61 
formed by these agencies, and by the denudations, which 
were vast and probably frequent, were partly removed and 
deposited in clefts and cavities wherever they were carried. 
The fossils produced by Mr. Binney point also to this period 
in the Furness district, as that in which the ores were car- 
ried into the cavities they now fill. The two mountains of 
Dent Fell and Black Comb appear to stand as a line of 
haematite ore mines, the country both between them and 
on their line north and southwards being dotted over with 
mines, and being most productive in their immediate vi- 
cinities. At Hodbarrow, immediately at the foot of Black 
Comb, occurs one of the richest mines yet discovered. It 
lies in a cleft of limestone, and appears to be more like a 
lode or vein than a deposit, and is immediately upon the 
shore of the Duddon estuary. This vein has been found 
on the south shore of the estuary just opposite, and it is 
fully believed that it is continuous through the sea. The 
richest mines of the Furness district are also immediately 
to the south of this point. The principal mines of Furness 
are deposits, as shewn by Mr. Binney, and the evidence of 
the Cleator district would point to Black Comb as a very 
possible source for their origin. 
In the Cleator district the Carboniferous strata are at 
places overlaid unconformably by the Permian of St. Bees 
Head, and in the lower red sandstone, underlying the mag- 
nesian limestone and conglomerate, are found many fossil 
plants, which are generally coated with red ore instead of 
carbonaceous matter. The conglomerates of St. Bees and 
Bougham Point also contain pebbles of haematite ; both facts 
pointing again to denudation of haematite ore during the 
Permian era. 
