Some of the largest 

 in the different kinds of deposits may here be mentioned. In the 

 boulder clays stones three feet in diameter are frequently met with, 

 and occasionally they may be seen as large as six feet. In the 

 Middle Sands and Gravels they are generally smaller, although a 

 few of the size just named may be met with. In the sand and 

 gravel mounds, as well as in the moraines, there are also some large 

 boulders. In the section shown in Fig. 9, boulders three and four 

 feet in'^diameter are common ; and some are nearly twice that 

 size. In the section represented by Fig. 8, boulders three feet in 

 diameter have been seen. The moraines at the head of valleys' 

 and on ridges between valleys, also enclose some large stones, 

 plenty of them^being two feet or three feet in diameter. 



In all the deposits noticed, there seems to be no absolute 

 arrangement of the stones, except in some of the more bedded 

 sands and gravels, in which the larger axis of the stones is roughly 

 in the line of bedding ; but in most other cases the stones lie in 

 all directions. Sometimes flag-like pieces of stone may be seen 

 standing on end in both the Upper- and the Lower Boulder Clay. 



The character of the matrix of the boulder clay is variable, but 

 it may be stated as a rule that the lower clay is much more 

 argillaceous than the upper one, and it is much stiffer or tougher. 

 Over sandstone rocks the matrix is usually very sandy. 



The colour of the upper clay is generally a yellowish grey, but 

 that of the lower clay varies, partaking in a great measure of the 

 colour of the underlying rocks. When they are red, the matrix of 

 the over-lying boulder clay is also red. When the subjacent rocks 

 incline to blue or black, like the Coal Measures, then the clay is 

 bluish grey. On the Whitehaven Sandstone, which is reddish 

 grey, the sandy matrix of the Boulder Clay has the same colour as 

 the underlying rock. 



This correspondence in the colour of the lower clay and the 

 rocks below it does not, however, prevail everywhere. It some- 

 times happens that the colour of this clay is not influenced at all 

 by the colour of the underlying rock, but has the colour of some 

 adjacent rock which, so far as I have observed, always lies to the 



