ii2 PROFESSORSHIP OF GEOLOGY CHAP, iv 



On the 6th November he writes : * Out on the hill 

 south-east of Llandegle Rhos. Could not make a 

 start without much scenting about and doubling back 

 and forward. But during this process I lighted on a 

 glorious sight, proving beyond a doubt all my asser- 

 tions about the geology of the country. Sir H. and 

 Smyth ought to have inferred the same when they 

 mapped these traps. I found Wenlock shale con- 

 taining rounded pebbles of trap and slate resting 

 unconformably on Llandeilos on the east side of the 

 Builth traps. It ravished my soul with joy, and far 

 more than atoned for the little that was done before/ 



' i \th December. A tremendous day's work down 

 the middle of the traps to the ground above Llanilwidd, 

 near Builth. Found in Sir H.'s mass of greenstone on 

 the east lots of fossils ! Ran across the country as far as 

 Pencerrig, and walked back what is called eleven miles 

 in two hours and a quarter.' In this traverse he 'put 

 the finishing touch to the Builth section.' 



All the daylight, and sometimes part of the dusk, 

 in these autumnal days were spent in this active 

 pedestrianism. But this work represents only a part 

 of the Director's industry at that time. He kept up 

 with singular regularity and promptitude a corre- 

 spondence which, both with his colleagues and with 

 friends at a distance, was every year growing more 

 voluminous. He had made some progress in Welsh, 

 and he used to employ himself in translating Welsh 

 songs into English rhyme. Nor did he content 

 himself with mere metrical translation. He had 

 always been rather fond of turning his thoughts into 

 verse, and he occasionally penned an ode or sonnet, 

 or a rhyming epistle. To his good friends at Dolau- 

 cothi he often chose a metrical way of expressing him- 



