CHAPTER V 



THE SURVEY OF THE SNOWDON REGION 



WE have now to enter upon the records of three of 

 the most active years of Sir Andrew Ramsay's life, 

 during which he achieved his chief geological triumph 

 the unravelling of the complicated history of the 

 ancient volcanic region of which Snowdon forms the 

 centre. Though the details of one working season 

 were closely similar to those of another, the story has 

 so much interest in the progress of the geological 

 investigation of the British Isles, that even at the risk 

 of a certain amount of repetition it will be most appro- 

 priate to keep the doings of each year distinct. 



By the middle of April 1848 the work of the 

 previous winter was at last happily at an end. It had 

 been an exceedingly onerous time for Ramsay, and he 

 confessed now and then that he had nearly reached 

 the limits of his powers of endurance. Before the 

 season closed he was fain sometimes to shirk an even- 

 ing reception or discourse and take refuge in the 

 reading of Boswell's Life of Johnson, or some other 

 favourite. It was, therefore, with no little alacrity 

 that he packed his portmanteau and started for the 

 field again on the i8th April. From that time till 

 the middle of December, with the exception of a little 

 break to attend the British Association meeting, and 



