258 A BOTANICAL TOUR THROUGH SOUTH WALES, ke. 



this mandate was so effectually carried into execution, that none have ever been 

 seen since. 



A foot-track leads across a dreary rocky moor from the Dinas rock to Cil 

 Hepste Farm, from whence there is a most rugged and miry descent to the great 

 water-falls. Some sombre views of distant gloomy mountains are presented in 

 the course of the route, as well as a glance at the profound woody ravines, 

 involved in whose shadows the rivers Hepste and Mellte urge their agitated 

 waters far below to a junction. A deep stony and puddly gully, shrouded in an 

 almost impervious thicket, is the only practicable pass down the steep, and this 

 emerges in the glen below, at the base of the cascade. A considerable body of 

 water (as there was at this time), projected over a slate rock in a fifty-feet fall, 

 though not a sublime is a beautiful object, and if it does not alarm, it captivates. 

 The water precipitates itself in five divisions, which, however, superficially unite 

 into one showery mass of crystal spangles, dashing with eternal motion, like the 

 joys of life, down the slippery rock that vainly offers to detain them within its 

 intricate drapery — gleaming for a moment in iridescent lustre, till the instantly 

 succeeding plunge, reverberated by the rocks around, records their passage into 

 the sullen shadows that for ever conceal them from view. Over the gloom and 

 stillness of the fallen waters quivers the lovely Iris, with its radiant zone — 

 bright messenger of heaven, its coloured glory now oscilated in the gloom, like 

 memory burnishing the past, but unable to advance a solitary gleam to light up 

 the future. This water-fall may formerly have been much higher than at 

 present, for the water has scooped deeply into the bowels of the slate rock, and 

 the depth of the glen from the land above must be at least 150 feet, so that, 

 were these precipices not densely clothed with wood, it must be very dangerous 

 to descend them, and the streams, except from certain points, of course flow 

 unseen. This is the general character of the streams in the schistose strata of 

 Wales ; the dark narrow glens are still annually deepening from the effects of 

 continual attrition upon the shivering substance of the rock, and this cascade 

 might in time be altogether obliterated, were it not probable that the glen below 

 it would deepen in the same proportion to the ingulfing efforts made by its own 

 waters upon the slaty stratum over which it flows. As in many other water- 

 falls, a very fair passage, practicable even for horses, lies under the waters of this 

 to the opposite side of the stream, and some tourists have boasted of taking 

 shelter from a storm of rain under the watery canopy ! This, like many other 

 supposed wonders, would, however, pretty well illustrate jumping out of the 

 frying-pan into the fire ; for if the shower lasted long, the recipient of its shelter- 

 ing powers would assuredly have a wetter coat, and feet too, than if he had 

 jogged on and defied the elements, instead of attempting a trick upon Aquarius 



