138 ENTRANCE OF ESKDALE. 



Did our time permit, we would go to the 

 castle, for from it is a view of surpassing 

 beauty, Eskdale in its whole length, from the 

 sea to its limitary mountains. 



AMICUS. Fortunately, the sun is shining 

 out, blue sky is appearing, and the higher 

 hills in the distance are showing themselves 

 above the clouds. As we advance, how wilder 

 and wilder it becomes, and with how many 

 touches of beauty, the river acquiring the 

 character of the mountain stream, gushing 

 amongst rocks from pool to pool, the skirting 

 hills pine-crowned, and the bosky hollows with 

 all their variety of underwood. Even the few 

 farm-houses we pass seem to denote transition 

 in their aspect to a ruder and more primitive 

 condition, such as, perhaps, might be ex- 

 pected in going from a frequented to a more 

 secluded region. 



PISCATOR. The rock formation here is of a 

 bolder kind than any we have yet seen, and the 

 hills are nobler in their forms. The prevailing 

 rock is granite, accounting for these forms ; and 

 the qualities of soil it yields on disintegration 

 may equally account for the luxuriancy of the 

 wild vegetation which we witness, and the fine 



