i8ss REMINISCENCES OF SOUTH WALES 235 



In the spring of 1842 I joined Sir Henry De la 

 Beche at Caermarthen after three weeks spent en 

 route at Cardigan and Newcastle Emlyn. From 

 Caermarthen in the same summer Sir H. went to 

 Llangadoc, and I to Llandeilo to join little James, 

 whose bones are now bleaching in the deserts of 

 Australia. From thence Sir H. and I went together to 

 Llandovery. In a fortnight I was sent to Pumpsaint, 

 when Johnes called on me next day to invite me to 

 a picnic given in one of the caves of the Gogofau. 

 There was a ball in the evening. That autumn I 

 spent at Ross and Mitcheldean, and returned to 

 Dolaucothi at Christmas. I think, were I to go on, 

 the association of ideas would carry me on all through 

 my life up till the day of our marriage, which (except 

 some that have succeeded) was, I think, the best 

 day in it, for (as I know, and by the consent of my 

 relatives) it procured me the dearest little wife in 

 Christendom.' 



As the Survey was now creeping eastward across 

 the southern English counties, the Local Director 

 could compare the scenery and associations of that 

 district with those of the more ancient rocks of other 

 parts of the country, and send home descriptions to 

 his wife. Thus, while travelling through southern 

 Hampshire with Bristow, he writes : ' What a strik- 

 ing country we came through to-day to an eye like 

 mine, which delights in raking up images of the past ! 

 Far-spreading brown heather and moors, with little 

 mosses and marshes and marshy -banked streams, 

 broken up with grassy swells covered with native 

 oaks and other trees, make a true piece of old 

 England. Wasn't it William Rufus who is said to 

 have laid all the New Forest waste and depopulated 



