SEPTEMBER. 403 



cliffs on my left, among vast broken fragments in 

 whose clefts and recesses beauteous and delicate green 

 fronds of various Ferns appear, as the Parsley Pern 

 (Allosorus crispus), the fairy three-branched Polypody 

 (JP.Dryopteris)) the Bladder-fern (Cistopteris dentata) , 

 and the Black-stalked Spleenwort (Asplenium Adian- 

 twn-nigrum). Bell-flowers too shiver here even in 

 the sunny gleam, and various Hawkweeds (Hieracium) 

 exhibit their golden rays on the rocks high above. 

 Descending lower down rough low-roofed cottages at 

 length appear on each vantage ledge the narrow road 

 presents, and their slaty roofs are bandaged with a 

 luxuriant crop of Houseleeks (Sempervivum tectorum), 

 with their starry tufts of succulent leaves, among 

 which tall stalks appear crowned with corymbs of dull 

 red flowers, and the edges of the slates are covered 

 with the silver-flowered Stonecrops growing here with 

 profuse luxuriance. Rapidly the road became steeper, 

 and brought me almost to the lowest depths of the 

 valley where stood the village of Llangynnog itself, 

 by its rushing stream filled with boulders. On the 

 fallen schistose layers of rock above this village 

 towards Pistil Rhayader, I was surprised at the quan- 

 tity of Parsley-Fern that presented itself. It grew 

 almost shrubby, in round gorse-like masses of con- 

 siderable size, and had, from the aspect of its crisp 

 green fronds, a very lively appearance. 



Having descended from nature's craggy throne into 

 the valley of humiliation, we can now regard those 

 humbler wild flowers, or " weeds," as the uninitiated 

 would name them, which are familiar to the eye at 

 this period, and serve as well to denote the autumnal 

 season as the congregated swallows and martins, 



2D2 



