CLIMATE 
towards the summit of Cross Fell, which is 2,930 feet above the sea; 
southward of this the range continues till it joins Stainmoor ; in this 
direction there is no great depression as at the north. The ascent on 
the eastern slope is much more gradual than on the west, where it is 
sudden, with few or no spurs or outliers, except a few conical hills near 
Dufton in Westmorland, called Pikes. 
The annexed imaginary section (fig. 1) will perhaps assist in giving 
an idea of the rise on the different 
sides. The horizontal distance of 
the summit from the plain may 
be about 2,700 yards; at five 
miles from the base on the west 
is the river Eden, running nearly 
parallel to the mountain ; on the ; 
east of the summit range is the bed of the river South Tyne, the bridge 
over which at Alston is 300 feet higher than the village of Melmerby 
on the west. 
Along the summit of this chain of mountains, and extending from 
three or four to sixteen or eighteen miles each way, north and south 
from the highest point, there 
3 u is often seen a large, lon 
eae eas. roll of clouds, the Gent 
% rs front clearly defined and quite 
ao ion ; separated from any other cloud 
ail wis paisa 4 on that side; it is at times 
Fie. 2. poised as it were above the 
mountain, sometimes resting 
on its top, but most frequently descends a considerable way down its 
side ; this is called the Helm. 
In opposition to this and at a variable distance towards the west 
is another cloud with its eastern edge as clearly defined as the Helm, 
and at the same elevation; this is called the Bar, or Bur. The space 
between the Helm and the Bar 
is the limit of the wind. 
The distance between the 
Helm and the Bar varies as the 
Bar advances or recedes from 
the Helm; this is sometimes 
not more than half a mile, 
sometimes three or four miles ; 
occasionally the Bar seems to 
coincide with the western horizon, or it disperses and there is no Bar, 
and then there is a general east wind extending over all the country 
westward. 
However violent the wind may be between the Helm and the 
Bar the violence ends there, as on the west side of the Bar there 
is either no wind at all, or it blows in the contrary direction or from 
67 
