1 6 Wild Life in Wales 



incidents which struck me as being peculiar here. Near 

 Drws-y-nant, one day I came upon two men engaged in 

 digging a field, one of them wielding a spade, the other, 

 with pick and crow-bar, removing the larger stones with 

 which the ground was liberally encumbered. The inclosure 

 was one of perhaps two or three acres in extent, and 

 perhaps a third of it had been already turned over when 

 I first saw it. Later in the season a very light crop of 

 potatoes was lifted from it, and it was difficult to suppress 

 the idea that the original grass must have been of as much or 

 even greater value ; but such " agricultural improvements " 

 are of rather frequent occurrence in the neighbourhood. 



On another occasion a roadman was encountered busily 

 repairing a stone conduit running beneath the road, and, 

 to replace one of the covers which had been broken, he 

 was making use of an old mile-stone, removed from a few 

 yards away, where for many years past (as was evident 

 from its hoary aspect and the cutting of the letters) it had 

 stood to inform travellers that it was so many miles to Bala 

 and Dolgelly respectively. There was no lack of other 

 suitable slabs of rock in the vicinity, and I could not 

 refrain from an expression of regret that one of these was 

 not used in place of treating an old servant to the in- 

 dignity of interment, sans ceremonie, beneath the macadam, 

 but the reply was to the effect that " brand new metal posts 

 were shortly to be put up, and that there was therefore no 

 further use for the old stones, hence the sooner they were 

 out of sight the better." In order to bring his country up to 

 date a Welshman never allows sentiment to stand in the 

 way of removal of old landmarks, but it is curious to note 

 how improvements are hastened along in one channel, and 

 allowed to remain stagnant in another. 



Meanness is foreign to the Celtic character in its uncon- 

 taminated form, but that a little learning is often a 

 dangerous thing is sometimes strikingly exemplified by 

 those who have had the advantage of a certain amount 

 of English education. One poor workman who had the 

 misfortune to meet with an accident about mid-day, that 

 incapacitated him from work during the afternoon, had the 



