Glacier Moraines in Cumberland and Westmorland. 201 



was doubtless an arm of the sea, which would then wash 

 the bases of these granite mountains, from which our 

 boulders have in all likelihood had their origin. This is 

 the part of Eskdale where Dr. Buckland, judging by Fryer's 

 map, supposed moraines to be in existence, but it is quite 

 evident that in the present aspect of the valley none are to 

 be found. 



The panorama of mountains which form the head of 

 Eskdale is by far the finest in the Lake district, comprising 

 as it does the whole of the Scawfell and Bowfell range. 

 The flanks of Bowfell on this side are grooved and planed in 

 a very remarkable degree, and in the whole of the upper 

 part of the valley there are evidences of glacial action at 

 almost every turn ; and seen from above, the whole valley 

 has an iceworn, hummocky aspect. The writer did not find 

 any moraines in the upper parts of the Esk or the Duddon 

 valleys, and in this respect there is a marked difference 

 between the east and west sides of Bowfell ; but the glacial 

 evidences are not less marked. To the eastward the vales 

 of Langdale and Borrowdale lie high, and the ice would 

 soon be checked in its flow, as we now find the evidences in 

 the terminal moraines at the heads of the valleys. To the 

 westward the valleys have a continuously rapid fall for five 

 or six miles, throughout which course they have a hummocky 

 aspect, and below this they are comparatively wide and 

 levelled — so that in all probability the glaciers which 

 formerly existed had their termination in an arm of the sea. 



This is exactly the sort of glacial condition which would 

 best explain the requirements of a drift theory, according to 

 which the travelled boulders found in Lancashire have been 

 carried thither by ice ; and a careful study of the Eskdale 

 valley, after having previously ascertained the existence of 

 moraines at its head, confirms the writer in this view. It is 

 only needful to suppose a state of things to have existed in 

 England analagous to that which now obtains in similar 



