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high mountains, some of them the loftiest of any in England -
Whernside to the south-east, and Gragareth to the north. There
was no descent from this vale, except the deep chasm where we saw
the cascade. It seemed opened in some distant age, either by the
gradual effect of the washing of the river, or some violent and
extraordinary flood bursting open the rugged barrier that pent it
up. The vale above has all the appearance of having been once a
lake, from the flatness of its surface, and its rich soil, like a
sediment subsided on the bottom of a stagnant water. We were
informed, that the subterranean cascade beneath, just now
mentioned, has but lately made its appearance, and is every day
more and more enlarging. We were quite secluded from the world,
not an habitation for a man in view, but a lonely shepherd's
house, with a little wood, and a few inclosures near it, called
Breadagarth: it is on the north side of a high mountain, seldom
visited by man, and never by the sun for near half a year. The
shepherd, its solitary inhabitant, with longing eyes looks for
returning verdure, when the sun begins to throw his benign rays
on the solitary abode. No monk or anchoret could desire a more
retired situation for his cell, to moralise on the vanity of the
world, or disappointed lover to bewail the inconstancy of his
nymph. The soil seemed the deepest and richest, in some parts of
this vale, of any we had ever observed, and no doubt is capable
of great improvement. We could not but lament, that instead of
peopling the wilds and deserts of North America, our
fellow-subjects had not peopled the fertile wastes of the north
of England. We have since indeed been informed, that a plan is in
agitation for having them inclosed, when no doubt but it will
support some scores of additional families.- While we were musing
on the many bad effects of peopling distant countries, and
neglecting our own, we arrived at the object of this excursion,
Yordas-cave: it is almost at the top of the vale, on the
north-west side of it, under the high mountain Gragareth. We
discovered it by some sheep-folds, at the mouth of a rugged gill
or glen, in which we safely pent up our horses. In rainy seasons,
we were told, a copious stream is poured down this gill, and a
cascade falls over the very entrance into the cave, so as to pre-
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