34 



To account for such phenomena as those above described, by 

 the bursting of lakes, of the existence of which we have no 

 proof; and which, had they ever existed, could only have 

 existed at much lower levels, would be to adopt an hypothesis 

 contradicted by the very facts which it is intended to explain. 

 The condition of the transported blocks, their association with 

 others which have descended into the mid region, and their 

 identity with many other masses which are imbedded in the 

 diluvium of the plains, forbid us to ascribe their appearance to 

 any of the more ancient catastrophes in the physical history of 

 the earth. The conclusion then to be drawn from them is 

 obvious, and is in accordance with the other facts which have 

 been stated in this paper. 



Directions in which the Shap Granite has been drifted. 



VII. The great uniformity in the mineralogical character of 

 the rocks in many parts of Cumberland, often prevents us from 

 ascertaining the direction in which the diluvial bowlders have 

 been drifted from their native beds. This difficulty we do not 

 meet with in following the blocks of Shap granite, as they can- 

 not be confounded with any other rocks in the north of England. 

 It has already been stated that they almost cover the ground in 

 many places near Shap ; and that they have been lifted over the 

 escarpment of the carboniferous limestone, and drifted over the 

 hills near Ar>pleby. I may now add, that they have been scat- 

 tered far and wide over the nlain of the new red sandstone— 

 that they have rolled over the great central chain of England 

 into the plains of Yorkshire — that they are imbedded in the 

 diluvium on both banks of the Tees — and that a few straggling 

 blocks have, if I mistake not, found their way to the eastern 

 coast. 



The passage of the same kind of granitic blocks into the 

 valley of the Kent is, if possible, still more difficult to explain 

 by the operations of any known agent. For the granite only 

 exists in situ on the very outskirts of the mountain group, and 

 almost abuts against the calcareous zone near Shap wells. Yet 

 a set of gorges have been opened out of the higher and more 

 central parts of the group, through which the granite bowlders 

 have been driven (in a direction exactly opposite to that in 

 which they have been already traced), and from which they have 

 not only descended in great abundance into the valley of the 

 Kent, but have also been drifted into a part of the ridge between 

 the Kent and the Lune. With these remarks on the extraordi- 

 nary directions in which masses of Shap granite have been 

 drifted from their native bed, I terminate ray observations on the 

 position and extent of the masses of incoherent detritus which 

 lie scattered over many parts of our island. 



