CONISTON OLD MAN. 219 



establishment of sheds, shops, and offices, clustered 

 at the upper end of a basin among the hills. If 

 the traveller desires to explore the mines, he can 

 descend on that side of the mountain. Meantime, 

 looking" abroad from his perch, he sees (beginning* 

 from Gait's Tarn) Devoke Water, in a line with 

 Gait's Tarn, to the west. It is said that the trout 

 in that lake are the best known ; and tradition 

 declares that the comfortable abbots of Furness 

 imported them from Italy. There is a fine stretch 

 of sea visible, with the Isle of Man, conspicuous 

 in good weather. We need not recapitulate the 

 names of the chief mountains ; suffice that Ingle- 

 borough is visible in one direction, and Lancaster 

 Castle again in another; and in clear weather, 

 Snowdon. The number of Tarns within view is 

 remarkable. We have mentioned Gait's Tarn and 

 Low Water; beyond the latter lies Seathwaite 

 Tarn, whence the infant Duddon issues ; Stickle 

 Tarn is conspicuous, lying under Pavy Ark ; in a 

 hollow of the mountain, on its north-east side, 

 Lowes Water. Only the nearer lakes are seen ; 

 but there is a glorious stretch of sea; and when 

 the estuaries are full, the coast is a beautiful spec- 

 tacle. The shores of Coniston and Windermere, 

 studded with woods and dwellings, are the nearer 

 beauties. 



The finest descent, though the longest, is by the 

 ridge of Wetherlam, above Levers Water, descend- 

 ing into Tilberthwaite, and returning to Coniston 

 through Yewdale, noticed at p. 36. 



Walna Scar should here be mentioned. The 

 traveller has already followed the track as far as 

 the stream from Gait's Tarn. After a mile more 



