1873.] WARD LAKE-DISTUCT GIAC1ATI0N. 427 



drift where it attains some elevation. A case in point is the well- 

 marked semicircular moraine beneath the partial combe formed by 

 Wolf Crags, on the southern edge of Matterdale Common, where the 

 base of the moraine and the upper limit of the drift are at a height of 

 1350 feet. Perhaps the finest examples of large series of moraines 

 are to be found at the head of Ennerdale, up Greenup Gill, and in 

 Longstrath, though they occur more or less in the upper reaches of 

 every valley, and even upon the summit of many watersheds 

 where the ground along the watershed is much higher on either 

 side. 



3. Boulders. — The general transport of boulders from south to 

 north of the district has already been alluded to in opening the sub- 

 ject of this paper. Blocks of the volcanic series of Borrowdale have 

 been carried in immense numbers northwards and north-westwards 

 down the principal valleys on to the area occupied by the Skiddaw 

 Slate. Just an outline only must now be given of some of the 

 special cases of boulder-distribution. 



On either side the lower end of St. John's Yale occur masses of 

 a peculiar syenite, fragments of which are readily recognized. 

 Boulders of this rock have been carried in immense numbers east- 

 ward towards Penrith ; they may be found up to a height of above 

 1250 feet on Mell Pell and Little Mell Pell, and on the lower parts 

 of the sides of Blencathra. Boulders of the same rock have also 

 been carried westward, down the vale of Keswick ; and some few 

 occur on the summit of Latrigg, 1200 feet. Further down the 

 vale none are found on the south-western side of the JJerwent. 



Crossing the Thirlmere Valley, between Armboth and Helvellyn, is 

 a very distinctive dyke of quartziferous felspar-porphyry. Boulders 

 of this rock have been carried into the Keswick Yale, and then dis- 

 tributed both to the east and to the west ; some of these also occur 

 on the summit of Latrigg ; but further west they are not found higher 

 than 800 feet, and are confined to the northern side of the vale. 



A large tract of syenite, quite distinct in appearance from the 

 St. John's, stretches from near the N.W. corner of Buttermere 

 Lake over to Ennerdale and south of it. Blocks of this rock are 

 thickly strewn all down the vale of Lorton to Cockermouth, some- 

 times too at considerable heights, as for instance on Mellbreak (20) 

 (Skiddaw Slate) at above 1500 feet, on Fellbarrow (35) at 1363 

 feet, and on the southern flanks of Kirk Pell (31) (that Kirk Fell 

 N.E. of Lorton) at 1100 feet. They are far more numerous also on 

 the west side of the Cocker, north of Lorton, than on the east side. 

 A very large number of syenite blocks have also been carried down 

 the Ennerdale valley into the open country beyond. 



Up the valley of the Glenderaterra, between Skiddaw and Blen- 

 cathra, there occurs a small patch of granite and a large tract of 

 hornblende-slate surrounding it. Boulders of the granite (which 

 is white, with black mica) may be traced southwards to the mouth 

 of the valley ; and every here and there a boulder has been detected 

 westward down Keswick Yale along the foot of Skiddaw, one being 

 found upon the summit of Latrigg. The hornblende-slate boulders 



