Page:Transactions of the Natural History Society of Northumberland, Durham, and Newcastle-upon-Tyne (1867).djvu/123

Rh ravine, with its never-ending roar of waters, in front the cataract with its ceaseless rush and cloud of misty spray, at the bottom the dark foaming stream flowing rapidly amongst thickly-strewn boulders, margined in the open space below the cliffs with a grove of fantastically shaped juniper bushes, shut in above by its wood-covered slope and ledges of dark crag, can scarcely be desired. Between the High Force and Eglestone, a distance of 9 miles, four streams join the Tees on the north, the burns of Ettersgill, Bowlees, Hudshope, and Eglestone, but the hollows are scarcely more than mere moorland glens. There is a waterfall in the first called Hell Cleft, which is worthy of a visit. Between the High Force and where the Lune on the Yorkshire side joins the Tees the fall is 40 feet per mile. The river-channel is here considerably deeper than above the High Force, and especially during the first 2 miles, past Lower Cronkley Bridge and Winch Bridge there are rapids in the stream, and its banks are craggy and preprecipitous, and often margined with brush-wood and uncultivated moory ground. Above Newbiggin the ridge is 2200 feet in height, and the limestone full 500 yards. Above Eglestone extensive fir-plantations stretch from the town to the top of the moor. East of Newbiggin the limestone falls rapidly, and at Eglestone is lost from the bottom of the dale to reappear below Barnard Castle. The fells now decline to 1000 and 900 feet, but keep their height well up towards the river. North of Barnard Castle a stream rises on the edge of the moors at Langley Dale and flows through Baby to unite with another brook at Streatlam and join the Tees at Gainford. Below Barnard Castle, past Greta Bridge and Wycliffe, the Tees is again bordered by cliffs of limestone. None of the principal collieries fall within this drainage-tract. From Cockfield Fell, the ridge of hill which separates the Auckland from the Raby hollow, a dike of basalt runs south-eastward towards the Tees. At Pierce Bridge the Magnesian Limestone shows itself, trending north-eastward, with usually an escarpment towards the north-west, by way of Aycliffe and Ferryhill towards the Wear. The highest point which it reaches is at Raisby Hill, near Trimdon, 606 feet in elevation, and 17 miles north of the Tees in a direct line. Here rises the Skerne, which