148 



HARDWICKE'S SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 



mile the stream may be followed through a series of 

 glens, gullies and gorges, overhung and festooned 

 with trees. The geological interest as an example of 

 denudation is also great. I sketched a view of Hugh 

 Lloyd's pulpit, a pillar of rock left standing in the 

 middle of the stream. Further up are some very 

 large boulders wedged in the walls of the stream in 

 quite a remarkable manner. These I have described 

 in a paper to the Geological Society, so I will not 

 repeat it here. 



About three miles from Ffestiniog, on the road to 

 Bala, we get fine views of the Rhaidr Cwm, a series 

 of splendid falls on the same stream but quite 

 different in character to those just described. It is 

 a mountain torrent springing from rock to rock and 

 cutting deep gorges in the hillside. It is above the 

 level at which trees flourish. 



A good walker may cross the moors at a point 

 further on the road and get to Bettws-y-Coed by 

 Penmachno. Nothing is more delightful than the air 

 of these moors some thousand feet above sea level, 

 and the gradual change in the long descent to the 

 vale of Conway, from bare mountain sides to the 

 luxuriant foliage of the vale is very agreeable. The 

 falls of the Conway may be visited, and the ~eturn to 

 Ffestiniog made by train to Blaenau. 



Otlicr Excursions. — I fear I have exhausted my 

 reader's patience in these descriptions in which it 

 is difficult to reproduce the feelings which take 

 possession of the mind open to the influences and 

 ever-changing moods of nature. It is impossible to 

 w r alk anywhere about Ffestiniog without being grati- 

 fied with the scenery. Many a walk did we take to 

 Blaenau Ffestiniog, yet one may safely say that such 

 is the variety of effect produced by the atmosphere 

 and cloud, that the picture was never the same. The 

 mountains at times seem to be pervaded with an 

 impenetrable and mysterious gloom which excites the 

 curiosity and we strive vainly to picture what is 

 behind, while, at others, every detail lighted up is so 

 distinct, and yet so tender, that one feels the depths of 

 despair in trying to reproduce the effects on paper. 

 I have said little about the vale. It is very beautiful 

 but its beauty is not of that mysterious nature which 

 constantly keeps the imagination on the stretch as the 

 mountainsdo. At the same time some prefer the sooth- 

 ing effect of a combination of trees rocks and water 

 making up such a landscape ; so I leave it to them. 



Excursions that will repay the geologist may be 

 made down the valley of Dolwyddelan, past the 

 Castle, and across the mountains to Capel Curig, 

 and thence back to Bettws-y-Coed. We pass the 

 foot of the grand cone of Moel Siabod, a landmark 

 among the mountains. Again, a trip to Harlech may 

 be made, noting the remarkable anticlinal hills on 

 the left (at the bottom of map LXXV., north-east), 

 the surface contours of which are formed by the curved 

 bedding planes which, wrapping over the hills, 



terminate successively to the southward in well- 

 defined scarps. This is perhaps as curious and 

 instructive an example of denudation as may be seen. 

 At Harlech Castle we note how remarkably the 

 Cambrian grits, of which the walls are built, have 

 stood the weather, while the sandstone dressings of 

 the openings have crumbled away. The architecture 

 of the front to the interior quadrangle is massive and 

 grand. Beyond Harlech we saw quarries in which 

 the grit and interlaminations of slate may be studied ; 

 and still further on, a great bank of drift, lying on the 

 mountain side, and skirted by the Cambrian railway, 

 may be investigated ; that is, if the explorer is not 

 afraid of thorns and torn clothes. 



A trip down the narrow gauge railway to Port 

 Madoc, and a visit to Borth, is both pleasant and 

 instructive. At the latter place geology may be 

 combined with sea bathing. It is a very pretty little 

 bay, hewn by the sea out of the Lingula beds. Nor 

 must we omit a visit to the grand volcanic mass of 

 the Arenigs, or fail to notice the enormous blocks 

 and boulders in the railway cutting near Arenig 

 station here, 1200 feet above the sea level. It were 

 impossible to do justice to all the details of interest, 

 geologic and artistic, within reach of the sojourner 

 at Ffestiniog ; in the space at my command I can do 

 little more than outline them. Nor is the district 

 devoid of interest to the antiquary. A good pair 

 of legs and lungs, guided by scientific ardour, will do 

 wonders. I have avoided all references to fossil 

 collections. My object was, firstly, to gain health ; 

 secondly, to find a pleasing occupation for the mind. 

 Without the latter Ffestiniog would be voted slow ; 

 with it, and the great inducement presented for 

 rambles and long walks, I found it health-giving, 

 exhdarating, and ennobling to the mind. What is 

 beauty? has been a question debated by artists, 

 philosophers, and poets. We know by feeling what 

 it means, but the metaphysical analysis which 

 attempts an explanation of the conditions of mind 

 under which it is perceived is usually unsatisfactory 

 in its answers. Of this, however, I am sure : given 

 the constitutional temperament which rejoices in the 

 harmonies of nature, the wider the knowledge the 

 keener will be the perception of natural beauty. 



But I must not forget my geological readers. In 

 describing my trip to the Bwlch Drws Ardudwy, I 

 was so taken up with the outward show and sem- 

 blance of things that I quite forgot to explain that 

 we were passing over what may be considered the 

 central dome of the Welsh system, forming originally 

 the highest part of the mountain system of North 

 Wales, but now stripped bare of its former covering 

 of Silurian rocks both upper and lower, with its much 

 altered Cambrian rocks deeply eaten into by denuding 

 agencies, yet still presenting mountains rising 2400 

 feet above the sea level. These great mountains, the 

 Rhinogs, Diphwys, &c, are entirely carved out of 

 the Cambrian strata from base to summit after the 



