44 RIVERS. 



very small. In some cases none whatever has been found to 

 elude the spongioles of plants, and to pass to even a depth of 

 three feet below the surface. Artificial wells of small depth are 

 then dried ; shallow springs fail, and we learn the value of those 

 perpetual fountains which gush out from below the dry wolds 

 and limestone hills, bearing life and beauty on their course, 

 objects on which rustic love and admiration may tastefully 

 bestow the emblematic flowers and grateful songs*, which con- 

 stituted a pleasing form of popular worship in the earlier ages 

 of the world. 



The function of water while passing underground is essen- 

 tially to waste the solid substances among which it is filtered in 

 capillary streams to dissolve lime, silica, and other elements 

 to excavate caverns to make subterranean river-channels, and 

 thus to bring to the surface a large amount of mineral matter. 

 Much of this matter is deposited near the spring-head in tufa, 

 and a new life is imparted to the current. It acquires mechanical 

 force, transports clay, sand and pebbles, and wears away even 

 the marble which is so abundant in our north-western dales. 

 But again there is a change, the inclination of the surface dimi- 

 nishes, the river approaches the sea, and deposits in the low 

 ground near its mouth, the spoils it had won in conflict with the 

 mountains which gave it birth. 



There are no experiments on record made in this district from 

 which we can infer how much of the rain is carried up again in- 

 visibly by ordinary evaporation, how much transpires through the 

 leaves of plants, how much descends into the earth to be poured 

 out again in springs and drains. Nor am I aware of any pub- 

 lished experiments to show how much water is discharged in a 

 year by the rivers, or indeed by any one river. As some ap- 

 proximation to these results, I have gauged, with the assistance 



* The beautiful ceremony of the ' Well-flowering ' of Tissington, near 

 Ashbourn, Derbyshire, which takes place annually on Ascension Day (Holy 

 Thursday), is here alluded to ; a ceremony, in which, to some extent, the 

 Psalms of the Church of England are employed. 



