VIII A WELSH CARP LAKE ^ ^ ^ 



IT may be true that Wales rises to greater heights 

 elsewhere, as the natives of the valley aver; but 

 the fair-minded man, whose opinions are not warped 

 by the magnificence of the unknown, would admit 

 yon steeps to be mountains, be there never so many 

 Snowdons in the next county but one. The proof of 

 the mountain is in the climbing, after all, and the 

 natives of the valley do not climb. With that instinct 

 begotten of surroundings which passes very well for 

 wisdom, they remain firmly in the valley, for the most 

 part leaning on the bridge and watching two small 

 trout in the river below the only trout in the river 

 below. This is another point on which the natives 

 and the fair-minded man will disagree ; for, while they 

 assert roundly that there are other, several other, trout 

 in the stream, he knows that this is not the case, for 

 the proof of trout is in the catching, and samlets don't 

 count. The other trout, it is fair to assume, are among 

 the Snowdons in the next county but one. 



This is the principal reason why the local mountains 

 have to be faced and overcome. Three good leagues to 

 the east lies a fair sheet of water full of large trout and 

 massive carp, which have never been angled for within 



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