YOEKSHIEE. 255 



prophetess of the sixteenth century, was born, and extensive limestone quarries. 

 Ribston is a small village below Knaresborough, where Ribston pippins were 

 first grown. Harrogate, the famous watering-place, occupies a lofty position above 

 the Ure. The first spring was discovered in 1596, and there are now known about 

 twenty-five, both sulphureous and chalybeate. 



The Wharfe rises in Langshothdale, and takes its winding course through a 

 dale renowned for its scenic charms. It flows past the ruins of Bolton Abbey and 

 the huge hydropathic establishments which have made Illdey a second Malvern, 

 until it reaches Otleij, a small manufacturing town, which is the capital of "Wharfe- 

 dale. At Wetherbij the "VVharfe emerges upon the plain of York, and flowing past 

 Tadcaster, it joins the Ouse a short distance above Cawood. 



The Aire takes its rise at the foot of the scars of Gordale and in the pretty 

 Malham Tarn (1,246 feet above the sea). It flows near Skipton, the capital of the 

 Craven district, close by which is the castle of the Cliffords, Cotton-spinning and 

 quarrying occupy many of the inhabitants. At Skipton the Aire leaves behind it 

 the rugged limestone region, and enters upon more monotonous moorlands, the 

 towns amongst which will be described further on. 



A portion of Yorkshire lies beyond the Pennine chain, and is drained by the 

 river Ribble and by the Hawthey, a tributary of the Lune. Sedhergh, the principal 

 town on the latter, is a secluded place in the midst of steep fells. Its grammar 

 school, however, enjoys some reputation, and amongst its scholars was Sedgwick, 

 the geologist, a native of the village of Dent, a few miles to the south-east, famous 

 for its black marble. 



The Ribble rises in the fells to the north of the Ingleborough, and flows 

 through a charming country past the small town of Settle, dependent upon agri- 

 culture and cotton-spinning, into Lancashire. 



We now enter the south-western moorlands, so abundantly supplied with coal 

 and iron, and traversed in all directions by running streams, which furnish the 

 motive power needed by its innumerable factories. The towns are crowded together 

 in this region, and in some localities have almost blotted out green fields. The oppo- 

 site diagram will enable us to obtain some notion of their distribution. Broadly 

 speaking, the valleys of the Aire and Calder are the seats of the woollen and 

 worsted trades, with a great deal of cotton-spinning towards the west ; the Upper 

 Don is the centre of the iron industry, and its tributary Dearne that of the linen 

 trade. 



The Aire and Calder, which traverse the northern portion of this industrial 

 region, have vastly changed their character since the Middle Ages. Their water was 

 famous then for its crystalline purity, and a Yorkshire poet cried out, " "NVhy should 

 not the maidens of Castleford be beautiful ? do they not lave themselves in the 

 mingled waters of the Aire and Calder ? " These rivers, in our own day, are hardly 

 better than open sewers, for they receive the refuse of innumerable factories. 



The Calder, when it first enters this district, flows past the town of Keigldey, 

 engaged in the manufacture of worsted and in cotton- spinning, and known for its 



