164 
PHYSICAL GEOGRAPHY 
SCENERY. 
Though a description of the grand and beautiful combinations 
of natural objects, which have long rendered the mountains and dales 
of Yorkshire the resort of the lovers of picturesque scenery, would 
be foreign to the object of a Geological Treatise, some notice of the 
variation of scenery according to geological conditions may properly 
find a place. It cannot be necessary to offer proof that the principal 
characters of scenery have their foundation in geological circumstances. 
1 he effects depending on relative elevation may be traced to subterra- 
nean convulsions and local violence of water ; to the same causes are 
due the endless varieties of combination which render a mountain group 
inexhaustible of interest ; and the lesser features of the landscape, the 
peculiar outline of every mountain, the peculiar character of every 
waterfall, depend mainly on the composition and structure of the rocks 
and the order of their succession. Is the charm of fine scenery di- 
minished because the secret agencies which have concurred in its pro- 
duction have become familiar to the reasoning geologist ? surely he 
of all men should be the most affected by the charms of nature, who, 
in addition to the pleasure derived from contemplating the external 
aspect of creation, feels himself irresistibly led to connect the present 
configuration of the surface of the earth with great changes in its in- 
terior and exterior conditions, to unite the present with the past, and 
to view the manifold revolutions which have visited the earth as in 
no sense accidental, but parts of one general and continuous plan, singu- 
larly adopted to the moral and intellectual capacity of man. 
The elevation of ground and ramifications of drainage having been 
already discussed, we may proceed to notice the combination of moun- 
tains, their individual features, and waterfalls. 
Grauwacke region .— Every where in Yorkshire, and along its borders, 
the grauwacke hills present themselves with an individuality of form 
and an intricacy of association totally different from those of the lime- 
