6 GEOLOGICAL SITUATION, 



the eastern and Cleveland Moor lands, inhabited 

 principally by the reel grouse, and a small species 

 of sheep known by (he name of Moor Sheep. The 

 under stratum of this Valley, as observed by Pro- 

 fessor Buckland, is composed ofstratified blue clay, 

 which is identical with that which at Oxford and 

 Weymouth reposes on similar lime stone to that of 

 Kirkdale, and containing subordinately beds of in- 

 flammable bituminous shale, like that of Kirneridgo 

 in Dorsetshire. 



On the south of the Vale you perceive 

 the Ho\vardian Hills, gradually sloping into 

 the plain, and showing by their vigorous and 

 diversified foliage the richness of their soil, and the 

 abundance of their produce. Pdrsuing them towards 

 the east, your view is directed to the escarpment of 

 the chalk which terminates the Wolds towards Scar- 

 borough ; and on the North, the Vale is bounded 

 by a range of limestone reaching eastward upwards 

 of 50 miles, from the FJ amble ton Hills near llclm- 

 sley, to the Sea at Scarborough. The breadth of 

 the vale is various, in some places it is 4 or 5 miles 

 across, in others G, and in others 7 or 8. The belt 

 of limestone which skirts the North ofit, is intersec- 

 ted by parallel valleys, called Dales, through which 

 rivers run from the Moor lands, and disburden 

 themselves into the Dei-went. These rivers are, 

 the Rye, the Rical, the Hodge-beck, the Dove, the 

 Seven-beck, and the Co?ta. 



The only way by which these rivers can make 

 their escape from the vale of Pickering, is by a deep 

 gorge extending nearly from the town of Malton to 



