426 report— 1879. 



moorland and deep valleys, through which the Don makes its way until it reaches 

 Penistone, when it takes a sharp turn to the south, and flows along the eastern 

 skirts of the hills, receiving several tributaries. First, the Little Don rises on 

 Langsett and Harden Moors, and falls into the parent stream at Deep Car. Next 

 comes the Ewden Beck flowing down a moorland dell, and joining the Don 

 opposite to the woods of Wliarncliffe. The Locksley rises in a desolate and 

 mountainous waste on the borders of Derbyshire, and is at first a torrent — the 

 Dale Dyke, dashing over a rocky bed amidst beautiful and romantic scenery, so 

 well described by Mr. Davis : ' Lower down there are scattered hamlets, sylvan 

 nooks of rare loveliness, villages nestled under the shelter of the hills, shaded by 

 overhanging woods. At the village of Locksley the scenery becomes very beautiful. 

 The river runs through a narrow gorge, with precipitous crags on either side, and, 

 at Malin Bridge it opens on a plain where the Locksley and Rivelin unite, and falls 

 into the Don.' Lastly, the Sheaf and Porter brooks, flowing through vales 

 which were once very beautiful, unite in this town of Sheffield, and also send their 

 waters to swell the Don. Ebenezer Elliott, the poet of this district, had the true 

 spirit of a geographer when, with a light but accurate touch, he swiftly strikes 

 note after note of his homely lyre, at each touch calling up a clear memory in the 

 mind of his fellow-townsmen : — 



Say, shall we wander where, through warriors' graves, 



The infant Yew den, mountain cradled, trills 



Her Doric notes ? Or where the Locksley raves 



Of broil and battle, and the rocks and caves 



Dream yet of ancient days ? Or where the sky 



Darkens o'er Rivelin, the clear and cold, 



That throws his blue length, like a snake, from high ? 



Or where deep azure brightens into gold, 



O'er Sheaf, that mourns in Eden ? Or where, roll'd 



On tawny sands, through regions passion wild 



And groves of love, in jealous beauty dark, 



Complains the Porter, Nature's thwarted child, 



Born in the waste, like headlong Wyming. 



These tributaries drain the wild moorlands, while the river which receives 

 them flows from north to south, from Penistone to Sheffield, down a deep glen 

 along the foot of the western hills, and confined on the east by the steep forest- 

 clad escarpment of Wharnclifie, with a background of higher fells. 



At Sheffield the Don entirely alters its course, turning to the north-east, and 

 flowing through a country diversified by high hills and deep valleys, but still far 

 less rugged and lofty than the western hills, which are drained by the torrent-like 

 affluents. Here the Don receives the Rother from the south ; and some miles fur- 

 ther on, the Deame, with a course entirely within this lower and less rugged 

 country, enters from the northern side. 



Readers of ' Ivanhoe ' will remember that this is ' the pleasant district of merry 

 England, watered by the river Don, where extended in ancient times a large forest, 

 covering the greater part of the beautiful hills and valleys which lie between Sheffield 

 and the pleasant town of Doncaster.' At Locksley, in the mountain glen above 

 Sheffield, was the birthplace of bold Robin Hood, all this region was the sceno of 

 his exploits, and away to the east, in the same river-basin of the Don, is Robin 

 Hood's well, and Barnesdale— scene of the encounter described in the ballad of 

 ' Guy of Gisborne.' As the Don, in this part of its course, approaches the old 

 castle of Conisborough, it enters upon a fertile stretch of meadow land. Sir Wal- 

 ter Scott, in ' Ivanhoe,' says that ' there are few more beautiful or striking scenes 

 in England than are presented by the vicinity of this ancient fortress ; where the 

 soft and gentle river Don sweeps through an amphitheatre in which cultivation is 

 richly blended with woodland.' 



After leaving Conisborough a change takes place in the scenery. There is a 

 plateau, some four or five miles in width, and extending north and south across 

 the river-basin, terminating on the west with a clearly defined escarpment. 



