9 3 



HARDWICKE'S SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 



angler, I tied my fly-rod up tight in its canvas case 

 to use en route as a staff, and put my fly-book in my 

 satchel ; last, but not least, I put on a very strong pair 

 of boots for the rough stones, streams, and boggy 

 land I should have to cross. 



Thus equipped, I set off by the first train from 

 Conway to Aber, arriving there about half-past eight. 

 On g-ettine: out of the train the clouds looked low and 

 gloomy up the pass I intended travelling ; but still 

 being by nature of a sanguine temperament when out 

 for a holiday, I hoped for the best. Leaving the 

 station, I could not help being struck by the then 

 comparatively insignificant and innocent-looking 

 nature of the little stream which crossed under the 

 railway line, and could hardly imagine that it could 

 ever do so much damage as it did some few summers 

 ago, when, suddenly swelled to a roaring torrent by 

 heavy rains, it completely washed away the line, 

 thereby causing no small inconvenience to the traffic. 

 Half a mile up the road I reached Aber ; turning to 

 the left by the church, and then again to the right, 

 I entered rather a narrow lane leading up to the 

 glen. Once upon this road, one feels upon historic 

 ground, for it is the one mentioned above, leading 

 through the pass of Bwlch-y-ddeuvaen, which has 

 been used from earliest times, and has been tra- 

 versed successively by Ancient Britons and conquering 

 Romans, Saxons, and Normans. 



The first object of interest is "YMud," a small 

 conical hill behind some cottages at the side of the 

 road. This artificial mound, to all appearances, ori- 

 ginally a tumulus, possibly covering dead warriors 

 who have fallen defending the glen against the 

 invader in very early times, had in the ninth century 

 a fort upon it, and subsequently a castle and palace 

 of the later Princes of Wales. This castle was the 

 scene of a tragical tale, much dwelt upon by Welsh 

 historians — the murder, by Llewellyn of Iorwerth, 

 of a powerful Norman baron, William de Breos, for 

 intriguing with his wife Joan, a daughter of King 

 John of England. Here also Prince Llewellyn is said 

 to have received the summons of the English king to 

 surrender the Principality. Close by is an old house 

 of Henry VIII.'s time, " Pen-y-bryn." Leaving the 

 village the glen soon becomes narrower, and at one 

 place in particular the high cliffs on the right of the 

 road approach very close to the edge of the stream, 

 which tumbles along among all sorts of romantic 

 boulders on the left ; one can well imagine what a 

 difficult pass it must have been to force, when 

 sturdy Welshmen held the heights above on both 

 sides. On top of the rock on the other side of the 

 river the ancient fort of Maes-y-gaer can still be 

 traced, and looks well-nigh impregnable from below. 

 Rounding a corner one soon comes to a bridge, Pont 

 Newydd, about a mile from Aber, where the road 

 crosses the stream and runs on in an easterly direction 

 towards the Bwlch-y-ddeuvaen ; notwithstanding the 

 temptation to continue along it and investigate the 



remains of ancient habitation, burial-places, and other 

 relics of antiquity to be met with on the route, I 

 determined to follow the course of the stream and 

 visit the famous Aber cascade, as I had never seen it ; 

 so leaving the road behind, I set off along a footpath 

 through hazel coppices towards] the north. These 

 coppices looked as if they would prove fine hunting 

 grounds for Lepidoptera ; but being only a little after 

 9 A.M., and the wind in the east, I could not find 

 anything worthy of note. In a short time the cascade 

 came in sight, and a wonderful specimen of its kind 

 it is too, looking in the distance just like a silver 

 thread running down the face of the dark precipitous 

 rock. Further to the right is another waterfall of 

 similar appearance, but inferior in volume ; the path 

 gradually ascends all the way, eventually crossing 

 a ridge, from which a fine view of the cascade can be 

 obtained, and also, if you look behind you, a still 

 finer view presents itself, for down the glen you' see 

 the blue waters of the Straits and a bit of Anglesea 

 in i:he distance, between the high hills on either side. 

 Almost the only bit of sunshine I was to be favoured 

 with during the day here burst forth and lit up the 

 distant prospect with a kind of electric-looking light, 

 which was very striking and beautiful. After cross- 

 ing this ridge, the path descends, and you get amongst 

 large boulders, and finally down to the stream itself, 

 which runs from a small pool at the foot of the fall, 

 where the water dashes headlong down an almost 

 precipitous rock a height of 70 feet. Here, it being 

 three miles from Aber, I rested myself on a boulder 

 stone, amidst most romantic and delightful surround- 

 ings, listening to the roar of the water coming down 

 the rock above. Had it not been for the remains of 

 those seemingly indispensable accompaniments of the 

 British tourist and sightseer, viz. empty bottles and 

 sandwich papers, one might have fancied oneself in 

 some fairy country far from the haunts of men ; but 

 these relics strewn about, and the well-worn stones and 

 paths at the foot of the cascade, compelled the idea 

 that at a later hour of the day the scene would not prove 

 nearly so lonely and romantic ; as it was, on leaving, 

 I met a solitary tourist wending his way to the fall, 

 the only human being I was to see for the next six 

 hours. 



Looking at my ordnance map, I determined that 

 my next destination should be a mountain tarn some 

 three miles east as the crow flies, but much farther 

 as a human being is obliged to walk, called Llyn an 

 Afon, nestled at the foot of the steep precipices of 

 Y Foel Fras. To gain this end I first thought of 

 scaling the rock beside the cascade, and making my 

 way up the valley above ; but I came to the conclusion 

 that it would be rather impracticable, so decided 

 to retrace my steps for a short distance towards Aber, 

 and then cross the hill to the east, where it was not 

 so steep. I was also desirous of visiting the valley 

 on the other side for the purpose of inspecting an 

 ancient stone, then called the Arrow Stone (Carreg-y- 



