1870.] HARKNESS—WASTDALE-CRAG BLOCKS, 526 
for about three miles; after which, had the area been land, it would 
have accommodated itself to what is now the valley of the Low- 
ther, and assumed a northerly direction. 
Independently of the direction of these old valleys, which must 
have influenced the courses of the glaciers, the outline of the country, 
with its slopes between Wastdale Crag and that portion of the Pen- 
nine chain which has been crossed by the granite blocks, is alto- 
gether hostile to the idea of a glacier having been the transporting 
agent of these masses of granite. The prominent escarpments 
fronting this glacier would have diverted it from an eastern course ; 
otherwise these escarpments would have been planed down by its 
action, and all traces of the north and south strize which now mark 
the faces of the rocks would have been obliterated, and their places 
occupied by others of a more recent date, running from west to 
east ; yet no such markings are to be found. ‘The idea, therefore, 
which suggests a glacier as the agent of the transport of these 
blocks has very little to support it. 
Another cause has been looked upon as the transplanting agent 
of the Wastdale-Crag blocks, namely, icebergs; and this certainly is 
a much more probable means of dispersion than the action of gla- 
ciers. There are, however, some difficulties attendant on the ice- 
berg theory, which seem to render it by no means easy of accepta- 
tion. If we assume glaciers to have occupied valleys on the north 
and south sides of Wastdale Crag (and of this there is very little 
reason to doubt), and if we are to attribute icebergs to such glaciers, 
the greatest portion of the mass of Wastdale Crag, which has fur- 
nished the blocks, would have been under the surface of the water 
on which those icebergs floated. By far the largest portion of 
Wastdale Crag is at a lower level than 1500 feet above the sea; in 
fact very little of the hill, except its western side, attains an eleva- 
tion equal to that portion of Stainmoor over which the blocks have 
passed in their route to the valley of the Tees. Assuming icebergs 
to have been the agents of transport, it would have required the sea 
to have been at least 1500 feet above its present level, otherwise 
there would not have been a sufficient depth of water to have 
enabled blocks to have floated over Stainmoor into the valley of the 
Balder. 
[In the accompanying map (Pl. XXXY.), the outline which the 
land would assume if the sea were 1500 feet above its present level 
is shown by the portion marked with perpendicular hnes. The 
whole of the area left blank, and also that marked with broken 
lines, would, under such circumstances, be under water ]. 
If it be assumed that the granite of Wastdale Crag rose to a 
higher level than it does at the present time, during the period of 
the distribution of the granite blocks, still that higher level would 
hardly suffice to furnish materials to a glacier, portions of which 
would be detached and float away as icebergs. 
There is another difficulty with reference to the iceberg theory of 
transport. ‘This is the size of the bergs themselves. If we suppose 
these to have had an average of 50 feet in height above the surface 
