448 
THE GEOLOGIST, 
Missing Malliam Cave, wc followed the lino of the " Craven faidt" to Settle, 
where its grandest features are displayed iii the deep valley of Austwick, and 
on the upheaved masses of Eeizcr, and the niagniliceut scars of Giggleswick, 
above Austwiek. High up, nearly on the u])j)er ])lali'orm of the limestone- 
eliffs, our friend Mr. Eurrow, wliose coUeetiou of Craven-fossils is almost 
unique, )iointcd out to us a cove in the soars, tlie bottom of which was covered 
by groat blocks of Silurian slates, many of them standing upoutiic edges of tlie 
^^■eatilered limestone like logging-stones and eromleclis, the stone upon which 
tliey were placed iuiving worn away much faster than they had themselves. 
The locality and the position of these stones seemed at first to mark tlie site of 
an ancient glacier. Tlicre was, liowever, no evidence of glacial markings ; and 
the slate-rocks were too high above their place in situ to allow of such a 
supposition. They appear more likely to have been the jetsam of stranded 
icebergs that had floated off from a glacier debouching upon a half-frozen 
lake ; out the place is worth a visit, and it cannot be missed by anyone who 
iufpiires at Austwick for " the moor where the black stones are." 
Further eastward, under Moughton Scars, magnificent sections of the Silurian 
slate-rocks underlying the limestone are exposed, especially in the quarries at 
Horton, in llibblesdale. The rocks most disturbed in the line of the fault 
yield localities very rich in fossils. 
I will not dwell on our journey from Skipton to Bolton Abbey, nor from 
thence by Greenhow Hill to Paleley Bridge, except to remark that Greenliow 
Hill deserves a better description than I can give of it. At Nursa Knot, part 
of Greenhow HiU there is an anticlinal axis, where the " lower scar-limestone" is 
thrust up through the MiUstone-grit. Want of time, idleness, and Olncss pre- 
vented a close examination of it, which it would well repay, and more especially 
if an exploration of the lead-mines at Craven Cross could be arranged at the 
same time. 
Nidderdale is one of the pleasaiitest little valleys in England ; its meadows 
are luxurious as a summer Alp ; its streams flow full and sparkling, in beds of 
limestone through deep fruiges of ricMy foliaged timber-trees. Tiiick planta- 
tions line its sides, and either riui up to and over the summits of the hiUs, or 
only just permit the brown crags of the MiUstone-grit to peep over tlie tops of 
the firs. Towards the head of the dale these woods disappear from the IiiUs, 
and only hold their place in the deep ravines ploughed out by the mountain- 
torrents. In one of these the infant Nid disappears into a yawning cavern, 
called " Goreden Pot-hole." 
In following the valley downwards, the ravine seems to be blocked up by a 
gigantic precipice of Umestone, under which is a deep tunnel, and into this the 
stream rushes and disappears amongst the huge rocks that are heaped one on 
another in this gigantic portal. The blue mist comes eddying out into the hot 
air, and if you enter within, the cave is as chiU as an ice-house. The white pre- 
cipice is fringed with ash and alder, and the thick woods that fiU the ravine make 
it dark even at a summer's noon. The bizarre shapes of the rocks, the yawning 
entrance, and the swallowed-up river would, among a people more romantic 
than Yorkshiremen, have given rise to many a legend of fantastic superstition. 
There it is so little thought of, that a few miles ofl' the natives scarce know of 
its existence. In rainy weather especially it is worth a day's journey to visit it. 
Two miles below this "swallow-hole" the river issues out of the liill-side 
from beneath two natural rock-arches in a full clear stream, called " Nid-head ;" 
but if not particularly inquked for in the district, the place will not be pointed 
out by the villagers. Both these localities are within easy distance of Harro- 
gate, which lies in the throat of the valley, and thr-ough which runs tlie only 
good road into Nidderdale, all the other roads out of it on each side being ex- 
cessively steep and awkward. Tor a pedestrian, however, nothing can be liner. 
