Wild Life in Wales 



cross that once crowned the summit), and Bwlch-pawl, the 

 "Pass of Paulinus," by Gyrn, the "White" or "Rocky 

 hill," passes here on its way northwards. Caer-gai, hard 

 by, is an old Roman station, with a still well-preserved fosse 

 and vallum, round which several interesting finds of coins 

 and pottery have from time to time been made. A stone 

 altar, discovered in 1885, bearing the mutilated inscription 

 "Julius Gaveronis Filius . . . Fecit Miles Cohortis Ner- 

 viorum," was presented by Sir Watkin Wynn to the Chester 

 Archaeological Museum. The cohort of Nervii was in 

 Britain A.D. 105. Who Caius was, from whom the place 

 took its name, is not clear, but according to Camden, " the 

 Britons ascribe it to Gai, or Timon, the foster father of 

 King Arthur," and this is still the popular derivation in the 

 neighbourhood. Gai was Cai-hir, or Cai the tall, and from 

 Cader Idris, " Arthur's Seat," to a small cottage at the foot 

 of Aran known as Llys Arthur, or " Arthur's Court," and 

 Tyddyn Llywarch, or " Llywarch's Tenement," the district 

 is rich in associations of the days of the Round Table. 

 Spenser, in the Faery Queen, says : 



" Unto old Timon he me brought to live, 

 In warlike feats the expertest man alive, 

 And is the wisest now on earth, I ween ; 

 His dwelling is low in valley green, 

 Under the foot of Rawran 1 mossie hore, 

 From whence the river Dee as silver chain 

 His tumbling billows roll with gentle rore ; 

 Here all his days he trained me up in virtuous lore." 



Cairgai now forms part of the Glan Llyn estate, but was 

 for many centuries the residence of the ancient family of 

 Fynchan, the Anglicised form of which is Vaughan, a family 

 celebrated alike for its poets and its soldiers. In 1645 the 

 mansion was burnt to the ground by the republicans, and 

 the present house was built soon after. 2 



1 Yr-Aran. 



2 For much of the above information I am indebted to A Short History 

 of the Parish of Llanuvuchllyn, by the Rev. William Hughes, vicar. An 

 interesting brochure already referred to, in which the reader will find much 

 topographical detail, and to which I beg here to make my acknowledgments 

 for etymological matter occasionally made use of in other chapters. 



