342 
THE NATURAL HISTORY OF LITTONDALE, YORKS. 
THE numerous members of the Yorkshire Naturalists’ Union 
who reached Arncliffe for August Bank Holiday week-end were 
well rewarded for their pains. To some of them the recollection 
of the journey from Grassington, notwithstanding the glorious 
view of the surroundings, whilst the daylight lasted, will be 
anything but pleasant, though these will doubtless remind 
them of methods of crossing the country in pre-railway days. 
Still, even the out-of-the-way headquarters of the meeting had 
many advantages, and although it was a holiday season, the 
visitors were quite comfortable, albeit that an influx of some 
Photo by R. Fortune 
Arncliffe Village. 
forty Yorkshire Naturalists was a serious tax on the sleeping 
accommodation of this small and old-world village. 
But what a glorious district! Could anything be more 
charming to the eye accustomed to crowded thoroughfares and 
smoky chimneys than those far-reaching dales and cloud- 
capped fells. To see them alone was well worth the longest 
journey—to investigate them, to unravel the riddles they held, 
was paradise. One can quite understand this district being the 
retreat of many busy men. Kingsley stayed at Arncliffe—it is 
the Vendale of his ‘Water Babies.’ Part of that well-known 
book was written here. Malham Cove, close by, is the Low- 
thwaite Crag of that same work, and still shows the black mark 
made by Little Tom, the sweep, when he slipped down the Scar! 
Local tradition hath it that there are ghosts and barguests 
in the neighbourhood, and that Old Pam (the devil) pays 
Naturalist, 
