WEST OF LLANFAIR P.G. 23 



animals, but evidently driven in, and in serious trouble. 

 The masked crab, which gets its name from the face-like 

 marking of the carapace, buries itself tail foremost in 

 the sand, leaving its long " feelers " or antennae alone 

 exposed. Whenever there was a lull in the breeze, and 

 the crab happened to be right end up, it started working 

 itself into the sand. Many succeeded, and we found 

 some of these by their antennae, and left them waiting 

 for the next tide; others, however, were caught by the 

 next gust, driven further inland on the sandhills; where 

 the tide would not reach them they would perish, and 

 be added to the varied relics of the shore. 



And there are relics, many alas ! along this beach. 

 They lie, half buried in the sand, stark, barnacle-covered 

 ribs of gallant vessels. Above the tide reach are broken 

 masts, planks, spars pitiful fragments. Well may 

 there be a light on Llanddwyn's rocky point; well may 

 there be pilots to guide incoming vessels over the 

 treacherous bar of the western entrance to the Straits. 

 It was bright and sunny here when we saw it first; it is 

 not always so. 



