144 ON THE TRACK OF THE MAIL-COACH 



had been discovered, and every kind of paper security 

 was looked upon askance), that a tourist with a brand- 

 new five-pound Bank of England note in his pocket 

 found himself literally penniless. No one would 

 change his note, and he had no other mone}^ so that, 

 but for the good offices of some philanthropic individual 

 who became aware of his hard case, he might have 

 starved. 



Five-pound notes certainly formed no part of my 

 equipment, and gave me no trouble ; on the contrary, 

 I could have borne a heavy burden of that sort without 

 a murmur. 



From Ilfracombe — from the little harbour which 

 lies under the Lantern Eock — I set sail for the Welsh 

 coast, and landed at Cardiff. My recollection is of a 

 long w^alk from the landing-place to a moderate-sized 

 town, abutting on an ancient castle with a ruined 

 wall. I strolled within the boundary to view the 

 grounds, no one hindering. 



"When, many years later, I visited Cardiff again, an 

 embattled tower guarded the castle entrance, and 

 nothing short of artillery could have pierced the new- 

 built wall. The magnificent home of the Bute family 

 presented quite another aspect. Coal and new docks 

 had enriched both castle and town. 



There can hardly be a borough in the United 

 Kingdom which has eclipsed, or even equalled, the 

 vigorous growth of Cardiff. The mere village of a 

 century ago, with its handful of inhabitants, has 

 developed into a great town containing a hundred 



