640 C U M B E II L A N D — C U M B
chemists have supposed it to be asphahum, condensedand hardened by length of time ; it takes a fine polish,and is frequently used for the making of toys, andvarious other fancy articles.
The celebrated black lead, or wadd mines, aresituated at the head of Borrowdale, in a place ex-tremely difficult of access. The mines lie to the east ofa very steep mountain, which forms the west side ofthe vale of Stomathwaite. The strata of the moun-tain are very irregular and broken, and the black leadis generally found formed in the fissures. The coun-try, in the immediate vicinity of the Wadd mines,has been described by a native of this country, “ asfull of cataracts and rivers, that are precipitated fromthe crags with an alarming noise ; not a herb isto be seen but wild savine, growing in the intersticesof the naked rock, while alarming projections of vastpromontories, the vicinity of the clouds, the thunder ofthe explosions of the distant slate quarries, the depthto the plain below, and the mountains heaped on moun-tains, which are piled around, form such a scene, andexcite such feelings as no words can express.”
The lakes and mountains being the principal objectsof attraction in this county, we shall give a length-ened account of each in their alphabetical order. Thenames by which the lakes are distinguished are Ulls-water, Thirl-mere, Derwent-water, Over-water, Lows-water, Crummock-water, Devock-water, and threesmaller ones, called Tindale-tarn, Talkin-tarn, andTarn-Walding.
The mountains are Black-comb, Wry nose, High-pike, Helvellyn, Grass-mere, Glara Mara, Grisdale-pike, Skiddaw, Cross-fell, Saddle-back, Coldbeck,and Souter Fell, remarkable for the optical delusionobserved on its sides about a century ago, so similarto the vision of the Brocken mountain, in Germany,and which caused so much alarm to the simple inha-bitants of the surrounding country.
The names of the chief rivers arc the Eden, Earnout,Derwent, Ehen, Greata, Cocker, Ellen, Warnpool,Caldew, Peteril, Esk, Liddal, Line, or Leven, Irthing,Gilt, and the Duddon, whose winding course has beenso sweetly followed by the poet Wordsworth.
The climate of this mountain land is so pure andhealthful, that the inhabitants are noted for theirlongevity, to which the simplicity of their mannersalso much contributes. These people are mostlyhardy, bold, and well formed, and boast a degree ofmental vigour, simplicity, and independence, consistentwith their physical superiority. There is, however,so marked a difference in the classes, confined to theseveral districts of this county, that it is almost im-ossible to characterise the whole generally. Therst class, comprising the descendants of the wild andlawless borderers, the possessors of the “ debateableland,” still retain the spirit of their hardy ancestors,and evince it by seeking every kind of dangerous orunlawful enterprise these tamer times afford.
The second class comprehends those who occupythe more cultivated and commercial parts of the soil,and have contracted habits more refined, and lesshospitable, from intercourse with the rest of the king-dom, and whose manners consequently differ littlefrom those of other provinces.^
The third class includes the miners of AldstonMoor, a rude and churlish race.
Cumberland is remarkable for possessing some ofthe finest cataracts and water-falls in England ; and toafford the reader some notion of the prevailing cha-
E BLAND MOUNTAINS,racter of this county, we give in the accompanyingengraving a view of Colwith Force, one of the mostbeautiful cascades in the whole county.
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Cumberland returns four members to the Britishparliament, having had two representatives added bythe late reform bill. To give an accurate idea of thegradual increase in the population of this county, wesubjoin a synopsis of six different periods, taken withinthe last hundred and thirty years :—In 1700 it had
62.300 ; in 1750, 86,900 ; in 1801, 121,100 ; in 1811,
138.300 ; in 1821, 159,300, and, by the last returns,they had increased to 169,681 persons. It is a dividedcounty ; the eastern division comprises the wards ofCumberland, Eskdale, and Leath. The population ofthis division is 91,974. Polling-places for the twomembers are Carlisle, Brampton, Wigton, Penrith,and Aldston.
The western division comprises the wards of Allder-dale above, and Allderdale below Derwent. The popu-lation of this division amounts to 77,707. The poll-ing-places for the two members are at Cockermouth,Aspatria, Keswick, Bootle, and Egremont.
Cumberland. A post town, and capital of Alle-ghany couuty, Maryland, on the Potomac, at thejunction of Will’s Creek. It is a considerable town,and contains several public buildings. The moun-tains in the vicinity abound in stone coal, great quan-tities of which are transported down the Potomac inflat and keel boats. The Cumberland or GreatWestern road extends from this town to the banks ofthe Ohio at Wheeling. It tvas made by the govern-ment of the United States of America, and a surveyhas been made from thence to the Mississippi, 600miles further. It is 150 miles W. by N. of Baltimore.
Cumberland Mountains, in Tennessee, NorthAmerica. The range commences in the S. W. partof Pennsylvania, and in Virginia it takes the nameof Laurel Mountain, passes through the S. E. part otKentucky, and terminates in Tennessee, eighty milesS. E. of Nashville. A considerable portion of thismountain in Tennessee is composed of stupendouspiles of craggy rocks. It is thinly covered with trees,and has springs impregnated with alum. Limestoneis found on both sides of it.