RIVERS AND LAKES OP TV ALES. 137 



several of them yield no small portion of sport, especially to the 

 Worm-fisher, When the Towy reaches Llandovery, it receives the 

 waters of the JBraen-, and Gwydderiy, in which there is good trout- 

 ing, both with the fly, and by trolling. As the main river winds 

 its" course through the mountain denies, the eye of the tourist will 

 fall upon many spots of great beauty and sublimity. He may, 

 perchance, see the glen called by the Welsh Cwmof an awful 

 depth, whose edges and rugged descents are luxuriantly clothed 

 with line timber, that starts with a kind of wild disorder from the 

 crevices of the rocks, where a scanty covering of soil has afforded 

 it sufficient nourishment. This wooded tissue spreads its expansive 

 branches over the chasm, and casts a sullen, dark, and dismal 

 gloom upon the recess below. It is in vain that the eye attempts 

 to trace out the current of the stream with any degree of distinc- 

 ness ; it raves and howls among the rocks at the bottom, but 

 cannot be recognized. At every step its ceaseless repercussions 

 swell more loudly upon the ear, still its waters are hidden ; the 

 thickets overspread them, save only at some faint openings where 

 their whitened foam emerges for a moment to the open day, and 

 then passes on and is lost ; shrinking in hollow tumult among the 

 rocks and trees that lie scattered in the depths of the terrific 

 chasm. Such scenes as these are constantly to be met with in this 

 land of wilds and mountains. 



The river Tave takes its origin from Pembrokeshire, in a district 

 east of the Percelly Mountain. Its banks in many places are most 

 beautifully wooded. It receives several tributary waters, and 

 when it reaches the picturesque village of St. Clears, it is aug- 

 mented by the streams of the Cqthgenny and Cowin, which spring 

 out of the mountainous grounds in the north of the county. There 

 is good trout-fishing here at all seasons when fish of any kind can 

 be taken by the rod. The main river is navigable to St. Clears, 

 and flows into Caermarthen Bay, a little below the town of Lang- 

 harne, after running a course of twenty-eight miles. 



The stream calleu. the Great Gwendraetli is about fifteen miles in 

 length : it springs out of the hilly districts which divide the county 

 from Glamorganshire. There is fair sport not of first-rate clia- 

 racter in this water at particular seasons of the year. 



What are called the Black Mountains give rise to the Llongher. 

 It is a rapid stream, and has several feeders, in which there are 

 numbers of small and rather poor trout. It has a course of thirty 

 miles, and falls into the bay of Caermarthen. 



The Llynvan lake is a place of repute : it is situated at the base 

 of the loftiest section of the Black Mountain, designated the Van, 

 or Beacon. This sheet of water is about a mile in length, and has 

 fine trout and a large quantity of eels. The scenery about its 

 margins is solitary, naked, and dreary, but still interesting, when 

 contrasted with the highly cultivated districts seen in the distance. 

 The most eligible roads for ascending this singular mountain are 

 from Llandovcry and Devynock, near Brecknock. 



