Mi^ 'MtB.ti. 327 



BY GREAT GABLE AND STY HEAD PASS TO LANG- 



DALE. 



(14 miles.) 



This is an important and most interesting walk from 

 Buttermere; indeed no finer work can be found in the 

 district. It is commenced precisely the same as the last 

 excursion, as explained at pages 303 — 5, that is, by Scarth 

 Gap, the river Liza, Windy Gap between the two Gables, top 

 of Great Gable, and down to Mi^ 'J^tati JE^arn. 



This j^tg ^K^9^^ is the den or home of the wild boars of 

 former times, where the swine were wont to feed in summer, 

 and to haunt the woody part of Wastdale Forest, and the 

 long valley of Borrowdale, (more properly Boredale) in the 

 autumn, where they fed upon the nuts and acorns. But the 

 traveller will find no swine near Sty Head now, summer or 

 winter. No creature comes to drink at the tarn, — the little 

 clear rippling lake, where the mountaineer throws himself 

 down to rest on the bank, when heated by the ascent from 

 the vales. He has found everything sunny and dry, per- 

 haps ; but here he sees, by the minute diamond drops rest- 

 ing thick on the grass, that a cloud has lately stooped from 

 its course, and refreshed the verdure in this retreat. It looks 

 very tempting, — this bright sheet of water ; but no creature 

 now comes to drink, unless a sheep may have strayed from 

 the flock, and in its terror may yet venture to stoop to water, 

 with many a start and interval of listening, till, at the faint 

 sound of the distant sheep-dog, it bounds away. The soli- 

 tude is equally impressive, whether the traveller comes up 

 from one dale or the other ; but perhaps the most striking to 

 him who comes from Wastdale, because he has rather more 



