ELTERWATER, GREAT LANGDALE,-WESTMORLAND.

Elterwater, a tributary stream of Windermere, is an elevated lake, or tarn, nearly a mile in length, situated in Great Langdale, at the distance of two miles and a half west from Ambleside. The low meadows on the margin of this tarn are frequently inundated by the sudden influx of water from the two Langdales; and the means which have been adopted to obviate this inconvenience have injured the trout fishery, by introducing into the lake the destructive pike. Elterwater is surrounded by mountains skirted with verdant pasturage, and embosomed in heath; these, rising up in various forms, discover the lake, "seated high in the dimpled breast of one of them, and sending forth a silvery stream which joins the Brathay river, and thence forces itself over a succession of little cascades to mighty Windermere."

"What change can seasons bring

Unto so sweet, so calm a spot,
Where every loud and restless thing
Is, like a far-off dream, forgot?"

Of scenes like this, "the reigning spirit may not vary:" solitude and quiet, unbroken save by the eagle's scream, the roaring of the torrent, and the mountain echoes, dwell— dwell here absolute.

"O gentlest lake! from all unhallowed things

By grandeur guarded in thy loveliness,
Ne'er may the poet with unwelcome feet
Press thy soft moss, embathed in flowery dyes,
And shadowed in thy stillness like the heavens.
May innocence for ever lead him here,
To form, amid the silence, high resolves
For future life; resolves, that, born in peace,
Shall live 'mid tumult, and though haply mild
As infants in their play, when brought to bear
On the world's business, shall assert their power
And majesty and lead him boldly on

Like giants, conquering in a noble cause."

On a woody eminence, at the head of Elterwater, stands Elter-Hall, beyond which rise the towering summits of Langdale Pikes:

"In the majesty of distance now

Set off, and to our eyes appearing fair,

And beautified with morning's purple beams."

U

THRANG CRAG SLATE QUARRY, GREAT LANGDALE,-WESTMORLAND.

This Quarry, the property of Lord Lowther, yields an abundance of fine blue slate, and is situated in the mountains adjacent to the Brathay river.

"The

The geology of the lake districts presents many difficulties to the scientific inquirer; and it still remains in dispute, to what rocks the term primitive, and to which that of secondary should be applied. The materials of which the greater part of the mountains are composed have been included under the general name of slaty rocks; though many of them shew little or no inclination to that peculiar cleavage or formation. These slate rocks have been classed into three divisions. The first division comprehends, among others, the mountains of Skiddaw, Saddleback, Grasmoor, and Griesdale Pike. granite of Skiddaw being considered as a nucleus upon which these rocks are deposited in mantle-shaped strata, that which immediately reposes upon it is called gneiss, though it is more slaty and granular than the gneiss of some other districts. More distant from the granite, the slate becomes less impregnated with mica, and is quarried for flooring flags, &c. under the provincial name of whintin. This, again, is succeeded by a softer kind of slate. These rocks are of a blackish colour, and divided by natural partings into slates of various thickness, which are sometimes curiously bent and waved." The partings, when very numerous, open by exposure to the weather; and in time, the slate shivers into thin flakes unfit for roofing purposes.

The second division includes the mountains of Borrowdale, Langdale, Grasmere, Mardale, &c. Most of the rocks in this division are of a pale blue or grey colour; but they do not exhibit any distinct partings similar to the slates of the first division. "The finest pale blue roofing slate is found here in beds, (called by the workmen veins,) the most natural position of the cleavage of which appears to be vertical, though it is formed in various degrees of inclination, both with respect to the horizon and the planes of stratification. The slates are split into various thicknesses, according to their fineness of grain, and the discretion of the workmen."

The third division of strata form inferior elevations, commencing with a bed of dark blue limestone, and alternating with a slaty rock of the same colour; the different layers of which are, in some places, several feet, and in others only a few inches, thick.

There are few places in England where slate is worked as a mine under ground. It has been suggested, that it might be worked to advantage in subterranean galleries, as in the quarries at Charleville, since the quality improves as the depth of the excavation increases, and the expense of procuring it by mining would be considerably less than that of removing the load of upper rocks and working it in open quarries.

HEANG RAG SLATE QUARRY, GREAT LANGDALE, WESTMORIAND.

FISHL SUN & CONDON 1933