Manchester Memoirs, Vol. xlviii. (1904), No. %\. 3 



eventually collect in the valleys and form the ' stone-rivers ' 

 such as we find them to-day. My view is, that the stones 

 forming a ' stone-river ' had found approximately their 

 present position ages before the peat was formed. Owing 

 to changes in the climate, vegetation spread over the land, 

 and the ' stone-rivers ' were perhaps quite covered. Now, 

 owing to a fresh change in the climate, a rapid denudation 

 is setting in ; and, speaking geologically, at no very distant 

 date the whole archipelago will be nothing more or less than 

 a barren heap of rocks and sand. On digging into the peaty 

 soil at the foot of every ' stone-run,' rocks identical both 

 in form and structure to those already exposed can be 

 uncovered, while openings in the soil varying both in size 

 and depth can be detected. On probing some of these 

 holes with a stick, a stream of water can frequently be 

 touched ; this water having percolated through the rocks 

 from the ground above. The ground, for some little 

 distance beyond the termination of every ' stone-run ' 

 is always dangerous to a horseman, owing to the 

 presence of holes of various sizes caused by the soil 

 having been removed by the underground stream of water. 

 After a heavy rainfall the hillsides simply stream with 

 water, and the many rivulets carry down in suspen- 

 sion vast quantities of soil into the numerous creeks and 

 harbours round the islands. Vessels moored in Stanley 

 harbour always experience great difficulty in weighing 

 their anchors after a stay of any length of time, owing to 

 the depth they have sunk in the mud. Recent investiga- 

 tions have shewn that upwards of seventeen feet of mud 

 had to be passed through in the middle of Stanley 

 harbour before bed-rock could be touched. This deposit 

 all came from the surrounding land, having been brought 

 thither either by peat-slips, several of which have happened 

 within living memory, or washed down by the rains. 



