38 An Angler's Paradise. 



to such roads, is wont to hold on fast to something ; but there 

 is no need for this. To him I say, sit still, and view the grandeur of 

 the scene, enjoy thyself, breathe freely, and reflect upon the treat in 

 store for thee, on Vyrnwy's placid bosom, 'ere the sun goes down. 



Another range of hills is covered, and we are down into the 

 next valley, from which, however, we emerge at length. Before 

 we quit this pleasant vale, in which we ourselves are hidden, and 

 where the neighbouring mountains are also kept out of view by 

 the closeness of the wooded hills that bound it, we get a sight of 

 the embankment, but passing on we turn sharply to the right, and 

 winding up a steep ascent, presently find ourselves on level 

 ground again. 



Before us bursts suddenly a view, the grandeur of which we 

 may travel far to surpass. It comes upon us as if by some magic 

 process, like the lifting of an enormous curtain. In reality we 

 emerge from a sort of semi-natural shrubbery, and stand upon a 

 gravelled plateau. Beneath us lies the lake that we have come to 

 see ; to the north the dark and sombre looking Berwyn mountains ; 

 above, blue sky and fleecy clouds, which cast their flitting shadows 

 on the lake and hills around. Save where these shadows flew 

 along, the whole was bathed in sunshine. It also shone upon a 

 dark grey pile of structure, made by human hands upon the lake 

 itself, looking like some grim watch tower standing there to tell its 

 tale of bye-gone days ; but no, it is the Vyrnwy Tower, standing 

 like a castle on the Rhine, otherwise the straining tower. 



It stands in fifty feet of water, and is reached by a causeway 

 on four arches, and in height is upwards of a hundred feet above 

 the water. It is used for straining the latter, a most important 

 part of the preparation of the liquid for the natural wants of man, 

 whose requirements demand that it should be as pure and free 

 from sediment, as if for hatching trout ova. The process that is 

 adopted is indeed good for both purposes, and is comparatively 

 simple : the water being passed through screens, covered with fine 

 copper wire gauze, of over 14,000 meshes to the square inch: 

 These screens are removed and cleaned, as they become clogged 

 with the matter held in suspension in the water, and in this, very 

 much resemble, in their mode of working, the screens used in the 

 filtering apparatus of some fish hatcheries. 



