80 REMINISCENCES, ETC. 



fish were caught at one haul in the engine-house reservoir, 

 their combined weight being twenty-two lbs., and they were so 

 exactly alike, that it was impossible to detect any difterence 

 in their size ; we were told they were as red and as good as 

 salmon. These trout were taken more than 2,000 feet above 

 the level of the two large lakes, and the net in which they 

 were caught is still to be seen hanging in one of the work- 

 shops. Dragging, however, or casting, is not the only 

 sport which the quarrymen enjoy. Occasionally they 

 come upon the drag of an otter, and then a most motley 

 pack of otter hounds, followed by a field of eager hunters, 

 all on foot, and armed with poles, expel the enemy of 

 the finny tribe from his haunts, and the chase is ended 

 in the lake, which if the otter once gains, further pursuit 

 is useless. 



The entire region round about might very appropriately 

 be called Slate country ; everything is slate, from the lofty 

 chimney of the engine-house and the kitchen table of the 

 cottage to the fences and gate-posts of the fields, and the 

 footpath itself, which marks out the traveller's track to- 

 wards Snowdon. The sleepers used on the rail way are blocks 

 of slate, rough hewn for this purpose by quarrymen of 

 advanced age, who can prepare the sleepers when they are 

 no longer fit for any other work. Slate is uppermost in the 

 mind of almost every man you meet. A stranger dining at 

 the hotel at Bangor, and sitting next to a " native," who 

 descanted on the merits of his district, was requested by him 

 to pass the " slate " instead of the salt. 



We cross over the road between the two lakes with Dol- 

 badarn Tower, once the residence of Llewellyn, the last 

 Prince of Wales of British line, close above us to the left, 

 and pause for a few minutes to look up the inky waters of 

 Llyn Peris, one mile in length, to the Pass of Llanberris, 

 above which the frowning mountains seem to stretch their 

 shadowy arms across to arrest the traveller in his course. 

 At this moment a large quantity of broken slates are thrown 



