128 



HARDWICKE'S SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 



Llyns Dulyn and Melynllyn lay embosomed among 

 the steep rocks there visible. In order to make as 

 straight a course as possible, I descended the valley, 

 crossed successively several brooks and tracts of 

 " squashy " ground, till I came to a fair-sized stream, 

 which I conjectured came from the wished-for Llyn. 

 The weather was now much improved, and distant 

 prospects were much more discernible. From the 

 point I had now reached I saw a great dark hollow 

 in the side of the mountain to my right, one of the 

 spurs of Carnedd Llewellyn, which I felt sure must 

 contain the lake. I pressed on up the stream, expect- 

 ing ere long to see the gleam of the water ; but no, up, 

 up I went, and not till within ten yards or so of the edge 

 did I see the lake, — then it suddenly burst into view, 

 a large dark sheet of water, shut in, on all sides but 

 this one, by high precipitous rocks, in some places 

 coming almost sheer down a height of about 500 feet 

 into the water. I was indeed glad that I had 

 persevered and managed to reach the spot, for cer- 

 tainly it is well worth a visit. Dulyn (black water) 

 is without doubt an appropriate name, for I never 

 saw such a very dark and altogether weird-looking 

 lake before. Its surroundings, high rocks, reaching 

 as they did on this occasion into the clouds, are most 

 impressive, the whole effect being one of stupendous 

 wildness and gloom. The place was not inaptly 

 described by Charles Kingsley, in a familiar letter to 

 a friend, as the " original mouth of the pit itself." 



Close by the Llyn I found a temporary wooden 

 shed, and several workmen laying piping in the 

 ground ; on questioning them, I found that they were 

 engaged completing the arrangements by which, I 

 should imagine, the purest water conceivable is now 

 carried a distance of sixteen miles to Llandudno, the 

 fashionable watering-place on the sea-coast. There 

 were eight or ten men living in this shed, and they told 

 me they had been working there during the summer 

 for four years. In the winter the place is quite unget- 

 atable, and even in the spring the climate is severe. 

 Last spring they were there rather early, and had once 

 or twice to dig a way out of the house through the 

 snow in the morning ! I gleaned several interesting 

 facts from these men about the Llyn. They said it 

 was cram-full of fish ; but, like all lake trout in these 

 parts, they were difficult to catch, and in fact could 

 only be hooked after a good flood, when it was 

 impossible for any one to get up to the place from 

 the valley below, and unless you were living on the 

 spot, you had no chance. The men had a long line 

 rigged up, which stretched right across the lake, and 

 had drop-flies suspended at intervals of a few yards. 

 The wind bobbed these up and down in an enticing 

 manner, and on favourable days a large quantity of 

 fine fish were captured. They also had a raft for 

 fishing from ; and the foreman told me that he had 

 measured the depth of the lake in one place as 

 216 feet. From the shape of the basin in which the 

 Llyn lies, and from the fact of its great depth, it 



would almost appear to be an old crater; and most 

 of the rocks around are of igneous origin. 



I reached Llyn Dulyn at 3 p.m., and was quite 

 ready for another rest, so I put on my mackintosh to 

 keep myself warm, as the air was chill, and sat down 

 by the margin of the water to finish the provisions I 

 had brought with me, and afterwards employed my 

 time by taking a sketch of this remarkable lake. This 

 occupied me till a quarter to five o'clock, when, not 

 wishing to be overtaken by darkness in such an out- 

 of-the-way spot, I reluctantly had to "make tracks " 

 towards home, much as I wished that it had been 

 earlier, to have enabled me to see Melynllyn, a lake 

 about half a mile higher up, or even to gain the 

 summit of Carnedd Llewellyn, only about two miles 

 further — though two very stiff ones, and across a 

 bad bog into the bargain. 



The wind had now changed a little, and seeing a 

 fish or two rise in the small stream, whose course I 

 had to follow for a distance of some seven miles to 

 the Conway valley, I determined to have a cast or 

 two with my fly. I soon landed three small trout ; 

 but the twilight coming on warned me that I must 

 put up my rod and press on in real earnest, if I 

 wanted to get home that night. As I followed the 

 stream, vegetation became more abundant the lower 

 I descended, and presently I entered a tract of 

 luxuriant heather mixed with other plants. Here 

 many moths were on the wing ; but I had not much 

 time to devote to their capture, which was rather 

 difficult, as the ground was very rough, with large 

 boulders strewn all over the place. The only thing I 

 netted worth mention was Charcas Graminis, the 

 Antler Moth, here in great profusion. It is particu- 

 larly worthy of notice, as it seems to have completely 

 overrun the country this year, becoming in some 

 places, as at Clitheroe in Lancashire, almost a plague, 

 and doing much damage. As far as my observation 

 goes, it is usually rather a scarce insect, only met 

 with in certain localities ; but this year I have seen it 

 at every place I have visited. Its sudden appearance 

 over the whole country in such profusion is another 

 of those mysterious workings of Nature which finite 

 man at present is utterly unable to fathom. 



Continuing my course along the stream, I at 

 length, at a distance of about three and a half miles 

 from Llyn Dulyn, came upon the confines of habitation, 

 a small mountain farm, surrounded by a few acres of 

 cultivated ground, from which the meanest apology 

 for a crop of hay was just being collected. As usual, 

 the faithful guardian of each of these primitive 

 Welsh homesteads, a great shaggy sheep-dog, rushed 

 out with much noise and show of fierceness, which 

 sometimes, however, develops into further than a 

 mere show, and is liable to become a serious nuisance, 

 or even impediment in one's progress. The next 

 thing I met with in the way of impediment was 

 a herd of long-horned black Welsh cattle. These 

 animals are often disposed to act strongly on the 



