80 
GLACIAL ACTION AMONG BRITISH MOUNTAINS. 
April, 1891. 
valley, when presently crossing the outlet of Dove Dale Glen 
my attention was suddenly taken by a block of rock lying 
detached in a wide green pasture. So off I turned towards it, 
but evidently the dogs of the district had concluded that none 
but shepherds should pass unchallenged, or instinctively 
divined I was no “ gude Dalesman,” for they setup such a 
roar, five of them, that I felt glad of a good ferrule on my long 
staff. However, they drew off after a while, and I walked up 
to the block, to my mind undoubtedly brought down out of 
the glen by a glacier, because on looking all round and 
observing the nature of the country, it seemed impos¬ 
sible any other known motive power could have carried and 
landed it so far from its parent cliffs. I measured it. and 
found it approximately 10ft. 8in. by 8ft. lOin. by 7ft. 9in., a 
nice little waistcoat-pocket specimen ! 
Passing now to another part of the Lake District, this 
time in wild, rocky Cumberland, I would call attention to the 
very strikingly glaciated appearance of the rocks at what may 
be termed the jaws of Borrowdale, that well-known vale 
reaching up into the heart of the mountains ; one of the finest 
bits of scenery in the British Isles. Far up above, a number 
of wild glens come down from some of the loftiest heights in 
England, and unite just above the village of Rosthwaite, where 
a wide level strath indicates the site of a former lake not so 
long ago. At the northern end of this beautiful opening the 
vale narrows suddenly, and rocks converge closely to dispute 
the passage of the picturesque Derwent. Now if glaciers 
formerly came out of these rocky recesses up above, and 
united as they must have done just above Rostliwaite, what 
would be the result ? Evidentlv a constricted Dassage here, 
and great pressure. Accordingly we find almost every surface 
of rock most remarkably smoothened and planed over, all 
roughness originally taken off in the direction facing up the 
Dale, but a few broken surfaces remaining on the northern 
side of the rocks, just where masses of ice passing over might 
leave them with less pressure, as the rocks broke down more 
or less towards the north. Many a time I have left the 
roads and got on the smoothened rock surfaces to note their 
wavy curving contours, seen here and there to pass under 
slight covering of peat or heather, or to gather some of the 
rarer wild plants abounding there, where vegetation has 
covered the surface. In few spots that I have studied have I 
found the glacial indications more distinct over wide spaces 
of rock than there. They may also be examined again at 
Grange Bridges just beyond, close to the bed of the swift and 
beautiful Derwent. 
