102 JOURNAL AND PROCEEDINGS 



distance. Some points of scenic beaut}', liowever, and landscapes 

 of surpassing loveliness that came under observation, we regret our 

 inabilit)' to obtain an illustration of. We will, therefore, endeavor 

 to substitute a few word pictures of same. 



The vale of Pickering in Yorkshire has many notable ex- 

 amples of charming rural scenery, but a walk of a mile or two np 

 the Ellerburn Valley from the village of Thornton Dale struck us 

 as being just ahead of, and considerably more romantic looking 

 than any spot we had yet had the good fortune to behold. Imagine 

 a cool, quiet, shady walk on first of July, on a smooth grass-fringed 

 road overhung with trees, along the western hillside of this glen- 

 like vale, the sun shining brightly in the west lighting up the re- 

 cesses of the valley lying far beneath us on the right. The oppos- 

 ing hills still further to the right, rising, we should judge, to the 

 height of 500 to 700 feet, while a stream of water like a silver cord 

 threaded its way until it was lost among the blue hills in the 

 distance to the north-east, whose bases were seen to inter'ock each 

 other at apparently different angles and elevations. In the fore- 

 ground of this picture at the foot of the "everlasting" hills 

 nestled the little village of Ellerburn — with its square towered 

 parish church, its few unpretentious country homes, and here and 

 there occasional farm houses surrounded by fields of ripening grain, 

 fields of vegetables, or pasture lands with cattle grazing, every 

 field hemmed in by the ever present living hedge or a stone wall, 

 and many presenting a varied tint or shade of coloring helped to 

 form a combination producing one of the most enchanting 

 panoramas seen in a lifetime. 



From Thornton Dale, near Pickering", we made the return trip 

 to Scarborough, 15 miles, on foot, having our railway paid ticket 

 in our pocket, our object being solely to obtain a closer and more 

 intimate accpiaintance with the country and villages than could be 

 had from a railway carriage window, and we considered ourselves 

 well compensated for the sacrifice as everj^ turn in the road opened 

 up a new and, to us, attractive feature of the landscape. In our 

 railwaj' journeys we had noticed many fields of grain with large 

 areas or patches in the surface, blood red in color, and wondering 



