GEOLOGY 
lay in the path of rivers such as the Eden, which carry down much 
sediment, have passed into the condition of meadow land. Other lakes, 
such as the once-continuous Derwent-Bassenthwaite Water, Buttermere- 
Crummock Water, and others, are being silted up in the middle by the 
material carried in by lateral streams ; and all of them are reminding us 
that lakes are merely local and temporary conditions of rivers, and that 
they are all destined, sooner or later, to gradually silt up into dry land. 
Some few of the tarns have also shallowed-up, or have passed into moor- 
land through the intermediate stage of a peat-bog. 
The great deposits of hill-peat, containing remains of trees, at alti- 
tudes where no trees could be got to grow now, tell us of climatal 
conditions a few thousand years ago, long after the advent of Neolithic 
man, which must have been more genial than what we now experience. 
Since the commencement of this period, wind, rain and frost, 
drought and wet, heat and cold, have all been incessantly at work modi- 
fying the character of the surface of Cumberland, and reducing more 
and more of it from the state in which it was left at the close of the 
Glacial Period to a condition suitable for the needs of man. 
XITI. Tue RELATION BETWEEN THE GEOLOGICAL STRUCTURE OF 
CUMBERLAND AND THE BouNDARIES OF THE ParisHEs.—In the South 
of England a very obvious relation can be made out between the distri- 
bution of the various kinds of soils and the larger divisions of the 
counties. This is especially the case in the Weald, as the late Mr. 
Topley has shown. Evidently, the earlier settlers, on taking possession of 
the land, agreed amongst themselves so to portion out that district that 
each community should have a due share of every type of land to be 
found there. The division of the district was so arranged that, along 
with the share of pasture and arable land allotted to each, there should 
also be a due share of riparian land, together with a like proportion of 
both woodland and moorland. In the Weald, the geological structure 
of the district was eminently favourable for such an arrangement, as the 
different types of rock upon which, in this case, the nature of the soil 
mainly depends, are naturally arranged over the whole ellipsoidal area, 
zone within zone, each zone comparatively narrow in one direction, but 
forming a continuous band in a direction at right angles to that. This 
arrangement of the strata and its present bearing will be easily understood 
on reference to any good geological map. 
To carry out this principle of allotment to its fullest effect three con- 
ditions appear to be necessary. (1) There must be a definite geographical 
relationship between the distribution of the geological formations and the 
superficial deposits from which the various surface soils are derived. 
(2) A uniform arrangement of the rocks must prevail throughout the 
whole district. (3) The primary apportioning of the land must be 
wholly in the hands of one united people, with a common government 
and with common needs, and with that disposition to work together for 
the common good which is requisite for the welfare of both the village 
communities and the larger bodies into which these communities are to 
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