CARTER : NOTES ON THE GEOLOGY OF MALHAM AND SETTLE. 243 
two or three large openings filled with limestone blocks. Formerly 
it must have followed the course of the Dry Valley, and have pre- 
cipitated itself over the sheer cliffs at Malham Cove, forming a water- 
fall of noble proportions. Another stream, rising in the neighbour- 
hood of Capon Hall, flows over the expanse of weathered Mountain 
Limestone called the " Streets," and disappears in a fissure near the 
old smelting mill. That the course of these upland waters has not 
always been subterranean we have ample proof, not only in the 
geological structure of the district, but also on the testimony of eye- 
witnesses who saw the stream resume its old channel under conditions 
of exceptional rainfall. 
Hartley, the Malham Schoolmaster, writing in 1 786 says : — 
" From the apex of this Cove, after what is in this part of the country 
called a Kugg, or a succession of rainy and tempestuous weather, 
when the water-sink at the southern extremity of the Tarn is unable 
to receive the overtiux of the Lake, there falls a large and heavy 
torrent, making a more grand and magnificent cascade than imagination 
can form any idea of. This vast and precipitate cascade, so generally 
enquired after, and so seldom seen by travellers in the summer 
months, hath been so much admired as to leave it equally subject of 
wonder and concern, tliat the inlets of the stream, which might easily 
be done, have not been stopped, and this lofty and imperious cataract 
thereby rendered a perpetual object of gratification and astonishment." 
Howsou, in his Curiosities of Craven" (1850), says : — "Twice 
within the last forty years the swollen waters of the Tarn have made 
their way over the Cove, but the torrent was dispersed in one vast 
cloud of spray before it reached the bottom. Its density and the 
magnificent sight may be imagined from the fact that the spectators 
could not approach within a hundred yards of the foot of the rock 
without being drenched through." 
Which way does the Aire run now ? and to which stream belongs 
the honour of being its source ? These are questions which have 
aroused much controversy, and to the solution of which a consider- 
able amount of ingenuity and attention have been devoted. Whitaker, 
in his "History of Craven" (1805), says — "Speaking in general 
terms, the lake may fairly be considered as the source of the Aire ; 
