334 Miss E. E-odgson — The Granite-drift of Furness. 



5th.. A few light grey, or whitish brown sandstones. Of the granites, 

 the white or Skiddaw kind (" grey" of Mr. Dickinson) appears to 

 prevail. There is also a very dark iron-grey variety, with a good 

 deal of black and grey mica, brown quartz, and brown felspar. A 

 third probably represents that alluded to by Mr. Dickinson, Of this I 

 have only one specimen : a sub-angular and glaciated one, 2^ inches 

 in its longest diameter. The fractured faces of the stone are ex- 

 tremely beautiful, bearing a resemblance to the Aberdeen granite, 

 but perhaps more equal in the proportions of its minerals ; the felspar 

 is flesh-colour to brownish red, the quartz milk-white, and the mica 

 grey to black. The colour of the granite is derived from the felspar. 



To geologists who distinguish glacier-moraines from sea-arranged 

 deposits, the foregoing two descriptions must tell a plain tale : 

 indeed, guided by those excellent aids, the contoured ordnance maps, 

 I had already suggested^ to another obliging investigator (Mr. J. 

 Eccleston, of Carlisle), both the elevation and line of western sweep, 

 upon which such remnants of north Cumberland glaciers might pos- 

 sibly be seen, and it was gratifying to find those surmises apparently 

 confirmed by the independent and prior researches of Mr, Dickinson. 



Mr. Eccleston commenced by examining the channels of the 

 Caldew and the Petterill, and the ground to the east of both ; but 

 as the Skiddaw and neighbouring granite region must be the main 

 source of supply, I propose to make the former river the eastern 

 limit of inquiry, only stating that there is a good deal of granite in 

 the line of the Petterill. 



The Caldew rises near the summit of Skiddaw, and after a 

 tortuous course northward of about 30 miles, falls into the Eden 

 at Carlisle. Now it can by no means be afiirmed that this stream, 

 notorious as it is for its furious floods, could carry a piece of 

 granite from Skiddaw to Carlisle ; and that the same piece could 

 move on down the Eden and Solway, and ultimately arrive at 

 Morecambe Bay, or the west shore of the Isle of Walney. Granite 

 is sometimes sparingly found at Carlisle, but it is believed to be for 

 the most part destroyed before reaching that city. To test the wear- 

 ing force of the water, experiments have been made of anchoring in 

 it squared blocks from marble works, when in two months their 

 shape would be reduced to an oval, every angle effectually taken off. 

 Even higher up about Dalston, where granite is less scarce, it is 

 matter for doubt whether it has travelled far, and not rather been 

 washed out of the thick deposits at the sides. A considerable quan- 

 tity of the Brandy-gill granite'^ (Carrock) is found at the above 

 distance from the mountains, which cannot be less than 18 miles, 

 with a fall of about 1,000 feet. From the nature of this specimen, 

 with its abundant flakes of mica, and its general softness, being fully 

 as easy to break as loaf sugar, it seems much safer to assume that 

 an unusual number of fragments might be detached at any point on 

 the river from some disengaged boulder lately brought under its 

 influence. 



1 October 18, 1869, 



2 Identified as such by Mr. B. M. "Wright, Great Eussell Street. 



