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such as to produce the best possible arrangement of the
materials before him.
From the borders of the lake, Scho-fell and Gable do not
much altar (sic) appearance, but Scho-fell from the
enclosures at Wastdale Head, displays a strikingly different
contour, and if seen at a proper distance from its base, is
a sublime object: Yew-barrow, if not like the camelion in
colour, assumes a decidedly different form from every part
of the valley.
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The Skrees stretch from the head to the foot of the lake on
its eastern side, and, from the feet of the monstrous crags
which often overhang their bases, the mountain is one
continued surface of loose stones, which occasionally shiver
into the water; nay, the rocks themselves have been known to
fall, to the terror and dismay of their peaceful neighbours,
and so much in volume, as to shake the very foundations of
the
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mountains. - They are now at rest, except in frosty weather,
when, sometimes a large stone is detached from the rest, and
hurled to the lake.
In the writer's memorandum-book is the following passage:
"1803, July 20, Went from Mr. Fletcher's, at Wastdale Head,
to the foot of the lake, crossed the outlet, and got about
half a mile up the side of the lake under the Screes; the
morning was uncommonly hot, and suddenly, and unexpectedly,
came on the most tremendous storm of thunder, lightning, and
hail, I was ever witness to; though for a long time
sheltered under a thick holly bush, I was free from the
hail, yet when the rain began to pour down, the bush was
more injurious to me than serviceable; and before I could get
to the foot of the water, my clothes were as completely
saturated with wet, as if I had been dragged for an hour in
the lake: I got to Mr. Lancelot Porter's,
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