4 OUTDOOR LIFE IN ENGLAND 



were not rising in the river I was on, I decided 

 to try another neighbouring stream, and to join a 

 friend whom I had left there in the morning. In 

 order to avoid a long detour, it was necessary for 

 me to force my way through some rough wood- 

 lands. When crossing a clearing, a wild - cat 

 sprang out of the ferns and trotted leisurely away, 

 giving me ample opportunity to observe it. In 

 colour it was a dirty yellow, striped with gray ; 

 its size some three or four times greater than a 

 large domestic cat. It appeared to be horribly 

 mangy, and smelt most abominably. Had it 

 been in good condition, it might possibly have 

 been a very handsome animal ; but, as it then 

 was, it gave me the impression of strongly re- 

 sembling a man - eating tiger, disgusting and 

 sickening me. I remember, when a boy, to have 

 been told that wild-cats were not uncommon in 

 the Gwydr forest near Bettws-y-Coed in North 

 Wales, and there may be some few still there. 

 This was, however, in the days when Bettws was 

 a less fashionable resort than now, and less ac- 

 cessible to tourists. Beautiful it must always be, 

 though the presence of a railway-station and a 

 smart hotel are less in keeping with the rocks, 

 valleys, and streams than the humbler but no 

 less hospitable Royal Oak, which, when I first 

 knew the place, with the exception of some two 

 or three clean though unpretentious lodging- 

 houses, was the one and only resting-place for 

 tourists and travellers. Jardine states that 



