« Excurgion. 249 



the meadow between the two lakes, by its small patches of pas- 

 ture and wooded knolls ; and a pretty walk it is. A short 

 row brings the stranger to the mouth of the stream from the 

 force ; and he has then to walk a mile among stones, and 

 over grass, and past an old fold. The chasm between 

 two walls of rock, feathered with bright waving shrubs, 

 affords a fall of one hundred and sixty feet, — high enough 

 to convert the waters into spray before they reach the ground. 

 It is one of the loftiest waterfalls in the country ; and some 

 think it the most elegant. There is a point of view not far 

 off which the traveller should visit. His boat will take him 

 to a little promontory below Mellbreak, called Ling Crag. 

 When two hundred yards or rather more above this, he will 

 see the two lakes and their guardian-mountains to the 

 greatest advantage. 



K If our traveller has taken a place on one of the public 

 waggonettes, his way home will be by ^uttermere ^auge 

 and the Vale of Newlands. The ascent commences at once 

 ^^ and continues for a mile and a-half, when an elevation of 1096 

 feet is reached. A turn to the left now discloses a new land- 

 scape, — the ^Eietrrlantis "^Falleg, formed by the rapid slope 

 of mountains that are bare of trees, boggy in parts, and else- 

 where showing marks of wintry slides, wholly unlike any- 

 thing else in the district. Its silence, excepting for the 

 bleating of sheep, in ancient folds, down in the hollow ; the 

 length and steepness of the descent, and the gloom of the 

 mountain — Robinson — with its tumbling white cataract, 

 render this truly ^ a solemn pastoral scene.' In a mile, or so, 



16 i^esftatiale is passed, after which the views over the rich 

 plain, and glimpses into fertile valleys are charming. At 



is]4 Stair there is evidence of the employment of the inhabitants 

 in woollen manufacture, — an ancient staple of the district, 



