VIEW FROM THE VICTORIA HOTEL. 81 



over the rubbisli heap, which projects far into the lake, and 

 the crash is as great as if all the crockery in the world had 

 been broken at once. The embankment from the Welling- 

 ton quarry threatens in time to reach the opposite shore, and 

 is sadly destructive of the picturesque. In some parts this 

 lake is forty fathoms in depth. 



We are presently in the splendid saloon, or coffee-room, 

 of the Victoria Hotel, which neither Mr. nor Mrs. Smith 

 lived to see completed, measuring fifty feet long by thirty- 

 six wide, and lofty in proportion. From hence to the top 

 of Snowdon is a distance of five miles, extending entirely 

 over the Vaenol estate ; one half of the mountain belonged 

 to Mr. Smith while the other half is owned by Sir E,. Wil- 

 liams Bulkeley. The ascent is made with less labour to the 

 traveller from Llanberris than by way of Capel Cerig or 

 Beth-Gelert. The windows of the hotel command a fine 

 view of the slate quarries ; and when evening sets in, and the 

 works above have all at once become silent, it is curious to 

 watch the quarrymen who live along the line of railway 

 returning home. This they accomplish by the aid of thirty 

 velocipedes, which are placed on the railway and worked by 

 the men themselves, by means of a windlass. Each velocipede 

 contains eight persons, and proceeding along the line, in the 

 direction of the port, it deposits the labourer at the nearest 

 point to his respective dwelling. The last man remaining re- 

 turns towards the quarry, to take up a fresh load_, or leaves 

 his velocipede on the line until the next morning. Formerly 

 there were twenty-six boats upon the lower lake to do the 

 same duty, but since the railroad has been made they have 

 f;\llen into disuse. As each sturdy labourer works himself 

 homeward along the line, some well-known national air is 

 borne across the waters, and dies away in echoes among the 

 rocky caverns high over our heads. The workmen are 

 classified in a threefold division of quarrymen, rockmen, and 

 labourers ; all are employed at piece-work, and are paid 

 their wa^es once a month. 



