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siderably. In some places it is tough and stubborn in the fracture, 

 whilst in others it has a much more malleable character : the top stra- 

 tum of about six to eight yai'ds is brittle and full of joints. This is 

 used only for burning for agricultural and building purposes. Then 

 comes a band not quite so thick, very solid, close, and compact, ■without 

 joints, which is used and highly esteemed as building material ; it 

 polishes beautifully, having the nature and appearance of encunital 

 marble : underneath is a thick bed of the character of the lop formation. 

 The difficulty here is not to find fossils, but to get specimens devoid of 

 some portion of them. Nevertheless it requires management to work 

 them out satisfactorily, and you too often, for your patience, find the 

 last blow that was to dress the specimen to your liking, destroy it by 

 some unfortunate fracture. Whilst you are exercising your ingenuity, 

 it will be wise to enlist the assistance of one of the miners, whose local 

 knowledge generally enables him to point out the position of the strata 

 where the best fossils abound ; frequeni ly they have them for disposal, 

 and are quite able to drive a bargain with a purchaser. 



Following the windings of the Clwyd, Vrith the limestone formation 

 in detached masses on the one hand and the new red on the other, you 

 come on the second mound, where are worked the quarries of Llan- 

 rhaido, taking their name from the adjacent village. The aspect is so 

 similar to Pen-y-Graig, that I shall not trouble you with details, but as 

 tlie day is hot, the previous walk and work considerable, you may rest 

 awhile, and examine with interest the church of the locality. The 

 foundation must be ancient. There is a painted window at the east end — 

 the subject, the genealogy of Chiist — bearing date either 1508 or 28 ; 

 the first would be in the reign of the 7th Henry, and the latter of the 

 tyrant, his successor. A singular history is connected with the resto- 

 ration of this window. Some few years back, a person digging in a 

 neighbouring ravine called Nant-y-Fonan, came upon a large chest 

 hewn out of the solid bole of an oak tree. This chest, seen in the 

 church, is from 10 to 12 feet long by 3 to 3^ feet wide, clasped and 

 secured with strong iron bands and immense padlocks. On opening 

 the chest, this window and parts of another Avere found safely packed ; 

 and, from documents, it was ascertained that, fearing the destructive 

 organs of Cromwell and his soldiers, (or perhaps Mytton, his general, 

 more renowned in this locality,) it was taken out, packed in this box, 

 and secreted in the hope of better times. The window now is like a 

 beautiful picture set in a frame of the most outrageously bad taste that 

 can be imagined, the modernised character of the building being some- 

 thing between a tithe-barn and one of our old fashioned poorhouses 

 whitewashed, at the end of which are stuck two gothic windows, in 



