A TOUR ROUND NORTH WALES. 253 



It is by Giraldus Cambrenfis denomi- 

 nated the " Mother of Wales,"* fince, 

 according to him, when all the other parts 

 failed in their corn, this alone, from it's 

 fertile foil and high flate of cultivation, 

 was able to fupply them. However true 

 this may have been at the time when Gi- 

 raldus wrote, it feems to me that it could 

 by no means be fo now, for the interior 

 of the Ifland appeared but very little cul- 

 tivated. Much of the land lies either un- 

 drained and full of turfy bogs, or is full of 

 low pointed rocks. There are indeed fome 

 farms in the interior, but it is about the 

 coaft that it is in the richeft ftate, and in 

 particular about that part of it which is 

 oppofite to Caernarvonfhire. 



The general face of the country is low, 

 flat, and difagreeable, being in want of 



* 



Mon Mam Cymbrj," Itin. Camb. Audore 

 Syl. Gir. Cambr. Lib. II. c. 7, p. 867. 



that 



