April, 1891 . 
GLACIAL ACTION AMONG BRITISH MOUNTAINS. 
81 
Passing again over another interval of mountain ground, 
and proceeding more towards the west, there is a mountain 
called Robinson, curiously enough, which breaks down in 
some precipices towards the north and west, below which, and 
partly surrounded by them, lies the head of one of the many 
rugged glens or ravines of the district. And here again one 
day, when walking over from Buttermere, I noticed a number 
of small moraine masses, very distinct looking, untouched for 
the greater part, or in one or two places cut through by the 
action of the present stream. These again gave me the 
impression of having been shed from the end of small and 
retreating glaciers that once to a great extent covered the 
mountains of our island, if indeed the land was not 
enswathed by them, as Greenland is at the present day. 
Before leaving this most lovely district there is one other 
spot I wish briefly to allude to—the wild and romantic Deep- 
dale, which possibly some of you may have visited : a glen 
exhibiting singularly bold features, where you see the carving- 
out of these ancient rocks on a grand scale. Nature seems to 
have left her handiwork lying about in more primitive fashion 
than usual. It lies mainly enclosed by the mountains of Fair- 
field and St. Sunday Crag, and one lovely day I descended 
into it from this latter height; one of those “ Heavenly days 
that cannot die,” memorable for a lifetime. I got down 
carefully, for the slopes are very steep, after prospecting in 
two or three directions ! But below—how grand the scene ! 
Wild precipices enclose the head of the glen, whence vast 
masses of rock are seen to be torn out by some old power; 
and far down the glen, where it becomes a valley, I was much 
attracted by several great moraine masses cut through here 
and there by the stream, and very emphatic, while several 
great blocks of enormous size are left here and there far 
down and distant from the rocks whence they must have been 
brought, and placed in some cases on knolls in the valley, a 
long way from the sides, so that I felt sure they could not 
have fallen from any rocks by ordinary action of the weather ; 
and for my part can recognise no agency but ice that can be 
assigned to have left them there. This Deepdale is wonder¬ 
fully grand in all its details, and I can strongly recommend 
its study to the geologist and lover of wild, natural scenery. 
Turning now to North Wales, I would like to call atten¬ 
tion for a moment to the neighbourhood of Ffestiniog, where 
the slate and other mountains have a remarkably bold form, 
and where indications of glacial action are well marked. On 
one occasion I was very much interested with the strikingly 
smootliened and rounded surfaces of the rocks of rugged Moel 
Wyn, at the entrance to the long narrow glen of Cwm 
Orthin, where this action was seen extending far up the 
