CHAPTER XVII 



Highest road in Wales Red-handed thieves of Dinas Morning on the 

 mountain Deceptive distances Geology Querns Shooting butts 

 Merlins Birds teaching their young to fly "The eagle suffers little 

 birds to sing" Stoats Catching a weasel asleep Vachddeiliog 

 Cupid's darts. 



SOUTH and east of Llanuwchllyn there is a wide tract of 

 rugged country, bounded towards the north by the railway 

 and Bala Lake, and enclosed on the east by the tree-clad 

 slopes of the Berwyns, rising in well-defined ridges that 

 shut off the counties of Denbigh and Montgomery. On 

 the west it is sharply divided from the Arans by the vale of 

 Cwm Cynllwyd, up which winds the road for Dinas 

 Mawddwy. Where the latter crosses Bwlch-y-groes, it is 

 said to be the highest main-road in Wales, and its descent, 

 by Llan-y- Mawddwy to Dinas, is through a narrow rock-girt 

 pass, whose barren grandeur is perhaps as unequalled. It 

 was round here that the " Red-handed Thieves of Dinas " 

 had their headquarters, and gave the district that notoriety 

 for robbery, and rapine, which is even yet scarcely for- 

 gotten : and traversing the pass at murk, or exploring some 

 of its wild corries at grey dawn, as I have done, it is not 

 difficult to conjure up, in the screech of an Owl, or the 

 weird croak of the Raven overhead, the warning signal for 

 bloody onslaught. To-day, however, the sun rises, in all 

 the splendour of a June morning, on the more peaceful 

 picture of the ewe and lamb dozing undisturbed on the 

 mountain side, and it is only the whistle of the jealous 

 Curlew that breaks in upon our reverie. Having made an 

 early start, I had reached the summit of Moel-y-geifr before 

 the sun's rays had penetrated the valleys, and in the clear, 

 dew-laden atmosphere, the mountain tops stood out sharply 

 defined. Wisps of white mist curled slowly up the sides of 



Aran, and enwreathed the triple crown of Cader Idris, dis- 



127 



