169 



The routine business having been transacted, the members started about 

 II o'clock on their day's explorations, Dr. Sevan, of Beaufort, kindly and ably 

 acting as guide. As the strata on the northern boundary of the great South 

 Wales Coal-field were the principal objects to be viewed, and as the distance to be 

 covered was consequently great, the party engaged and filled a stage-coach, by 

 which they were conveyed over the first and least interesting part of their journey. 

 Taking the Merthyr road, they passed rapidly out of the charming valley of Usk, 

 by way of Llanfoist and Govilon to Clydach. Here the romantic beauty of the 

 scenery, the richly wooded dells, the lofty hills, the little village cUnging to the 

 hill-side, the canal-aqueduct, the broad vale of Usk, and the mighty Pen-y-fal, 

 Gadr, and Scyrrid, in the background, made up a landscape not easily to be 

 surpassed, even in Siluria. The natural charms of the scenery lost nothing hrom 

 the alternations of bright sunshine and light cloud. The morning had been 

 dull, but as the day advanced, the nimbus clouds melted into the azure, and the 

 magnificent cirrus and cirro-stratus clouds, which hung almost motionless in 

 upper air, at once added to the beauty of the scenery and tempered the heat. 

 Fortunately for the party, the day continued to be fine throughout, and was 

 followed by as fine an evening. 



On reaching Bwlch-y-cwn ("the dog's pass"), the explorers dismounted 

 from then: vehicle, and descended into this wild and picturesque wooded glen. 

 The aspect of the country at this spot is characteristic of the junction of the three 

 strata, the Mountain Limestone and its immediate neighbour-strata, the 

 Red Conglomerate, and the Millstone Grit. Lofty hiUs with broad summits and 

 steep precipitous sides ; beautiful glens resounding with water-falls, and streams 

 making their way over the naked rock ; a rich clothing of vegetation shutting 

 out the depths of the valley from above, and giving to the gazer from below 

 lovely pictures of " chequered shade," as the sunbeams peer between the leaves. 



Ascending again from this beautiful valley, the party soon afterwards again 

 quitted the road in order to visit the limestone qaurries on the hills. Passing 

 by Ffy:mon-y-coed, they ascended Craig-y-gaer, which is in fact the eastern 

 corner of the immense hill called Myndd-pen-c>Tn. The mountain limestone is 

 worked at se\eral places on this hill ; and the sound of many hammers, on reach- 

 ing a quarry, proved that the geologists were busy. After bagging a few fossils, 

 the party made their way along the tram-road past Yr Hafod to Brynmawr, and 

 thence to Beaufort. Here Dr. Bevan kindly entertained the party at a very 

 handsomely provided lunch. 



The visitors afterwards spent some time very profitably in inspecting Dr. 

 Bevan's interesting coUection of fossils from the Coal Measures of the immediate 

 neighbourhood. Besides many beautifully perfect specimens of the vegetation 

 of the Coal period. Dr. Bevan's collection included some specimens of the highest 

 possible interest to geologists, viz., teeth, scales, and bones of fish of the same 

 Carboniferous period embedded in the black shale. 



The members started about 3-30 for the pits of the Beaufort Iron Company, 

 and spent a considerable time m examining one of the workings on Cefn-meiddig, 



