148 VIGNETTES FROM NATURE. 



their line of stunted mounds : on the other 

 side rises the dreary unbroken range of 

 Llawllech, a mere treeless slope of scanty 

 barley and stony pasture land. To right and 

 left, the lane itself — for it hardly deserves to 

 be called a road — is bounded by stone walls, 

 which often shut out what little view might 

 otherwise be obtained over flat shore, distant 

 sea, or barren hillside ; so that altogether, for 

 the mere lover of the picturesque, the six 

 miles* walk hence to Barmouth forms a very 

 uninteresting termination to a pleasant and 

 diversified day's tramp. 



To the geological eye, however, even the 

 dullest scenery often presents objects of 

 special interest which would never strike the 

 casual unscientific observer. Railway cut- 

 tings, which appear to most people mere 

 blank interruptions of the general prospect, 

 assume for the enthusiastic geologist the 

 guise of delightful sections made on purpose 

 to display to him the nature and succession 

 of the strata. Just so this somewhat weary 



