Yol. 62.] ANNIVERSARY ADDRESS OF THE PRESIDENT. Cvii 



by that of the Mite ; and, even now, some of the minor streams 

 which pour over the combe- cliff from the depression between Mite 

 and Esk may in time accomplish the capture. 



It seems clear that this has actually been accomplished at 

 another place, namely Honister Pass, between Borrowdale and 

 Buttermere. In ascending to Honister from Seatoller in Borrow- 

 dale, the head of the valley appears to be a combe, down which 

 tributary streams course to join the Borrowdale drainage. On 

 reaching the head of the valley it is seen that the principal of 

 these, flowing from Gray Knotts, passes through a huge gap cleft 

 in the north-western part of the combe, and continues down a valley 

 apparently along a shatter -belt into Buttermere, thus largely 

 determining one of the most prominent features of the district, the 

 huge Crag of Honister. 



In the next case the capture is more pronounced. Lingmell 

 Beck flows from the Scawfell group of fells in an easterly direction 

 to the head of Wastwater, along a line of shatter-belts which are 

 occupied by Grainsgill and Spouthead Gill. The valley now 

 passing from Sty-Head Tarn northward to Borrowdale ends abruptly 

 at Sty-Head Pass, where there is a steep descent to Lingmell Beck. 

 Anyone standing at Sty-Head Pass will be convinced that the Sty- 

 Head stream has been beheaded by Lingmell Beck. Apparently 

 at one time the Peers-Gill stream flowed to Wastwater, and 

 the streams which now occupy the Grainsgill and Spouthead 

 gorges into Borrowdale : but the first-named stream, working 

 along the shatter-belt, beheaded the others at an elbow. We shall 

 have occasion to consider this case more fully, when discussing 

 the changes which have occurred in the Borrowdale Valley in 

 greater detail. 



From what has been said above, it will be grasped that, according 

 to my view, complications in the original drainage initiated 

 upon rocks which once overlay the Lower Palaeozoic rocks, have 

 been produced after the drainage had worked down to the latter 

 owing to the removal of the former, largely because of the tendency 

 for the most strongly-marked erosion to occur along the shatter- 

 belts. I propose to illustrate this further by a detailed consideration 

 of four valleys, namely, Troutbeck near Windermere, Langdale, the 

 Duddon, and Borrowdale. 



As I propose to give reasons for believing that the formation of 

 many of the hanging valleys of the district has been largely deter- 



h2 



