JULY. 281 



maid" at Oystermouth. Ah! twice has "the Mermaid," 

 at Oystermouth, received me within her dripping 

 embraces. Once I was alone the second time with 

 two lady campanions : both times, alas ! overwhelmed 

 in a deluge of rain after mounting the heights in front 

 of the Mumbles Lighthouse. On these rocks several 

 of the rarer plants grow in wild profusion, as the 

 Asperula cynancJiica, Juniper a communis, Euphorbia 

 portlandica, Sedbiosa columbaria, Rubia peregrina, the 

 hairy-leaved variety of Cistus Helianthemum, Carex 

 pauciflora, and the Scaly Hart's-tongue Pern (Gram- 

 mitis GeteracTi.) "We had scarcely got among these 

 plants, and were engaged in gathering them, when a 

 mist began to spread along the surface of old ocean. 

 It increased to a cloud the sea scowled, and became 

 of a deep purple hue, while the wind swept along a 

 rhimy shower to the heights we were patrolling. For 

 some time we defied this, till the rhime increasing to 

 positive rain, we were forced to shelter within the 

 keel of a ruined boat that served as a signal station 

 on the crest of the range of cliffs. Here we contem- 

 plated the darkened scene and mist-covered sea, with 

 the oscillating vessels below, for some time in security ; 

 but our turned-up boat was not so water tight as 

 comfort required, and big drops beginning to distil 

 upon us, with not the slightest prospect of any truce 

 or armistice on the part of the rain, we made up our 

 minds to a sally from our position, and retreat, as we 

 best could, to " the Mermaid." Meantime the paths 

 had become excessively slippery the rain made us 

 anxious for the nearest cut, and, in defiling down the 

 rocks, to effect this wished-for consummation, some 

 of the party approached nearer to mother earth than 



