J. E. Marr — Physiography of Lakeland. 



541 



towards the south-west to its head, at the pass separating it from 

 Long Sleddale. This upper part of the valley is known as Mose- 

 dale. It is a very different valley from that of Swindale proper, 

 being dreary in the extreme, and having its floor largely choked up 

 with peat. The col separating it from Long Sleddale is 1661 feet 

 above sea-level, that which divides it from Wet Sleddale about 

 1540 feet. An inspection of the map suggests at once that Mose- 

 dale may once have formed the upper part of Wet Sleddale (see 

 Fig. 2), of which it is a direct continuation, whilst the course 

 which the stream now takes to reach Swindale proper is decidedly 

 remarkable. 



If we walk up the Mosedale Valley, about as far as Mosedale 

 Cottage, and look back at the col separating this valley from Wet 

 Sleddale (F.C. Fig. 2), a remarkable appearance is seen : the col is 



..'r)s>'_ 



Fig. 2. 



perfectly flat-topped for a considerable distance, like part of an 

 alluvial plain. My colleague, Mr. Barker, remarked to me, when 

 we were in this valley, " that is the most curious watershed I ever 

 saw." As the appearance might have been deceptive, I visited the 

 valley again this year, and made a close examination of this water- 

 shed. Eeaching the summit, it is found to be perfectly level for 

 some scores of yards across. It has a covering of four or five feet 

 of peat, which rests on a clayey mass containing numerous stones. 

 On the Mosedale side this superficial accumulation extends to within 

 about thirty feet of Mosedale Beck, though it may actually fill a 

 narrower channel much nearer to the level of the Beck. On the 

 Wet Sleddale side the ground sinks gradually as a peat-covered 

 slope for about half-a-mile, and the nature of the slope indicates 

 that it is composed of drift beneath the peat. The point where rock 

 first appears below this tract in the Wet Sleddale Valley is at a 

 lower level than that part of Mosedale Beck adjoining the col. 



It seems impossible to avoid the conclusion that the material 

 underlying this flat- topped watershed was deposited by water, 



