have found there is), those who would wish that time would come, were they in my place and have such other business to do as I have, would certainly be few or none." And yet there is this last kick at his master-"There are two other callings which I have not gone through with, and upon the whole there is an addition of several things which are not fixed to any of the callings."

The above is certainly a striking contrast to the well-defined and, on the whole, well-performed duties of a modern London butler, coachman, or footman. Both epochs have their merits and demerits, the present erring on the side of having too little to do; the past in having too much. I remember a few years since seeing one man nailing a creeper against the wall of a lady of wealth, another holding the nails, and another sitting on the wall and looking on. The creeper died, and the lady is married to a sensible man, and the domestics in question have probably gone in search of that land where work is not so much an object as high wages. There must have been much slovenliness and scamping in the old state of things. Doubtless there is a danger of the claims of labour and servitude to ease and relaxation now-a-days being pushed beyond all reasonable limits, so that, to use an American extravagance of language, the workmen will end by sending their cards to their employers instead of coming to work. We are probably in a transition state. "The old order changeth, yielding place to new." The laudatores temporis acti-those who are always praising and upholding the superiority of the past-must remember that in retrospect, as in prospect, "'tis distance lends enchantment to the view." I believe, with all due deference to present distracted housekeepers, that things will settle down into their proper proportions, and, anyhow, I say for myself-" Better fifty years of Europe than a cycle of Cathay."

THE GRANITE BOULDER ON THE SHORE OF BARNSTAPLE BAY, NORTH DEVON.

BY W. PENGELLY, F.R.S., F.G.S.

(Read at Sidmouth, July, 1873.)

EVERY one who has carefully noted the constituents of the tidal strands of Devonshire, as no doubt elsewhere, must have frequently detected materials not derivable from the rocks of the immediate district. At Slapton, for example, flints form an extremely large percentage of the beach materials, and yet, with the exception of a neighbouring Raised beach containing a comparatively small number, there is no flint-bearing deposit in the neighbourhood; and the flints on the beach are much too numerous to be ascribed to the cargoes of wrecked ships, or to ballast thrown overboard in the Channel.

Again, boulders of granite are occasionally met with, as for example, between the Start and Prawle points, but there is nothing about them to decidedly negative the suggestion that man may in some way have been instrumental in taking them there.

There is a boulder of granite, however, on the coast of Barnstaple Bay, North Devon, whose presence must be accounted for in some other way; and, it is probably calculated to throw some light on the physical geography and climatology of our county. It has already a literature, which, as it is by no means voluminous, and as it contains much that is descriptive, and necessary for my present purpose, I will transcribe before proceeding further.

So far as I am aware, the attention of the scientific world was first directed to it by the late Rev. D. Williams, in a communication read to the Geological Society of London, March 8th, 1837, in which he speaks of it as "a magnificent granite block at the base of the sandstone [i.e. the Raised beach], and resting directly on the slate rock, but above high-water mark. It is," he continues, "so perfectly smooth and close-grained, and so rounded at its edges and angles,

that I had great difficulty in detaching a small fragment. Its exposed surface is six feet long and three feet deep; but I could not ascertain its real dimensions, as its further extremity is concealed by the incumbent sandstone of the beach, and its base by shingle. It is flesh-coloured, like much of the Grampian granite, and is traversed by two veins of red-coloured compact felspar, intersecting each other. In my opinion it is neither Lundy, Dartmoor, nor Cornish granite."*

It seems to have been next mentioned by Mr. Spence Bate, F.R.S., in a paper on "An Attempt to approximate the Date of the Flint Flakes of Devon and Cornwall," read to the Devonshire Association for the Advancement of Science, Literature, and Art, August, 1866, in which he thus speaks of it: In one place, resting on the present beach, supporting the ancient [Raised beach], is a large boulder mass of granite, estimated to weigh about twelve tons; the upper portion, that is, all that can be seen, is smooth, and rounded in a manner that suggests that the whole of it is similarly worn, a circumstance that corroborates the opinion of Mr. Williams, in his paper . . . . . that it has been borne from afar, probably by an iceberg in the great glacial epoch. The granite contains red felspar, and is said not to resemble Dartmoor or Lundy granite. But I have recently been informed by Dr. Trefry, that every kind of granite is found in his quarries in Cornwall; and I have seen in his porphyry hall, at Place House, Fowey, specimens very similar to that of the boulder in Barnstaple Bay; therefore we need not go so far as Aberdeen, as supposed by Mr. Williams. But still, we cannot but suppose that some great transporting power must have been required to bring this granite mass even from the nearest granite district to where it rests. . . . . Of this there can be no doubt, that it was lodged in its present position before the deposit that we call the raised beach commenced."!

The next year I gave the following description of it in a paper on "The Raised Beaches in Barnstaple Bay," read to the same Association :-"The fine granite boulder mentioned by Rev. D. Williams is beneath the [Raised] beach, and has

"Extract from a Letter, by the Rev. David Williams, F.G.8., on the Raised Beaches in Barnstaple or Bideford Bay." Trans. Geol. Soc. Lond., Second Series, vol. v. pp. 287-8.

† Since Mr. Williams was of opinion that the block was of "neither Lundy, Dartmoor, nor Cornish granite" (see above), he must, of course, have been also of opinion that it had been "borne from far," but he does not actually use this or any equivalent expression; nor does he advance any opinion respecting the probable agency or era of transportation.

Trans. Devon. Assoc., 1866, pp. 131-2.

been disclosed by the natural destruction and removal of portions of the lower beds of the latter, so that it now occupies a small cavern at the base of the beach. So far as I am aware, it is unlike any granite which exists in Devon or Cornwall. Though it has undergone a large amount of abrasion, and is worn beautifully smooth, it cannot be said to be well rounded. Indeed, its original edges and angles are much more pronounced than is the case with many a block of granite on Dartmoor, which has never travelled an inch, but has taken its form from weathering alone. Were a perfectly angular block lodged on a shingle beach, it would probably in a very short time be as much rounded as is this mass; so that its present form may have been produced since its lodgment in the spot it now occupies. That portion of it which is visible measures 7.5 × 6 × 3 feet; hence it contains upwards of 135 cubic feet of rock; so that if its specific gravity be taken at 2.643 (the mean of the Cornish and Aberdeen granites), its weight cannot be less, and is probably much more, than ten tons. It is embedded in shingle, apparently not above the highest reach of the waves, but it must be remembered that in such a position heavy seas would heap up pebbles considerably above their own level."*

I. Amongst the numerous questions suggested by the boulder, that of the source whence it was derived claims the first consideration. We have seen that Mr. Williams states that it is "like much of the Grampian granite," and in his opinion is "neither Lundy, Dartmoor, nor Cornish granite;" whilst Mr. Bate, in consequence of specimens in Place House, Fowey, and of statements by Dr. Trefry, has concluded that we need not go so far as Aberdeen;" in other words, he inclines to the belief that it may have been derived from Devonshire or Cornwall.

A short time ago I addressed to Messrs. Freeman, proprietors of the well-known Granite Works at Penryn, Cornwall, the following queries:-"Do you know any place in Devon, Cornwall, or Lundy Island, where a block of granite of the same colour, or nearly the same, as the 'red granite of Peterhead, Scotland,' could be obtained, measuring 7.5 feet long, 6 broad, and 3 thick? If so, where ?" Mr. W. G. Freeman was so good as to send me the following reply:"Red granite is found on Dartmoor, but it is generally so disordered in its formation that I do not believe a block of the size you describe is obtainable in such a state as to be * Trans. Devon. Assoc., vol. ii. p. 50. 1867.

converted to use. Some of the surface rocks at Trowlsworthy are very large, and possibly may be sufficiently so to make the dimensions you have named. We have pur

chased a good deal of red granite from Trowlsworthy, and our opening has been much more interesting in a scientific point of view than profitable commercially. The Tor is situated a few miles from Shaugh [or about eight miles south-easterly from Tavistock].

"This is the only place we know of in either county whence red granite can be procured in any size. Some other Tors have red granite, but it is much smaller and the Tors even more disordered than Trowlsworthy.

"The granite itself in the hill below the Tor is very good, bright red and hard, but is not generally suited for any thing of large size."

With the foregoing facts before me, I have no disinclination to say, with Mr. Bate, we need not go so far as Aberdeen to find the source of the boulder; but I would add, it may nevertheless have come from the Grampians.

II. But waiving this point, and assuming that the block is not, perhaps, of very distant derivation; that, in fact, it may have come from Lundy-the nearest granite formation, 20 miles distant, in an almost due westerly direction,-or down the valley of the Torridge, from Dartmoor-the nearest point of which, in a south-easterly direction, is 30 miles off, as the crow flies. In either case its transportation must have been due to more powerful agencies than any now in operation in the same district. Between Barnstaple Bay and Lundy there is a depth of upwards of 20 fathoms of water,* where the most violent waves must be totally inadequate to move such a block; for, to say nothing of inequalities of the sea bottom, no wave that ever entered the Bristol Channel would probably ever move the finest sand at such a depth; and if we remember that Yes Tor, the highest peak of Dartmoor, is but 2,050 feet above the sea, it will be seen that a straight line from it to the strand in Barnstaple Bay would have a fall of 2,050 feet in 30 miles, or a gradient of no more than 1 in 77, down which the floods of Dartmoor would certainly not transport a mass of rock upwards of 10 tons in weight.

It must be unnecessary to remark that the foregoing considerations apply with at least as much force to the hypothesis of any more distant derivation.

See Map in "Report on the Geology of Cornwall, Devon, and West Somerset." By Henry T. de la Beche, F.R.8, &c., 1839.