46 BOTANICAL SKETCHES FROM NORTH WALES. [February, 



miles from the fall, and no direction given him on the other side 

 "would assure him of a successful journey through these wilds to 

 the Pistyll. 



We had the advantage of a kind friend, who was eyes to us as 

 Jethro was to Moses and the Israelites in the wilderness. He 

 came as far with us as to be able to show us the precise locality 

 of the fall, which we could not see till within a hundred yards 

 of it. 



We descended the glen, keeping on the right side of the rivulet 

 which issues out of Llyn Cwm, till we reached the little river 

 Rhaiadr, which falls into the stream we descended, and forms 

 this celebrated fall. At this time the water was scanty, but the 

 rocks were as formidable as ever. The dry season, though it di- 

 minished the quantity of water in the spout, did not diminish the 

 height of the crag, which has the fame of being the highest in 

 Wales ; — not the loftiest rock, but the longest waterfall. 



Those who have seen all the Welsh pistylls, spouts, waterfalls, 

 or cataracts, will be better able to testify to the merits of this 

 celebrity than I, who am not personally acquainted with many 

 of them. 



The water which fell when we were there would be sufficient 

 to turn a heavy wheel, and it fell down an almost perpendicular 

 black crag, said to be 240 feet high. AVhen near the bottom, 

 the stream rushes through a natural arch, and falls into a deep 

 basin, flanked by two prominent rocks. 



This is a miniature Niagara, or a Welsh Niagara. It has all 

 the accessories of its Transatlantic relative, viz. a deep, bosky 

 dell, slippery rocks, paths, bridges, and an inn. It wants nothing 

 but plenty of water to rival its western namesake. Like the 

 Irishman's dinner, where the garnishing was present and the 

 roast beef absent, the aquatic element is very deficient. 



There is a good story printed somewhere; but if not printed, 

 it has long been in oral circulation. Some ancestor of the great 

 Wynne family, or some scion or relative of that ancient stock, 

 engaged a famous artist, a foreigner, to paint a picture of this 

 waterfall. When the work was finished and submitted to the 

 squire, he blamed the artist for leaving out the sheep, which, he 

 said, gave vitality to the scene. In Wales, and in some parts of 

 England, the word sheep is pronounced exactly as ship is ; and in 

 Wales the word when used in the plural is ships : of this we had 



