REPORT OF MEETINGS FOR 1904 119 



sod" of a desolate, wind-swept waste with its sweet, white 

 blossom and ripening fruit. 



From the marshy crown of the Fell, the home of reynard, 

 the party were led down its Northern slopes 

 Kielder in the direction of the Kielder Stone, situated 



Stone. at the head of the Scaup burn, a tributary 



of the Kielder water, and famous in Border 

 minstrelsy as the scene of the " Cowt of Kielder's" crossing 

 of the Border on his ill-fated raid near the Castle of Lord 

 Soulis, his mortal foe, whose followers overtook and des- 

 patched him as he stumbled in the water there. Many are 

 the legends surrounding this huge mountain-boulder, one 

 of which predicts destruction to anyone who should dare 

 to go thrice round it *' withershins," that is, contrary to 

 the course of the sun, as "the little brown man of the 

 moors" would render his journey inauspicious. Strictly 

 speaking, this mass of rock "cut out of the mountain without 

 hands" does not stand on the border-line between Scotland 

 and England, as is generally reported, but only occupies a 

 site sufficiently near it to have served in olden times, as 

 vouched for by its present Ducal possessor, the purposes of a 

 "post office" between the Northern and Southern kingdoms. 

 The tradition holds that letters were deposited in a cleft of the 

 rock, and "collected," as we now say, by the next pedestrian 

 from the opposite country ! The origin of the boulder has 

 given rise to wild speculation, the abundance of romance 

 that entwines it doubtless accruing from its accredited super- 

 natural location ; but in spite of the existing prejudice against 

 a natural and scientific derivation, it may be regarded as an 

 example of what is g^eologically called a "slip-mass," or a 

 portion of rock from under which the soft soil has gradually 

 been worn, causing it to slip down into its present position. 

 Akin in structure to the sandstone with which the hill is 

 seamed, this solitary fragment weights about 1,600 tons. On 

 its surface was noticed the Lichen (Usnea halata). 



On their return journey the party visited another remark- 

 able rock, locally named "Holey Stone." It is situated to 

 the South, on Deadwater Fell, and distinguished by a hole 

 worn in its centre, of sufficient width to allow of a man passing 

 through it. Probably the hollowing process is attributable 



