Glaciers in (he North of England. 205 



of the valley descending from Helvellyn, by Rydal and Ambleside to 

 Windermere, he states, are also identical with those -which come beneath 

 the glaciers of Switzerland. The remarkable Criffel granite boulders, 

 between Carlisle and Cockermouth, Dr B. is of opinion, were transported 

 across the Solway on ice. The author then proceeds to describe the 

 phenomena of the distribution of the well-known Shap granite boulders, 

 in the valleys which lead down from the Fell, northwards towards Shap 

 and Penrith, and southwards towards Kendal and Morecombe Bay ; and 

 on the high table-land of Stainmore Forest to the east, as well as in the 

 same direction, in the valley of the Tees, from Lartington and Barnard 

 Castle to Darlington. It is impossible, Dr Buckland observes, to explain 

 satisfactorily the dispersion of these boulders northwards, southwards, 

 and easterly, by a great diluvial current, and still more so their transport 

 from the valley of the Eden, over the lofty summits of Stainmore Forest, 

 into the valley of the Tees. The glacier theory, he states, offers, on the 

 contrary, a solution of the difficulties. A glacier descending to the north 

 from Shap Fell would convey the blocks to the village of Shap, and dis- 

 tribute them throughout the intervening space ; another glacier ranging 

 to the south would deposit the boulders on the hills and in the valleys 

 descending by Highborrow bridge to Kendal ; whilst a third great glacier, 

 proceeding eastwards betwixt Crosby, Eavensworth, and Orton, would 

 traverse transversely the upper part of the valley of the Eden, near 

 Brough, and accumulate piles of ice against the opposite escarpment, un- 

 til they overtopped its lowest depression in Stainmore Forest, and dis- 

 gorged their moraines into the valleys of the Greta and the Tees. Of the 

 existence of this glacier there are abundant proofs in large mud moraines, 

 loaded with blocks of granite in the upper portions, over which the road 

 passes in the ascent to the gorge between Shap Fell, andBirbeck Fell, and 

 the rocks on both sides of this gorge are perceived in an east and west 

 direction, striated and mammillated, especially the granite on the northern 

 side. Dr Buckland also shews that there are other conditions in the 

 physical structure of the district to facilitate the accumulation of glaciers, 

 as the pressure of lateral mountains more lofty than those immediately 

 contiguous to the longitudnal valley into which the glacier is supposed 

 to have descended ; and he concludes by referring to the results at which 

 Professor Agassiz arrived during an independent examination of the Shap 

 Fell district, and which results completely accord with those given by 

 Dr Buckland in this paper. 



