rOOTPEINTS OF VANISHED RACES IN CORNWALL. 269 



transjioi'tation of tlie large boulders in the Head, the patches of 

 isolated gravel, and the rounded outlines of our long and low 

 ridges, have all been looked upon as indications that, during the 

 Glacial Period, large masses of moving ice passed over many- 

 portions of Cornwall.^*' I cannot, however, hold this opinion, as 

 the evidence seems insufficient to establish it. The absence of all 

 undoubted glacial indications, such as boulder-clay, glacial smooth- 

 ings and strise, and genuine morainic deposits, all combine to 

 cast a heavy weight into the scale against the giaciation of 

 Cornwall. It is interesting to note that M. J. A. De Luc, in his 

 account of his travels in Cornwall in 1806, states that the Cornish 

 hills were, in his time, in many places, covered with great blocks 

 of quartz, which were fast being removed by the spread of 

 cultivation.^^ If this were the case a century ago, how much 

 more numerous must have been the quartz-boulders in Cornwall 

 in earlier ages ? Quartz blocks are still found on our commons, 

 the largest that I have seen^^ being more than 6 feet long, by 4 

 feet broad, and 2 feet thick. The roimded forms of our hills do 

 not suggest ice action to me, but rather denudation by water, 

 acting either by an atmospheric, marine, or diluvial agency; and, 

 with reference to the outlines of our Cornish scenery, I do not 

 hesitate to place myself on the side of the " champions of water," 

 as opposed to the " champions of ice."^^ 



Nevertheless, the chill of the great winter certainly made 

 itseK felt in Cornwall, by making our climate much colder. Proof 

 of this may be found in the granite boulder on the shores of 

 Barnstaple bay," which was clearly carried thither by ice, and by 



10. For further notices of glacial action in Cornwall, see the following papers, 

 by Mr. N. Whitley : — " Evidence of Glacial action in Cornwall and Devon," Trans. 

 Royal Geol Soc. of Cor., vol. X, pp. 132 143. Also " Glacial deposits in Cornwall," 

 'J'rans. Roy. Geol. Soc. of Cornwall, vol. IX, p. 109 (1875). Also, " The Raised Beaches 

 in Falmouth Bay and on Plymouth Hoe," Jour, of the Roy. Institution of Cornwall, 

 vol. IX (1888-1889). pp. 415—424. 



11. Geological Travels, vol. iii, pp. 298, 304, 305, 363, 366. 



12. This was near Grampound. Many of the finest blocks of quartz on the 

 commons near Ealdhu have been lately removed to beautify the Victoria Park at 

 Truro. Others are now used as gateposts in the parish. 



13. I borrow these phrases from Sir Henry Howorth's able work— 7',%e Glacial 

 Nightmare and the Flood, in which the views of extreme glacialists are ably contro- 

 verted. 



14. Transactions of the Devonshire Association, vol. vi, 1873 (Paper by Mr. W. 

 Pengelley on this boulder;, pp. 211 — 223. 



