184 BOREOWDALE HAWS TO KESWICK. 



were going* after eagles' eggs. His comrades let 

 him down by a rope from the precipice; and he 

 tries for a footing on some ledge, where he may 

 drive in wedges. The difficulty of this, where much 

 of his strength must be employed in keeping his 

 footing, may be conceived : and a great length of 

 time must be occupied in loosening masses large 

 enough to bear the fall without being dashed into 

 useless pieces. But, generally speaking, the methods 

 are improved, and the quarries made accessible by 

 tracks admitting of the passage of strong carts. 

 Still the detaching of the slate, and the loading and 

 conducting the carts, are laborious work enough 

 to require and train a very athletic order of men. 

 In various parts of the district, the scene is marked 

 by mountains of debris, above or within which yawn 

 black recesses in the mountain side, where the 

 summer thunders echo, and the winter storms send 

 down formidable slides into the vales below. 



At the turn under Honister Crag, the vales 

 behind disappear, and Borrowdale begins to open 



upon the eye, — at first in the form 

 BOEEowBALE ^^ ^ trlaugular bit of green level far 



below among the hills. By degrees, 

 the overlapping mountains part asunder, and dis- 

 close more farmsteads and broader levels, till the 

 fences are reached. Thence, it is a steep and 

 rough descent iipon Seatoller, by the side of a 

 plunging and roaring stream, and its canopy of 

 trees. Passing through the farmyard at Seatoller, 

 the travellers find themselves in Borrowdale, with 

 only two miles more to Bosthwaite, (p. 122.) and 

 eight to Keswick, and an excellent road all the 

 way. 



