178 MY LIFE AS A NATURALIST 



in water, a view is obtained of the peaks of the two Elidirs on 

 the other side of Llanberis Pass. That is on our left, and we 

 are fast preparing for an opening-out on that side, but not just 

 yet. Turning to our right again, we see in front of us a frowning, 

 black, perpendicular precipice stretching from east to west as 

 if to form an end to the glorious valley of Cwm Brwynog. The 

 name of this in English is Black Precipice. I dare not venture 

 its Welsh equivalent ! Looking ahead, and then westward, a 

 magnificent spectacle is being opened out before us. Some lakes, 

 far below and also away from us, come into focus, looking strangely 

 lifeless and lonely, and then right above the precipice of Clogwyn 

 Du (Dhu or Dulas means black, or dark, Clogwyn means a preci- 

 pice), a stretch of evenly sloping ground is seen, with the little 

 railway track running upwards from left to right. The terror 

 of it now dawns upon those of us who are at all " nervy." Are 

 we really going over the narrow edge of that awful percipice, 

 on an apparently narrow ledge of rock, about 1000 feet above 

 the lake lying beneath ? Yes, it is so, but, whilst meditating, we 

 see the slope more plainly and find, after all, that it is not nearly 

 so terrible as it looked from below. It was near here that the 

 mangled body of the Rev. H. W. Starr was picked up in 1847. 



We are now just three miles from Llanberis, and have gained 

 the highest point of Llechog. Here there is a sudden break on 

 the left, where we have the first view into Llanberis Pass. We 

 are looking down almost perpendicularly from a rocky plateau. 

 The bottom of the valley, lit up by sunlight, is plainly to be seen, 

 for I noticed a Kestrel hovering quite low down, and the high 

 road and stream could be easily discerned 2000 feet below ! 

 The scene is truly one of awful grandeur, and I have never seen 

 anything like it on all my travels. The journey was amply 

 repaid as a result of that one sight alone. It will never be effaced 

 from my memory, and for, sheer majesty, beats everything Scot- 

 land had to offer me. We were all spellbound, enraptured, 

 glorified. When in this state of mind we were hardly prepared 

 to reach Snowdon's summit, which we did successfully a few 

 moments later. We again crossed the Llanberis Pass, and then 

 to the right, so as to traverse the steep track we had seen with 

 such terror from below". The view from there is magnificent. 

 Glimpses could be obtained of the Irish Sea, and, far across, the 

 Wicklow Mountains, with the 3000 ft. height of Lugnaquilla, 

 could be plainly discerned. 



Really, I never picked up so much geographical knowledge 



