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slate rock, as first pointed out by that self-taught and sound 

 geologist, the late venerable Jonathan Otley, of Keswick. 

 These vary considerably in form, character, and aspect, but 

 agree, as their name indicates, in possessing more or less 

 perfectly, the property of cleavage, or of being split into 

 slate or flags. This attribute, however, is in many parts, 

 either lost entirely, or greatly impaired by the influence of 

 Plutonic eruptions, which have forced their way into and 

 through the slaty strata so as greatly to modify, not only 

 their disposition and arrrangements, but also their specific 

 structure. 



The oldest of these slate-rock formations is that called 

 Skiddaw Slate, which covers a tract of country extending 

 from the vicinity of Egremont eastward to that of Grey stoke, 

 and from Keswick northward to Isell and Bewaldeth. It 

 contains the Lakes Bassenthwaite, Crummock, and Lowes- 

 water, and forms the mountains of Saddleback and Skiddaw, 

 and that beautiful range which rises between the vales of the 

 Derwent and Cocker, including Grasmoor, Whiteside, and 

 Grisedale Pike. The aspect of the country it forms, though 

 not so rugged as that of the next group of slate rock, 

 sufficiently indicates that this formation has been subjected 

 to the action of some enormous elevating and deranging 

 powers, and, though of vast thickness, the underlying granite 

 has been forced through it in a state of fusion, and appears 

 at a spot to the eastward of Skiddaw, while another igneous 

 rock, the Syenite, has been pushed upwards in such masses 

 as to form the whole bulk of Carrock Fell and of High Pike. 

 The slate rock is darker in colour and less cleavable than 

 the more recent formations, and varies considerably in 

 character and appearance in different situations, especially, 

 as mentioned before, where it approaches the igneous rock 

 by which it has been penetrated, when it is said to become 



