1858.] OEMEROD ROCK-BASINS. 17 



Kowe's Dartmoor and Bray's Tamar and Tavy. The sides are nearly 

 perpendicular, leaning slightly back. At the south-easterly side 

 the highest bed of rock projects sHghtly, and under this a hole reaches 

 through to the eastern side of the Tor about two inches above the 

 bottom of the pan. The only other places where similar perforations 

 have been observed are at Fur Tor and Willistone Eocks. From 

 the northerly side, a lip or channel runs for about five inches in a 

 northerly direction, and then irregularly ; at the basin it is about 

 five inches wide, and there reaches nearly to the bottom of the basin. 

 The diameter from N. to S. is 36 inches, from E. to W. 35 inches, 

 and the longest diameter from N. to S. The depth (at the Up) on 

 the north side is 4 inches, on the easterly 6 inches, on the southerly 

 5 inches, and on the westerly 6 inches. The bottom is nearly level, 

 but slopes shghtly towards the centre, where it is about half an inch 

 deeper than at the sides. The bottom was covered with small sharp 

 gravel, consisting chiefly of felspar and quartz, formed by the dis- 

 integration of the granite. 



With the exception of the perforation, and that a lip is not of very 

 frequent occurrence, the above description is also applicable, the 

 dimensions being altered, to nearly every rock-basin with a flat 

 bottom ; and there seems to be no reason for considering the origin 

 of this basin different from that of the other basins. On Bell Tor, 

 to the east of the East Webber, there is a large basin that weU ex- 

 hibits the atmospheric action on the granite. Hounter Tor in the 

 same locaKty is one of the grandest and most picturesque Tors of the 

 Dartmoor district. No rock-basins have been observed there, or at 

 the rocks by Bowerman's Nose or Manaton Tors. The remaining 

 basins are mostly classed with those lying within the watershed of the 

 Teign. At a rapid, a short distance below the bridge at Teignhead, 

 " pot-holes " are in the course of formation : these will be noticed 

 hereafter. About a mile and a half lower down on the left bank of 

 the river is the well-known " Tolmen " or Holed Stone : the perfo- 

 ration is about three feet in diameter, and 2 feet 8 inches in depth, 

 and passes obliquely through the stone. This rock is not in situ, 

 and rests on other transported blocks at a rapid where the Teign 

 has worked its way between the rocks, causing a gradual lowering 

 of the level of its bed ; so that the surface of the Tolmen is now only 

 covered by the water in very heavy floods. There are portions of 

 other " pot-holes " on this rock ; and the origin may, with little if any 

 hesitation, be ascribed to the same cause as that which is now form- 

 ing the "pot-holes" just mentioned. About three-quarters of a 

 mile to the south of this spot is Castor or Kestor Eock, a large in- 

 sulated Tor about 1417 feet above sea-level. The summit of this 

 Tor consists of three bosses, rising sKghtly above a level central plat- 

 form ; the rock is weathered and rounded ; and the beds, with the 

 exception of a bed of el van, are not of fine or compact granite. The 

 directions of the perpendicular joints are W. by S. to E. by N., N. 

 by W. to S. by E., and N.W. by N. to S.E. by S. On this Tor, be- 

 sides some hollows which have not been regarded as " basins," there 

 are four basins on the northerly boss, three on the central platform, 



VOL. XV. PART I. C 



