256 A BOTANICAL TOUR THROUGH SOUTH WALES, &e." 



soon found the Mellte was not to be passed, any more than the Styx, without 

 paying Charon his fee. In other words, my redoubted guide contrived to 

 recollect at Pont-nedd-vechan, that it was absolutely necessary to obtain the aid 

 of another person with candles, and he knew a man well acquainted with the 

 cavern, which he must confess he was not, whom he eould get to accompany us. 

 To prevent disappointment and indulge security, I submitted to this exaction, 

 and we proceeded. Between Pont-nedd-vechan and the Dynas rock, to which 

 we now directed our steps, I think I never saw so great a profusion of Rosa 

 villosa, all exhibiting that deep red tint which renders the Welch Roses of this 

 species so eminently beautiful. We crossed the brawling river Dinas, and 

 examined the immense rock of mountain limestone which is quarried here, as 

 well as that portion of it where the stratum forms a remarkable curve, well exhi- 

 bited upon the face of the rock, and called in Welsh Bwa maen, or the stone-bow. 

 The occurrence of tortuous strata is now well understood by geologists, 

 and is not so uncommon as was formerly supposed, nor need I pause to 

 dilate upon it here. The ravine above the " Stone-bow," however, approaches the 

 terrific, and is well worthy the examination of the geologist, A narrow chasm, 

 between precipitate rocks rising on one side above 200 feet in perpendicular 

 altitude, is completely choaked up with enormous shapeless masses of stone, that 

 have either fallen from the precipices above, or been swept along the gorges of 

 the mountains by raving wintry torrents, when, stopped by some impediment to 

 their career, they have here accumulated in towering stair-like masses, pile above 

 pile, till they present the remarkable aspect of a stony glacier. I explored the 

 ravine for some distance, till enormous crevices and gaps warned me that a slip 

 might be attended with the unpleasant result of a fractured limb, and I therefore 

 desisted ere too late. 



We ascended the rock called Craig-y-Dinas, on the other side, by a road that 

 in former times must have been a very unsafe one, but exhibiting a splendid 

 view of the various mountains and vallies here opening into the wider vale of 

 Neath, with a richly-wooded country extending in the direction of Swansea, 

 Arabia hirsula was very abundant about the rock. On the summit I noticed 

 two or three grey old stones, evidently the remains of a druidical circle, though 

 for the greater part almost obliterated ; but I was enabled to make out the circle 

 to my own satisfaction. At all events Superstition claims the place as her own, 

 for my attendants pointed out to me a detached towering crag of limestone, 

 separated from the general mass, as they told me, by supernatural agency, and 

 certainly fearfully over-hanging the glen below. This they asserted was called 

 Ystol-Gividdon, or the Chair of the Witch, and they invited me to ascend it on 

 my hands and knees by a Goat's path, that I might neglect no possible chance 

 of breaking my neck, though I believe, according to ancient usage, some virtue 



