186 kepokt— 1878. 



by means of the large crystals of pink orthoclase felspar which the rock 

 contains ; and, secondly, the distribution of these boulders near Kendal 

 would seem to show that they must have travelled over the high ground 

 south of the granite area, and not followed the course of the present drain- 

 age ; for I have traced these boulders, north of Kendal, directly towards 

 this area on the one hand, while on the other hand I have not noticed 

 them in the depression extending from Kendal to the river Lune, along 

 which the London and North -Western Railway runs, east of Docker Garth j 

 but as I have not minutely examined this part of the country, I cannot 

 say which is the precise eastern limit of the boulders. It seems, then, that 

 the Shap granite boulders came nearly due south from Shap Fells, across 

 the high ground over which the old coach road goes from Kendal to 

 Shap. The highest point where the granite occurs in place, viz., Sleddale 

 Pike, 1659 feet above the sea, is higher than the greater part of this 

 ground ; but the greater part of the granite area is lower than the ground 

 across which the boulders travelled in their southerly course ; nor is there 

 immediately to the north of the granite any ground as high as the granitic 

 fell itself. The greater part of this fell, sloping northward, drains into 

 Wet Sleddale, whose waters, forming the river Lowther, flow north, and, 

 joining the Eden, go out to sea by the Solway ; the remaining small por- 

 tion, including the site of the quarries, facing southward, overlooks Wast- 

 dale Beck. This beck flows N.E. along the strike of the rocks to Shap 

 Wells, where its waters turn sharp at more than a right angle, and thence 

 flow S.S.E., and join the Lune at Tebay. On the south side of Wastdale 

 rise the Upper Silurian falls to the heights of 1691, 1589, 1494, 1588, 

 1544, 1523 feet above the sea ; the lowest part of the range being the 

 Hause, over which the coach road goes. The height of this point is not 

 given on the Ordnance one-inch map ; but it is between 1300 and 1500 

 feet above the sea, and is probably over 1400. Across this high ground 

 the Shap granite boulders travelled south from their parent rock, which 

 attains an extreme height of 1659 feet at its most westerly outcrop, and 

 a height of 1478 on its steep southward face ; while north of these points 

 the granitic area falls gently away northward, the centre of the area being 

 about 1373 feet above the sea. 



The general due south course of the boulders is further shown by an 

 examination of their distribution south of Kendal. It is not to be expected 

 that very many boulders should now remain scattered over the surface of 

 the rich and highly cultivated land near Kendal ; they have mostly been 

 long since cleared off the surface of the pasture and meadow land, and are 

 now to be found built into the walls, where, however, they are good evi- 

 dence of their existence in the country, because boulders are not carted 

 a long distance for walling in a country that has plenty of such material 

 at hand; but there are some large boulders still remaining unmoved, from 

 the place where they were once dropped by the ice, and in ploughed 

 lands others are from time to time turned up and placed among heaps of 

 stones for road metal. 



I have traced these boulders as far south as Milnthrop ; they occupy a 

 narrow band of country, whose long axis points directly for the granite 

 of Shap Fells. I have not seen any west of the river Kent. The most 

 westerly I have seen are some near Hincaster, still lying undisturbed in a 

 lane. A line drawn from Sleddale Pike, the most westerly outcrop of 

 granite on Shap Fells, to these boulders bears south by west. The most 

 easterly that I have noted in this neighbourhood is a large one in a field 



