128 Wild Life in Wales 



closing, as they passed, those rich crimson and purple tints, 

 harmoniously blended with the varied greens and greys, 

 that dawn discovers upon the mountain. To the north, the 

 more distant peaks of Snowdon were just discernible behind 

 the barren slopes of Moel Llyfn-nant ; and the long ranges 

 of cliff, and brown scaurs, on Arenig-fawr were being gilded 

 over with sunshine till their harsh features softened into 

 many a winning smile. 



Away in the opposite direction, the view extends right 

 across Montgomeryshire, over a sea of billowy ridges and 

 bosky dells, almost as far as Welshpool. Below us nestles 

 Lake Vyrnwy, at present only visible where the light strikes 

 it, as a silver band, round the turreted shoulder of Allt-yr- 

 Eryodd, a name suggestive of a former eyrie of the Eagle, 

 though the rock is now only occasionally tenanted by a 

 Buzzard. The lake is barely half a dozen miles away, as 

 the crow flies ; but the numerous inequalities, and hidden 

 dingles, make miles measured in that way, or on the 

 Ordnance Map, very deceptive here, where distances can 

 hardly be comprehended till the ground has been traversed. 

 In one of the recesses, near by, stands a curious stone, said 

 to mark the resting-place of a celebrated outlaw, but I was 

 not lucky enough to find anyone who could help me to 

 interpret its strange hieroglyphics. There are many frag- 

 mentary remains of ancient occupation, and legend, scattered 

 over the whole of this district, but they are nearly as much 

 entombed from outside knowledge as are the fossils sealed 

 up in the underlying rock. 



From all the valleys round about, the hills rise pre- 

 cipitously for several hundred feet ; and any stranger, toiling 

 up the steep ridges, must be lacking in observation if he be 

 not struck by the energy, and perseverance, displayed in the 

 bringing, and keeping, of such land under cultivation. 

 Ploughing, and the carting on of manure, and removal of 

 crops, is all extremely laborious, yet Taffy sticks gamely to 

 his work, and richly deserves to succeed. Higher up, the 

 sides of the hills have been bared to the bone during the 

 ages of snow, and their nakedness has often scarcely yet 

 been covered by the slow erosion of the rock, that has taken 



