1 76 SURVEY OF THE SNOWDON REGION CHAP, v 



James Forbes, Playfair, J. Arthur Phillips, Hunt, 

 Jukes, Oldham, and myself. Oldham sat on Sir H. s 

 right, and I beside him. After dinner the mirth be 

 came fast and continuous. One comical song followed 

 another, all original. Forbes made me roar with 

 laughter, chanting something at me about 



1 I ll lay my head on a Bala Bala bed, 

 And wed a parson s daughter. 



My songs were, one to the tune of &quot; Trab, Trab &quot; (trap- 

 trap, rap-rap, map-map), and the other, &quot; O weel may 

 the Survey speed,&quot; etc. A verse or two of the second 

 song, which was headed 1841-1851, may be quoted : 



I joined the chief in Tenby Bay, 



And shillings I caught nine, 

 Twas three for breeks, and three for beer, 



And shillings three to dine. 



When first I left the Land o Cakes 



And took to wearing breeches, 

 I little thocht that I should join 



This corps o De la Beche s. 



There s Forbes s men that work within, 



And our field-working laddies, 

 Including Jukes, that shaved his chin 



To please the Irish paddies. 1 



When age has put our auld pipes out, 



By precept and harangue, 

 New lads will rise without a doubt, 



Will gar the hammers bang. 



1 Jukes wore a copious black beard, but when, on obtaining the Directorship 

 of the Geological Survey of Ireland, he became a candidate for the Chair of 

 Geology at Trinity College, Dublin, he was informed that this formidable facial 

 appendage would probably create a prejudice against him in the University circle, 

 so he appeared one morning at the Holyhead hotel with his chin clean shaven, 

 and so altered in appearance that the waiters took him for a stranger. But, as 

 he did not get the professorship, he allowed the beard to grow again, and it soon 

 became as exuberant as before. See Jukes s Letters, p. 454. 



