f Shap Fell granite, scattered to the south
and east in Yorkshire, may have been carried there by a retreating
wave, on the mountain being suddenly raised out of the sea. Now here
is a moving flood, of greater force than any retreating wave could
well be; and yet we see that it does not carry similar blocks a
hundredth part of the way to which those masses of Shap Fell have been
transported, even although their course was all downwards moreover--a
different case from that of many of the Shap boulders, which are found
to have breasted considerable heights before resting where they now
are.

At length, after a toilsome walk along the rough surface of the
debris, we reached the place whence this wonderful flood had burst. We
found on each side of the valley a huge lump of the embankment
remaining, while a vast gulf yawned between. This was somewhat
different from what we expected; for we had seen it stated in the
newspapers, that the whole was swept away. So far from this being the
case, fully half of the entire mass remains, including portions of
that central depression which has been spoken of. There is more
importance in remarking this fact than may at first sight appear. In
the investigation of the mysterious subject of the Parallel Roads of
Glenroy, one theory has been extensively embraced--that they were
produced by a lake, which has since burst its bounds and been
discharged. It has been asked: Where was the dam that retained this
lake? and should we not expect, if there was any such dam, that it
could not be wholly swept away? Would not fragments of it be found at
the sides of the valley--the breaking down of the centre being
sufficient to allow the waters to pass out? When we look at the masses
left on each side of the Bilberry embankment, we see the force and
pertinence of these queries, and must admit that the lake theory is so
far weakened. In the bottom of the breach, a tiny rill is now seen
making its exit--the same stream which cumulatively took so formidable
a shape a few months ago. For a mile up the valley, we see traces of
the ground having been submerged. Immediately within the embankment,
on the right side of the streamlet, is the empty tower or by-wash,
that dismal monument of culpable negligence. We gazed on it with a
strange feeling, thinking how easy it would have been to demolish two
or three yards of it, so as to allow an innocuous outlet to the
pent-up waters. When we had satisfied our curiosit