BALA LAKE. 171 



Adriatic Sea. This opinion is partly founded on the 

 assertion, that salmon, which are plentiful in the 

 river, are never found in the lake ; nor are gwyni- 

 aid, which swim in shoals in the latter, seen, ex- 

 cept rarely, in the former ; but this may be ac- 

 counted for by the instinct which all creatures 

 exhibit, in resorting only to those haunts most con- 

 genial to their habits, and most convenient for 

 feeding and shelter. The lake abounds with pike, 

 perch, trout, and eels ; there are also a few roach, 

 and innumerable gwyniaid (so called from the white- 

 ness of their scales), a species offish found only in 

 Alpine waters, and resembling whitings in flavour, 

 which spawn in December, and are caught in great 

 numbers in spring and summer. The fishery in the 

 thirteenth century belonged to the abbot and 

 monks of Basingweik ; the whole is now the pro- 

 perty of Sir W. W. Wynne, Bart., who has a hand- 

 some villa, called Glyn Llyn, pleasantly situated on 

 the margin of the lake.* 



* The following local tradition is vulgarly connected with 

 the formation of this piece of water, in common with most 

 other large lakes of Wales : " In the far-gone ages, when the 

 Cymri were yet lords of the Beautiful Isle, there lived in the 

 valley where the lake now stands, a prince, the richest and the 

 proudest in all the land of Gwynedd. But it was known that 

 his treasures, his palaces, and his hunting grounds, were the 

 wages of sin ; and as he first entered his palace door, a voice 

 was heard from the distant mountains, crying out, * Edivar a 

 ddaw ! Edivar a ddaw !' (Repentance will come ! repentance 

 will come!) 'When will repentance come?' asked the 

 prince. ' At the third generation ! ' replied the voice ; and 



