1832] JOURNAL— WELSH TOUR. 11 



much below the level of the railway, and the slates are brought up 

 to it by two long steep inclined planes on which large iron vessels 

 are let down full of water, which pull up the slate wagons ; when 

 they get to the bottom they are emptied by a valve and then 

 drawn up again with great ease. There is a cistern of water 

 supplied from a small mountain stream placed over the top of 

 the upper of the two planes for the purpose of filling the vessels. 

 The upper part of the quarry communicates with the railway by 

 three planes, one above the other, on which the descending waggons 

 draw up the empty ones. Many other parts of the excavations are 

 far below the level of the rail, and have waterworks for the purpose 

 of drawing up the slate, the water from one wheel flowing on and 

 working another. On our way down from the quarry we found 

 near the lower end of the little valley in which it is situated 

 Polemonium caeruleum. Dined at three o'clock. Started at four 

 o'clock and walked to Carnarvon, where we stayed the night. 



July 8. Sunday. Went to church at Carnarvon at 11 o'clock, 

 and walked back to Llanberis afterwards. It was a most stormy 

 evening, with very hard rain and high wind. (N.B. — English 

 service every Sunday morning at Carnarvon.) 



July 10. Started earlier than usual (about half-past 8) to go 

 to Cwm Idwal. We went by direction up the stream opposite the 

 inn until we came to the place where two streams and an empty 

 channel meet, then turned to the right up the mountain, and on 

 our arrival at the top kept rather to the left between the one which 

 we ascended and the next {i,e. due east), and soon arrived at Llyn- 

 y-Cwm. In it we found Garex ampullacea, and saw leaves of Lobelia 

 Dortmanna. Following the stream, we arrived at the top of Twll Du, 

 a narrow fissure in the rock about three yards wide and nearly a 

 hundred deep in the lowest part. The stream from Llyn-y-Cwm 

 dashes through it with great impetuosity. We tried hard to find a 

 place at which it would be possible to descend to the bottom of the 

 fissure where it opens in the face of the precipice called Castell-y- 

 Geifr (?) over Llyn Idwal. After some time we found on the south 

 side a way down a ledge of rocks (near the top of which I found 

 Gnaphalium dioicum) which led us to the lower opening of the fissure. 

 The view up it was very fine, there being a waterfall about the 

 middle. We then went along a narrow ledge on the other side of 

 the stream, which, after leading us for some way along the face of 

 the precipice and under a sort of showerbath, took us, with some 

 exertion, to the top of the rocks. We found Galium boreale, Arenaria 

 verna, Thalidrum alpinum and T. minus, Sedum Rhodiola, Asplenium 

 viride, Oxyria reniformis, Saxifraga hypnoides, various, and Cystopteris 

 fragilis. I afterwards ascended to the top of a part of Glydr-y-Vawr 

 but could not see far on account of the valley, Cwm Ffynnon, being 

 quite full of cloud, so as to run as it were over the mountains round 

 it. The wind on the top, which is called Caernedd-y-Gwynt (the 



