THE BEAVER. 37 



vonshire, is supposed by the natives to be a cor- 

 ruption from Nant yr afancwm, or the Vale of the 

 Beavers." 



Owen, in his Welsh Dictionary (1801), says that it 

 has been " seen in this valley within the memory of 

 man ;" but says Sir Richard Hoare, " I am much 

 inclined to think that 'Avanc' or 'Afangc' is nothing 

 more than an obsolete or perhaps local name for the 

 common ^Otter, an animal exceedingly well known 

 hi all our lakes and rivers, and the recognition of 

 it by Mr. Owen considerably strengthens my sup- 

 position. Afancwm is evidently the plural of Afangi, 

 composed of the words A/an, a corrupt pronuncia- 

 tion of Afon (a river), and Ci (a dog), synonymous, as 

 I conceive, with Dyfrgi (the water-dog), which is the 

 common appellation of the Otter amongst the Welsh. 

 The term ' Mostly dan,' or broad-tail, from Llost (tail) 

 and Llydan (broad), appears to be more immediately 

 applicable to the character of the Beaver as described 

 by naturalists, and is equally authorized by the Welsh 

 Dictionaries, though not so often used as Afangc."* 



Upon this we would remark that, while it is pretty 

 certain that the animal seen, according to Owen, 

 " within the memory of man," was the Otter, the 

 minute description given by Giraldus shows that the 

 animal to which he referred was the Beaver. 



Describing the river Lleder at its junction with 

 the Conway, Wood says :f " From a more westerly 

 course the Conway here turns nearly due north, and 



* " Itinerary," ed. Hoare, vol. ii. pp. 55-57. 



t "The Principal Rivers of Wales Illustrated." 4to, 1813, part ii. 

 p. 239. 



D 2 



