214 BOTANICAL TOURS IN WALES. 
insignificant. Edward the First, the great castle-builder in Wales, 
was not born till many years after Giraldus wrote his Itinerary. 
The culminating point, or object of every North Wales tourist, is 
Snowdon; and this interesting region is not unnoticed in the 
graphic pages of our lively author. “I must not,’ he continues, 
** pass over in silence the mountains called by the Welsh Ery7i, 
and by the English Snowdon, or mountains of snow. . . . They 
are said to be of so great extent that, according to an ancient 
proverb, ‘As Mona (Anglesea) could supply corn for all the in- 
habitants of Wales, so could the Hryri mountains afford sufficient 
pasture for all the herds, if collected together.’ Hence Virgil’s 
limes may be applied to them : 
“Ht quantum longis carpent armenta diebus, 
Exigua tantum gelidus ros nocte reponit ;” 
or, as in English :— 
** And what is cropp’d by day the night renews, 
Shedding refreshful stores of cooling dews.” 
We had reason to bear our feeble testimony to the truth of 
part of Girald’s ‘account. When we were in this region, nearly 
seven hundred years after the Archdeacon’s visit, the dews were 
indeed copious, and rather unpleasantly cool, but the grass to be 
renewed or refreshed thereby was very scanty. The dimensions 
of Snowdonia, enveloped as it generally is in cloud and mist, are 
imaginary or fabulous. A clear day, to observe the extent of this 
mountainous tract, is a phenomenon of rare occurrence. We are 
disposed to refer to the author’s belief in the immensity and fer- 
tility of this mountain as a proof of his credulity. Anglesea is 
fertile, and abounds in corn; but the flocks and herds of Snow- 
don are few, and as inferior in numbers as in breed and condi- 
tion. If there was any vraisemblance in the comparison expressed 
by the proverb, Snowdon has remarkably deteriorated. “On the 
high part of these mountains,” our author continues, “ there are 
two lakes worthy of notice: the one has a floating island in it, 
which is often driven from one side to the other by the force of 
the winds, and the shepherds behold with astonishment their 
cattle whilst feeding carried to a distant part of the lake. The 
other lake is noted for a wonderful and singular miracle: it con- 
tains three sorts of fish, eels, trout, and perch, all of which have 
only one eye. But if the curious reader should demand of me 
