100 A GEOLOGICAL RAMBLE TO INGLEBOnOCGH. 



thrown down 2,000 feet hy the Pennine Fault, and abuts ap;ainst an 

 almost perpendicular wall of limestone rock. It is very probable that, 

 before these dislocations took place, the whole of the country between 

 these coal-fields was occupied by coal-strata; or in other words that these 

 two coal-fields are but the remains of a great coal-field which stretched 

 right across the country from Ingleton to Hartley -burn. If this be a fact, 

 what has become of all that vast quantity of strata amounting to nearly a 

 thousand feet in thickness which once covered Whernside, Ingleborough 

 and Pennygant ? And wlien we add also, the vast quantity of strata 

 Avhich have undoubtedly been scooped out of these deep valleys, even the 

 geologist, accustomed as lie is to such speculations, stands amazed at the 

 enormous period which it must liave taken to accomplish such a mighty 

 task ; and we see indeed what a powerful agent denudation has been in 

 the economy of the world.* 



We left the summit aboixt six o'clock, and descended to a limestone 

 ridge a short distance below, which yielded us a number of Terebratulae 

 and other fossil shells. About a mile lower down, the limestone rock 

 forms a raised terrace, of great thickness ; here we set to work with 

 hammers and chisels and soon reaped a rich harvest of marine shells be- 

 longing to the genera Producta, Spirifera Terebratulae, Inoceramust 

 and other characteristic limestone fossils. Almost every blow of the 

 hammer brought out a Spirifer, or a Productus. Some pieces of rock 

 were composed almost entirely of shells and fragments of shells. After 

 filling our bags and every available pocket, we set out for Ingleton, and 

 arrived at the Bay Horse Inn, about ten o'clock. 



J. S. 



• For a fuller description of the gcol'gy and scenery of this district, I must refer 

 the reader to Professor I'hillips's great work on the Geology of Yorkshire, and to hi.s 

 smaller work on the I^ivers and .Mountaius of Yorkshire to which we are indebted tor 

 many of the fdcts in the last paragraph. 



(to be continued.) 



