;ilian ;©ielti ]JPm&. 6'j 



we leave on our right and soon find the path, and Toadhowe 

 Well bubbling up at our feet. 



The serious part of our journey now begins, and there is 

 very little of interest to relieve the monotony of the climb 

 up the zigzags of Lilian i^Sidb, unless a strong northerly 

 wind happens to be blowing, when the shrieking and howling 

 it makes, as it forces its way through the cleaved rocks at 

 the top of the pass, are, indeed, wonderful to hear, but por- 

 tend a great struggle to the weary pedestrian who has to make 

 his way through this ^ gate of the winds.' The road begins 

 to descend again immediately after reaching the top, and 

 winds in and out among huge rocks and boulders till it 

 reaches j^mall T^S^ater, — one of the most beautiful of West- 

 morland Tarns. But, unfortunately for it, ^lea "^S^attXt 

 — surpassing in grandeur anything in the whole Lake Dis- 

 trict, — is close by, — so we move onwards, leaving the path, 

 and, climbing under the crags on our left-hand, arrive very 

 shortly at the end of t/ie tarn. So steeply. do the huge 

 cliffs rise up from the water's edge that it is scarcely possible 

 to creep round by the western shore ; and when, as is often 

 the case, the clouds rest heavily on High Street, the multi- 

 tude of streams which leap down the crags seem as though 

 they were the overflow of some great lake above. T/ien is 

 the time to climb up the ridge on the north side of the water, 

 and look down on to the basin below, with the mists pour- 

 ing into it from High Street and whirling round and round 

 like the steam issuing from some mighty cauldron, now 

 opening and showing us the blackness of the waters, with a 

 gleam of sunshine reflected from them, and now closing 

 again and hiding all in its impenetrable covering. If we 

 are rash, we climb up to the very top and look down into 

 ^Kageg ""y^Sfater on the other side, and watch the clouds 

 drifting across the hills from Fairfield and Helvellyn, brought 



F 2 



